The use by GOD of afflictions is so very important that I must carry it on. Because it is also so misunderstood and even feared by the religious. And because this is all based on the perfecting of Christ's Spirit within the renewed and restored spirit of man. I again want to draw from the teaching of Pastor Hoekstra and the daily word from e-sword where we find this, with editing done by me:
"Once More on Following Jesus as a Disciple"
"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me . . . My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (Luke 9:23 and John 10:27)
"As we have considered, following Jesus as a disciple is another way of our ability to relate rightly to the LORD in humility and faith. The terms of discipleship are our renouncing the self-life and confessing death for this self-life. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily." Initially and continually, these humble and trusting responses to Jesus deal with self, which is the basic obstruction to walking daily with Him.
Three simple words express the very heart of discipleship: "and follow Me." All of the Christian life can be summed up and fulfilled in this profound relationship of pursuing a humble and trusting walk with the LORD. It is the Will of GOD that we grow in His all-sufficient Grace and the knowledge of our LORD and Master. "But grow in the Grace and Knowledge of our LORD and Savior Christ Jesus" (2Peter 3:18). Jesus came overflowing with that Grace and Truth. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). As we follow Him in humble dependence, we soon find that He wants a deeper relationship with us. He pours His Grace into our lives.
Jesus has all that we need. In Him, He is the complete resource of the Godhead that we need for personal wholeness to reside within us. "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:9-10). In Him, is all wisdom and knowledge contained: "in whom are hidden all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). Jesus as the Son of man is the very life that we are called to live: "Christ Who is our Life" (Colossians 3:4). He is to be our "All and in all" (Colossians 3:11).
We need the LORD Christ Jesus like sheep need a shepherd. In fact, our discipleship walk with Christ is portrayed in scripture as sheep following a shepherd. Those who are in the world are like sheep without a shepherd. What a needy picture that is. "But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). Christ Jesus, our shepherd, is the ultimate shepherd. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep" (John 10:11). Having died for us, our shepherd wants to lead us throughout our lives. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27). In humble dependence, we can hear His voice through His word and be led by His Spirit. Thereby, we enter into the fullness of the Grace that GOD has for us during our pilgrimage here on this earth."
Afflictions blessings in Disguise:
Job 5:6-7, 8-16, 17-27 "For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.
"As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night. But He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
"Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For He wounds, but He binds up; He shatters, but His hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth. You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season. Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good."
Job 23:8-17 "Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive Him; on the left hand when He is working, I do not behold Him; He turns to the right hand, but I do not see Him. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food. But He is unchangeable, and who can turn Him back? What He desires, that He does. For He will complete what He appoints for me, and many such things are in His mind. Therefore I am terrified at His presence; when I consider, I am in dread of Him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face."
Job 34:21-30, 31-37 "For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees all his steps. There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves. For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment. He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place. Thus, knowing their works, He overturns them in the night, and they are crushed. He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see, because they turned aside from following Him and had no regard for any of His ways, so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, and He heard the cry of the afflicted—When He is quiet, who can condemn? When He hides His face, who can behold Him, whether it be a nation or a man?— that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.
"For has anyone said to God, 'I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more; teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more'? Will He then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know. Men of understanding will say to Me, and the wise man who hears Me will say: 'Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.' Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men. For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God."
Teth. Psalm 119:65-72 "You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe Your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. You are good and do good; teach me Your statutes. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep Your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in Your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces."
Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 "A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity. Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. Say not, "Why were the former days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the Life of Him Who has it. Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him."
Jonah 2:1-9 "Jonah prayed to the LORD his GOD from the belly of the fish, saying, "I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and He answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all Your waves and Your billows passed over me. Then I said, 'I am driven away from Your sight; yet I shall again look upon Your Holy temple.' The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet You brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my GOD.
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to You, into Your Holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to You; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!"
Zechariah 13:7-9 "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who stands next to Me," declares the LORD of Hosts. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn My hand against the little ones. In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon My name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are My people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my GOD.'"
2Corinthians 4:13-15, 16-18 "Since we have the same Spirit of Faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that He Who raised the LORD Christ Jesus will raise us also with Christ and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as Grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of GOD.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
Hebrews 12:4-11 "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the LORD, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the LORD disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. GOD is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His Holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Revelation 7:9-12, 13-17 "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our GOD Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped GOD, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our GOD forever and ever! Amen."
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "Therefore they are before the throne of GOD, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He Who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and GOD will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
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