Devotion (The Trumpeter):
Suffer for righteousness sake

Philippians 1:29 KJV

For unto you it is given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

Christianity is not a call only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for His sake.

The Christianity presented to some is all about what they seek to gain by being in Christ. It’s all about money and a good life. This is why some Christians are not doing much in the church. They don’t get it; they don’t understand why we are presently in this world.

So God has become a medium through which they attain their dreams and goals.

If you don’t suffer(for righteousness sake) in anyway as a Christian, it means you are not living the true Christian life.

“Yea, and all who will live a godly life in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution…..2 Timothy 3:12KJV”

This is not a suffering of evil which results in to fruit of righteousness. He is talking about a suffering for righteousness sake. Many times, Christians want to know which suffering is right for the Christian.

It’s only sufferings resulting to fruits of righteousness. This is a suffering which resulted from your walk of righteousness, a suffering because you stood for what was good and right in the sight of God.

For instance, there can be two Christians. One is hungry because he is lazy to work but the other due to his missionary journeyings. The latter is the kind of suffering that the Word of God is talking about.

He is not talking about sicknesses and demonic oppressions, those rather deprives you of the life, energy and sound mind to carry out the work He God gave you on earth to do.

He is talking about the sufferings you go through whilst carrying out the work, because of the work, standing for the work or placing the work as that of first importance.

It is the lack of this understanding that some people refers to Paul’s thorn as sickness. Paul wasn’t abiding in sickness. You think that the man whom viper couldn’t even harm was abiding in sickness? No, he wasn’t  but he hungered at certain times and had no money for food because of his missionary journeys

“in labor and hardship, often unable to sleep, in hunger and thirst, often [driven to] fasting [for lack of food], in cold and exposure [without adequate clothing] Besides those external things, there is the daily [inescapable] pressure of my concern for all the churches……2 Corinthians 11:27-28AMP”

This was amazing grace for paul. Grace doesn’t just mean enjoying life because of Jesus, it also includes suffering and taking sacrifices for the work’s sake. There are Christians who will only do the work of God when all the conditions are right and they are comfortable. Such is not true Christian. What will be your story? Don’t you know that the book of Acts is still being written. Its continuing in heaven, the acts of the disciples of Jesus, of which you are one. What will be your story? A Christian who was just enjoying, busy about this world and suffered nothing for Jesus. Such record will be very pitiful.

Paul’s thorn was not sickness. He explains what it was in the very place he said it. Let’s observe

“Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me; but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness……….2 Corinthians 12: 7-9KJV”

Sometimes is the pauline communication that throws people off. You need an insight from the HolyGhost and a background understanding of most of his epistles to get what Paul is saying here.

Firstly, he refers to his thorn in the flesh as a messenger of satan. It was an idiomatic expression, not literal. He was not talking about something you could see in his flesh but events in his life which he disliked, events difficult to bear. This is why he told the ephesian christians that he served the Lord with tears.

The thorn in flesh was a messenger of satan, one sent by satan. He didn’t refer him as a messenger of God. He was sent by satan and that unseen principality was the one working behind the scenes, turning the Jews, Greeks and other Christians against him. All the persecutions he went through in the physical was as a result of the spiritual but then God allowed it. He allowed it for his own good so that in fighting such battles Paul will not become proud as a result of the abundance of mysteries and revelations given him. This is why you ought to becareful. When a man of God is hated by many people, it might be because of that. It was his cross to bare. The communication on the surface presents it as God conniving with satan to do that but this is not what Paul is trying to say. God doesn’t do business with satan, He is too holy for that. God just permitted it. He permitted it for Paul to go through such persecutions.

Remember what he said in his first epistle

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it……1 Corinthians 10:13NIV”

So God made an escape for Paul too. He said

“But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,persecutions, afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra — what persecutions I endured. But out of them all, the Lord delivered me…….2 Timothy 3:10-11KJV”

God bless you!

Weekly Prayer

• Pray and intercede for unsaved souls in your family, immediate and far
• Pray for a harvest of souls into Light embassy ministries

 Scriptural reference: John 4:35, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4, Acts 16:31,