Suffering is Required

Suffering with the Savior – Suffering the death of our own will in order for God’s will to be done. Following Jesus.

“And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Luke 22:41-42

Dead, Buried, and Raised Up with/by Christ!

Is He worth it?

Paul says:

“IF we Suffer, we shall also Reign with Him”

When the Holy Spirit led Paul to pen these words, what did He mean? What is the biblical context? How does this truth apply to me, to my personal life and responsibility to my LORD Jesus?

“It is a faithful saying: For IF we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12 IF we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11-13

If I am unwilling to “suffer” I shall not “reign with him.” This would clearly prove that I do not love Christ supremely, which He requires (Matthew 22:37-40; Luke 14:26; Revelation 2:4-5).

ARE YOU taking Jesus at His own Word? OR, are you listening to wolves who water it down?

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26-27

If you don’t take Jesus at HIS OWN WORD, you are going to hell—no matter how strongly you vainly believe you are going Heaven. If you want to be with the Father, Son, the saints, and heavenly hosts, you are going to have to offer you whole being as a living sacrifice unto God, to truly repent, lay down your life in this fallen world, and truly follow Jesus—on His stated terms. Fast and pray (Isaiah 58).

Suffering the Death of Self so Christ is Reigning in You

“God saved us so that we would reflect his glory (the gospel) to those around us that are in darkness. How shall we then, continue in sin? God forbid. He gave us the cross and the Holy Spirit to overcome the evil of sin which dwelleth in our flesh (Rom. 6-8). Only they who hear him, who endure to the end, shall be with him in eternity. (John 8:47; 10:27; Matt 24:13; Rev. 2-3)” Jon Crane

Someone says “But brother, I doubt I will ever be thrown into a lion’s den or in prison or have to suffer like God’s people in the Word. So how should I view suffering? What should be my perspective? What should I do today?”

Suffering the death of self is the suffering God calls His people to—and all other sufferings are thereafter, and we are powered through them victorious via that resurrection power of Christ who raises us up reciprocally are we dead and buried—as we choose to sacrifice self on the altar, at His holy feet. That’s when the great exchange happens—His power taking over as you are vanquished down deep into His death (Romans 6). It’s only through the cross life that we can be raised upward in His resurrection power which propels us through any and all things He allows us to be brought through.

“Dear Jesus. I give you all of me to be totally surrendered to you. I thank you for all the pain I have had to go through because You used it. It has gotten me to the place to be willing to nail myself at the cross of Christ. And to be resurrected and made new! The old self is dying and You are making me more into Your likeness everyday. I owe it all to You Jesus!” Karen Cochran

God is teaching His true remnant that you cannot dabble with the cross message but you must become immersed in it and camp out on it.

“Downward… Upward”

GOD’S KINGDOM FUNCTIONS ON A CROSS ECONOMY

It’s in dying “DOWNward” that Christ raises up “UPward.”

“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root DOWNward, and bear fruit UPWARD.” Isaiah 37:31

Read that verse again, slowly.

The “remnant” of Christ has come out of the professing church (Judah) and is following Jesus by way of the cross, the crucified life—as they “take root downward (death and burial), and bear fruit upward (resurrection).”

Anyone living in any sin, is the servant of sin and not the Savior. Read also 1 John 3.

“Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34 

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;” 1 Peter 4:1

Who “hath ceased from sin”? Only those who suffer the death of the flesh.

“Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.” Those camping on Christ’s cross message alone are armed, are equipped and therefore not shocked when they suffer, when they are allowed to go through seasons of fiery trials. God will raise them up through those fiery trials.

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

Are you becoming addicted to Christ, to experiencing His resurrection power and you choose daily the cross, the going down with Him in death and burial?

“We absorb the blows! Not return them. Didn’t Jesus absorb the blows? As scripture says ‘He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth;’ (Isaiah 53:7). This is only possible through the cross! Where you die! And you no longer need to retaliate because you are able to love people with the love of Jesus! You absorb the blows.” Karen Cochran

“WITH Christ”

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried WITH HIM by baptism (immersion, burial) into death (cross): THAT like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:3-7

Sin and Satan cannot conquer or control those who live the cross because as they surrender daily in the crucified life, they are being daily raised up by the resurrection power of Christ the LORD! Nothing could stop His resurrection and nothing shall ever stop His resurrection power in the lives of His beloved saints—the “remnant” who are known by their dying downward and “bearing fruit UPward.”

Let’s make certain we are grasping this cross truth illustrated in Isaiah 37:31: Christ’s “remnant” defined:

“And THE REMNANT that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again TAKE ROOT DOWNWARD (death and burial), and BEAR FRUIT UPWARD:” Isaiah 37:31

If today I am not crying out to the LORD and learning to die downward—to be dead and buried “with Christ”—I am not truly following Him, no matter what other professed religious “form of godliness” I have going on (2 Timothy 3:5).

• Going to church doesn’t replace the necessity of the cross.
• Putting out social media truth about Jesus doesn’t replace the necessity of the cross.
• Wearing a Christian tee shirt or cross around my neck doesn’t replace the necessity of the cross.
• Reading God’s Word and praying doesn’t replace the necessity of the cross, because the cross is obedience to God to what He mandated in His Word.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Memorize Galatians 2:20 above and Colossians 3:3 below:

“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3

Being “hid with Christ in God” is how the LORD powers us through, past the many afflictions to be suffered by Christ’s saints.

“There is a beauty in being rejected, misunderstood, unseen, and unsupported by people. It teaches you to rely on God for everything.” unknown

Shall you be free from the sin that has brought death to your life?

“For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:7

Submitting yourself to God is submitting to death and burial and resurrection with Christ.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

It doesn’t matter that we nearly never ever, even hear the message of the cross on social media or from the pulpits of the apostate modern church. God has not and will not change. You must choose to die and be buried as He commanded in order to be raised up in His holy power! Read Romans 6 each morning this week prayerfully.

You, I, cannot walk with Jesus other than obeying Him—obeying His cross He mandated (John 14:15).

The crucified life is the only answer for overcoming any and all sin. Jesus and His holy apostles prescribed, commanded it, and we must take it up “daily” to follow our LORD or we are not truly following Him (Luke 9:23-24).

Memorize Galatians 2:20 and read Romans 6 prayerful each morning. KJB

“All of these ads for porn addiction really raises a red flag for profiting off of someone else’s infirmity (sin).” Fred

Fred is correct. These companies never give the Bible answer—the only solution God gave—the cross, the crucified life. This begins upon true repentance and placing all trust in the LORD Jesus (Acts 20:21, etc.).

If we don’t literally apply the cross principle daily, it clearly proves our love for this world over Christ. Such people have made their choice, regardless of their mere verbal profession.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:15-17

The cross-less, “the enemies of the cross of Christ” prove they do not love Jesus supremely, that He is not their “first love” (Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:4-5).

The Cross Christ Commands

DEAR ETERNAL SECURITY HERETIC: You are actually teaching the first lie of Satan in the Garden, which led to the fall of mankind into sin. See what God said then see what Satan said and what his false teachers say – Genesis 2:17; 3:4. Case closed. Repent now before it’s too late. EVERY false teacher is going to hell – will have “damnation.” (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Eternal Security is the First Doctrine of the Devil

Memorize Romans 6:7 today. KJB

YOUR PRAYER: Holy Father, please take me down deep into the death of Christ – that this life You gave might be raised up in Your divine power! Have all of me dear LORD Jesus. I am all Yours and I know You are all mine. Into Your holy hands I now commend, submit my spirit. In Jesus’ name.

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Raised Up [Audio Book]

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