This excerpt is from chapter five of my book, “Grace for the Battle” available for purchase at www.stage4ministries.com. I have been focused on other projects for the past few months, unable to spend much time writing. I pray that will change soon and I will write much more in the coming months. Until then, I am praying that you are encouraged by this excerpt.
“WHEN CHRIST CALLS A MAN, HE BIDS HIM COME AND DIE.”
—Bonhoeffer
We have to understand what “calling” is and how it relates to suffering in life. I learned early on that I could go through anything, any kind of difficulty or trial or suffering as long as I knew that God was with me. That is why prayer is so important. When we pray we see the greatness of God and this helps us to understand how small our problems are. When we pray, we should also pray for big things and have to understand that the most impossible thing we could ever think about asking does not even come close to the power of God to accomplish it. Nothing is too difficult for him. Our suffering is bearable when we are close to the Father. He consoles and comforts us in our difficulties. Is suffering part of the plan? What about difficulty and trial? Will it happen to us if we are walking closely with Jesus? Truth is, the closer we are to Jesus, the more of a target we become:
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…” (2 Timothy 3:12, ESV)
Paul also told the Philippians:
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake…” (Philippians 1:29, ESV)
The road will be difficult. If I am committed to the plan of God in my life and how it can affect the lives of others through the gospel of Jesus Christ, I must answer that I am willing to take that road on my journey. The choice is not made in the storm but way before the storm, back when I first came to Christ. It is the only way to survive when the winds and waves hit. This kind of strength does not come from me. I would shrivel up and die in my own power. I am only strong because of what Christ has done for me and that He has left me the greatest of all gifts, the Holy Spirit to work in, and to make me more like Jesus, who was willing to suffer and die. It was shameful what they did to Him, but it was necessary to save us from our sin. It was necessary so that we could have the Spirit of God living inside of us, changing us. This is whom I rely upon. I am His to do with as He sees fit, suffering or abounding in goodness, I am His. Even in difficulty, He has never steered me wrong. I have always known Him to be good.
GOSPEL OF GRACE WORTH IT
The Gospel of grace is worth much more than my life. I am insignificant in the grand scheme of things. My life is a blip on the radar. But for the sake of seeing someone come to Christ, I want to be a big bold, and bright blip! In order to do this I must be determined to surrender myself in such a way that God’s plans are worth my suffering.
I should make a distinction here, even though it may be little more than semantics. The suffering I endured was due to cancer a disease that is the result of the fall where sin entered the world through our first parents, Adam and Eve. The suffering that the early Christians went through in the scriptures was a choice they made. They knew there would be persecution because they decided to preach Jesus. But they did it anyway. They knew that they would more than likely end up in prison for their stand. If prison was where their next ministry was going to be, then that was where God wanted them.
My suffering was not a choice I made to suffer, but a choice in suffering. If I had been given the choice to not go through cancer, then at the time I would have asked to be relieved of it. I would have missed so many opportunities to give others the gospel and the growth that God did in me, but before I knew that, I would have said, “No way!” I didn’t get that choice, and praise God, He is taking me through it and making me more like Him daily.
But that is where the semantics end. I still have to make the choice daily to get up and to face the day no matter what may come. I have to make that choice in following Christ or my own flesh. These choices come only from begging the Holy Spirit to fill and give me the strength that I need to do even the most mundane of things. I love that He makes valid my invalidities. He still uses this broken-down body for His glory. It is the only way I get through what I do.
God has given me His mission. It is my calling. You’ll read about this in a later chapter, but the verse God gave me as my marching orders was:
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24, ESV)
“NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP.”
― Winston Churchill
You must be willing to give up life and limb to win the battle. My life has significance as long as I am on God’s side and I only fail if God Himself fails, and if that is the case, then there is nothing worth fighting for. We are in a battle that we must never give up. The enemy has taken souls captive and we must free them with the only thing that will open the prison doors, the key, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18)
This is what gets us to the point of being willing to suffer for the name of Jesus. We have counted the cost. We have seen that it is worth the suffering. Are the eternities and souls of men, women, and children worth putting ourselves in grave danger? Is it worth losing our lives? The answer is Yes. The call of God tells us there will be bumpy roads and pain, but also the triumph of seeing people come to know the Savior. That’s worth it to me. I would rather be preaching the gospel in pain than doing nothing, sitting in the lap of luxury in complacency.
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