Why does God allow us to suffer through persecution?
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Suffering produces, Perseverance, Character, and Hope!! And another version of the Bible says that Tribulation produces, Patience, Experience, and Hope!!
Rom 5 (v. 3) ....but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; (v. 4) and perseverance, character; and character, hope. (v. 5) Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Webster's Dictionary defines each key word as:
Perseverance—to persist in a state or undertaking in spite of opposition or discouragement.
Tribulation—distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution.
Experience—to undergo religious conversion, something personally encountered or lived through.
Rev 14 (v. 1) Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand....(v. 3) They sang as it were a new song before the throne,... and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.
They sang a song no one else could learn, a song of experience, the ones redeemed had an experience with their savior.
Character—a person marked by notable traits, moral excellence and firmness, a person of sound character.
Hope—to expect with desire, accompanied by a belief in fulfillment.
So, various trials test your faith and produce patience, so that you may be perfect and complete!!
More Webster's Dictionary key words:
Faith—firm belief in something for which there is no proof.
Patience—bearing trials calmly, steadfastness despite opposition or adversity, able or willing to bear it.
Steadfastness—firmly fixed in place, not subject to change, firm in belief, determination, loyal, faithful.
So, why does God allow us to suffer through persecution?
Because, trials test your faith which produces, patience that you may be perfect and complete....
That you may be perfect and complete, like you were in the beginning!
God is using “suffering” to forge out our character, restoring us back to the way we were from the beginning.
How were we, in the beginning?
Gen 1 (v. 26) Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Let Us make man in our image........we were perfectly created!!
So, God will use “suffering” to restore the inside of our beings, and then use [ I Cor 15:51-54 ] to restore the outside of our bodies. Resulting in a complete and perfect transformation for the kingdom!!
I Cor 15 (v. 51) Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; (v. 52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (v. 53) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
You see, “Left Behind” and the Secret rapture, wants to deprive us of this experience. The flesh does not want to suffer, and that is why man has devised the Left behind series!!
To find out what actually happens at the end, let’s take a look at the real biblical facts about the second coming of Christ, on the next webpage.
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