Good morning y’all we in chapter 4 2day.

The chapter is all about suffering for Christ which i am interpreting as dying to self or denying oneself earthly pleasures for the sake of Christ.

Again so much to glean from each verse so I’m gonna do a summary on the verses as opposed to SOAP

Here we go (Thank you Holyspirit for your help 🙂 all of this is possible because of you)

V 1-3 – As Christians we should be ready to suffer for God with the same attitude Jesus had when he suffered for us. Suffering shows: a) we have stopped sinning…every time we deny our selves the pleasure of sin that’s suffering and God is pleased with that. b) we have turned from pleasing ourselves to pleasing/obeying God

We need to renounce all the bad habits from our old lives….we have practiced them for too long. Its now time to be serious with the God we claim we serve

V4  – When we make the decision to start suffering for God,  we should be prepared to loose some friends esp those who are still into our old way of living. Who u choose 2 follow truly determines who u r serving; God or man.

V 7 – Warns us the end is near and we need to be prayerful.  Isn’t that so true for the world today…so much evil going on that if one is not careful, one will get sucked into the evil without even knowing. Hence the admonition in this verse 2 be serious and n sensible enough to pray

V 8 – One of my fav verses 🙂 So above all that has been said from 1-7 the key thing is we must love each other sincerely because love wipes away many sins. I’m interpreting that to mean love wipes away many offences. If we Love sincerely it will be difficult for us to keep offences. (Ponder on 1 corinthians 13 to see God’s definition of love.)

V9 – Be hospitable and don’t complain about it. Gosh I’m guilty of this 😦 I tell someone I will help them then I grumble about it later. Grumbling, murmuring and complaining cost a whole generation of the isrealites the promised land! That’s enuf said 🙂 God just ain’t a fan of murmuring, complaining or grumbling.

V 10 -11 – The gifts we have is from God and the purpose of it is for us to use it to serve others. Do this in a way that brings honor  to Jesus.  Let him be our example scripture says everywhere he went he was doing good…Jesus was about his father’s business from day one…let that be our focus.

V 12-14 – We should be happy when we suffer for Christ. Infact it shows that God’s spirit is in us. Cos people will persecute us for being different, for not conforming to the norm. Someone once told me that if I’m not being persecuted for being a christian, then I need to check myself. Probably I ave become one of the world so there is no difference, hence no need to persecute. Persecute here doesnt necessarilly mean being thrown into jail cos of God or being executed. i know that happens a lot and i admire the faith of those Christians and pray God continue to strengthen them and help them through and that their faith will not fail them. But im tryna make this practical. For most of us, we probably won’t experience that kind of persecution but there are other types such as being ridiculed, made fun of, called cruel names just cos u don’t believe in what the world believes, being overlooked for promotion or even offered a job just cos you mentioned on your CV you belong to Jesus…etc. All said and done, the end result of suffering for Christ is worth the suffering! Think about it, we will get to reign with him,seated with him, worship with him…its too much to comprehend :). This reminds me of the lyrics of one of my fave songs; “I can only imagine” by Tamela Mann. If u avnt heard it uve got to listen to it even if I say so 🙂

V 15- Suffering for doing the wrong thing doesn’t count!

16 -19 Don’t be ashamed to suffer for God…rather do it with pride knowing u belong to God.

For us to be able to endure suffering for Christ we must have total/complete faith in God cos without that it will be difficult especially if the suffering is too much. We must believe that God is good and all things are working together for our good.

We must also continue to do good even if it hurts so bad.

Dear Lord thank you once again for another opportunity to learn at your feet. Today you have shown us we need to suffer for you. I pray your HolySpirit will help us and give us the strength to endure. Father help us not be ashamed of you but give us boldness to step out and declare we belong to you without being afraid of the consequences. Help us to serve others diligently with the gifts that you have given us and help us do this without complaining, murmuring or grumbling. And when all is said and done, Lord may we reign with you for all eternity :). We love you so much. All this we ask by faith In Jesus Name.

Thanks for reading now it’s your turn 🙂

Be encouraged! All things are working out for your good.

Much love

Jumbug.