Afflictions Turned to Glory

Nothing wrong with being His vessel

Through untold circumstances in life , many are the afflictions that we face. Many people will endure hardship. Many will suffer loss. We live in such a time where corruption is found from the highest public office in this land and people with no moral fiber are constantly oppressing God’s people. Inflation, stagflation, trade wars and speculative fear has impacted everything from the price of a loaf of bread to a cup of coffee. Seems like we are troubled on every side. Seems like the trouble will never end.

In these times, we need to remember that power to have anything we possess is in God. There is nothing that we possess that we He didn’t strengthen us to into the world to earn. Had he not sent favor, the door would have never opened. Had he not touched our mind, we wouldn’t have learned what we needed to know to obtain the education, receive on the job training, nor all of the skill sets necessary to beget the jobs, business or even retirement payment some receive from staying in the workplace for 10 years in the form of Social Security.

We go through these things, but God sends us the comforter so that we are not in outright despair. It’s amazing how when we are under the weight of affliction God carries us. Persecuted, but not forsaken, CAST DOWN, but not destroyed. We go through, we feel the pain, seems like it will never end. In Christ, we find hope for our tomorrow. In Christ, we find peace that passes what we understand. In Christ, we find the lily while we are low in the valley. In Christ, we find a bridge over troubled waters.

King James Version Chapter 4

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

The world needs to see God’s power, humanity needs God in order to make sense of what they see and until they have Him in their life. Nothing will ever make sense. They could run to wine, women and song and women the other way around. As soon as the party ends… trouble on every side picks up right where it left off. And as time is advancing, the trouble seems to get worse and worse.

The World Needs to Know God’s Concern For Us

God is concerned for the victims of oppression, He hears, sustains and delivers those whom are oppressed.

In , the Bible says these words:

King James Version Chapter 7

10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor;

And let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

Where God has given fair warning, there will be a price to pay for them that oppress people. Notice how this word doesn’t say only believers… it says the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor. It goes forward to say let none even imagine evil against your brother in your heart. We are even supposed to think about doing evil things to others. Can you imagine the fate racists face in this world today? God doesn’t like when have evil thoughts toward others.

In , we see what God does to the people that continue in this kind of sin:

King James Version Chapter 7

11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder,

And stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law,

And the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets:

Therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear;

So they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:

14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not.

Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned:

For they laid the pleasant land desolate.

So we live as it states in

King James Version Chapter 4

10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

We live this life not only save our souls, we live this life to save the oppressor, the sinner and the backslider. Christ’s death manifested through our life was intended to give eternal life to those on their way to eternal damnation.

King James Version Chapter 4

10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

The hardest thing for us to do is turn the other cheek. While we need to do this in a careful manner, we need to be nice to people (not to be used)

When we live for Christ, we are literally saving souls of people that we never thought we would. That person whom did you wrong sees how you carry yourself. They too can come to a realization there has to be more to life.

I said all of this as we enter into our golden text for the day:

King James Version Chapter 4

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.