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Audio recording April 18, 2010 Right click to download

a. We are in a war.

b. The victory is already won by Jesus through His Cross and resurrection. How did Jesus win?  He was crucified through weakness.

c. Now we are to finish that victory through our cross. That can be painful.

d. Godly suffering is misunderstood.

e. There is such a thing as stupid suffering. If we sow bad seeds in our lives we can suffer unnecessary afflictions.

f. Even if we do not sow bad seeds, afflictions and challenges will come.

g. God has given us the resurrection power to resurrect the afflictions into "friends." (Colossians 1:20)

h. God is not the one who causes or brings afflictions. (Job chapter 1)

The Secret Of Afflictions.

If we are walking close to the Lord Jesus in intimate fellowship with Him, He will give us peace during our challenging times. Often in my life He will let me know personally that He is aware of what I am going through and is walking with me. That in itself is great comfort!

As a follower of Jesus Christ, you will for sure encounter trials, afflictions and spiritual warfare. Satan will send dream snatchers, as in Mark 4. Satan comes to steal the seed that God spoke into your heart. Forgive them and move on. However, in addition to human dream snatchers there will be demonic afflictions that will also attempt to snatch your dream and vision.

A believer must know that fruit must be preceded by afflictions.

Hebrews 2:10 says,

10 “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

If we are walking close to the Lord Jesus in intimate fellowship with Him, He will give us peace during our challenging times. Often, in my life, He will let me know personally that He is aware of what I am going through and is walking with me. That in itself is great comfort!

The secret.

Colossians 1:20:

20 “and by Him [the Father] to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

The word reconcile means to create a friend from an enemy, or to bring a friendly relationship between two disputing parties. We know that we, as humans, have been reconciled to Christ. However, this Scripture in Colossians 1:20 says that God makes a friend of all “things.”  Our afflictions are things. How does He do that?  Through the blood of His cross!  The miracle of the cross of Jesus and His shed blood is that He turned the most horrible act that Satan or any human could ever perpetrate on any human being into the greatest blessing that this world has ever known.

Sin, not necessarily your sin but sin in general in this earth,  is the cause of pain and suffering. Because Jesus bore all sin, therefore when pain and suffering comes to you, it finds no sin with which to harm you. Of course, we are not perfect, but if we continually confess our sin He continually keeps us clean. Therefore, if you believe this, all that pain, suffering and affliction must, by law, become a blessing. It is not up to you to predict how the blessing will take place, it is only your task to believe and worship God for His wonderful miracle that took place in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Paul actually rejoiced in his sufferings.

Colossians 1:24:

24 “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10:

9 “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Notice that Paul did not say that he merely endured his suffering and afflictions, but that he actually rejoiced in them and took pleasure in them. Why could he say this?  Rejoicing, praising and worshipping God during the affliction is part of the process of your victory. Complaining and misjudging God will seal your defeat. If God is able, through your faith, turn every hardship into a "friend," and if we know that fruit is on the way in our lives, then we also can rejoice. This is a secret that Satan knows and hides from believers.

Paul knew the secret.

Notice in Colossians 1:24 above, that Paul said that his afflictions were actually filling up those afflictions of Christ that were lacking. Paul also stated that his afflictions were working for the benefit of the Body of Christ, the Church. How could this be?

I have learned some things about this issue not only by Holy Spirit speaking Scripture to me, but also by personal experience.

Jesus paid the entire price for sin on the cross and by His resurrection He applied that to us. In that regard there was nothing lacking. I believe what was and is lacking is what is called our soul death and resurrection. Our afflictions in some mysterious way, when reconciled, brings God's fruit into this world and brings others into the saving knowledge of Jesus and into His Kingdom.

Look at Old Testament Joseph as an example.

Joseph suffered greatly at the hands of his brothers and at the hands of the authorities in Egypt while he was a prisoner. However somehow Joseph’s testimony was, “But God was with me.”  When he was finally delivered from prison and made prime minister over Egypt, he was not only personally delivered and rewarded, but his afflictions caused God’s people, all of Israel to be saved. That is an example of what our afflictions will do if suffered in faith.

Now look at this entire passage in Colossians in this context.

Colossians 1:19-20, 24-27:

19 “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,

20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,

25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,

26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Notice the end result that Paul had in mind through his sufferings, in verse 27. He knew that his afflictions would reveal to many the mystery that Christ actually lives in them!  I submit that often the only way that God can reveal that secret to many is through our afflictions. I have some very specific personal testimonies about this that have amazed me!

Putting it all together. It has to do with the death and resurrection of our soul.

When we were saved we received the resurrected Spirit of Jesus. When we go to Heaven we will receive our resurrected bodies. In the meantime, our soul is here in its unperfected state. That includes our will, mind and emotions. When we go through afflictions and suffering that is our "soul death." That is when we are called to be "overcomers." As we pass through the valley of the shadow of death trusting and worshipping God through it all, our soul realizes a resurrection. Through multiple resurrections our soul begins to resemble more and more the soul of Jesus!

When that happens the same power that defeated Satan through the resurrection of Jesus defeats the enemies in our realm of influence, and we bear much fruit as Jesus did through His resurrection!  There are many proof Scriptures for this process, but I do not feel that this small booklet is the place in which to go into detail. Here are two.

John 12:24 (KJV):

24 “Most assuredly, I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the groud and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

Overcoming involves our soul death.

Revelation 12:11:

“11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives [psuche or soul] to the death.”

This is the process that God took Abraham through.

A blood covenant requires two deaths, the blood of both parties. Jesus took up His cross and allowed His own crucifixion. That was His part.

Part one, God's part.

God spoke His promise to Abraham first in Genesis chapter 12. That was a huge promise for someone who was without child. In the natural, Abraham and Sarah could not bear children.

Genesis 12:2:

“2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.”

Then God spoke the vision to Abraham another time in Genesis chapter 15.

Genesis 15:5:

“5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.””

Abraham needed something more from God to help him believe such an incredible promise. So Abraham asked God to help him believe.

Genesis 15:8:

“8 And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?””

God answered that question with a blood covenant ceremony. That ceremony foretold of the cross and shed blood of Jesus to come in the future.

Genesis 15:9, 10:

“9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.”

Like the cross of Jesus wherein we had no part, God put Abram to sleep. Neither Abraham nor we can have anything to do with the merciful shedding of blood on the part of God.

Genesis 15:12:

“12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.”

The two beings that walked through the blood covenant ditch, in my opinion, were two manifestations of God, the smoking oven and the burning torch. The smoking oven infers God's wrath. All of God's wrath was put on Jesus at the cross.

Genesis 15:17:

“17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.”

Part two, our part. Our soul death.

As I discuss in my other books, especially Grow or Die in the Flowing River [1], we take up our cross when we deny our mind, will and emotions to exercise their ungodly attributes. But that is simply the "taking up." After that there must be the actual crucifixion or our soul.

When Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, He completed His part of the blood covenant. He gave us the right to have the resurrected Holy Spirit join with our spirit. He gave us the privilege of obtaining a resurrected body when our earthly body dies. However, in the meantime here on earth our "old soul" still lives. That is something that He cannot control. That is within our sovereign will to say yes or no to.

That is what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, it is our willingness to take up our cross and put our soul before the Lord as a living sacrifice, Romans 12:1-2. When we take up our cross, it is inferring that we are willing to allow our soul go through death and resurrection.

Abram's soul death.

Genesis 22:1, 2:

“1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.””

Try to imagine this. You cannot have children, however God promises that you not only will have children but that they will be as numerous as the sand of the sea and the stars in the sky, and they will be greatly used for the salvation of mankind.

Then, supernaturally, you have a child. But wait. Then God tells you to go kill your child as a sacrifice to Him. Tell me: how would you feel?  Would your soul die?  Yet Abraham so solidly believed God that not only was he willing to obey, but also thought that even if he did kill his son, that God would surely raise him from the dead just to keep His promise.

Hebrews 11:17-19:

“17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”

19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”

As Abraham obeyed God, God raised up a substitute sacrifice, depicting Christ.

Genesis 22:12, 13:

“12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”

That was the "resurrection" of Abraham's soul.

After the death and resurrection of our soul, we are united in blood covenant with the death and resurrection of Jesus in a new way. We are already united via the blood covenant at our new birth because that is when our first soul death took place. We rejected and died to our independence and made Jesus Lord.

However, as we go through deeper soul deaths we are united to God's covenant power in a much stronger way, way beyond our human comprehension for the bearing of abundant fruit.

Look how God sent Abraham a personal message promising abundant fruit.

God had made promises before, but now that Abraham had turned his affliction into a friend, the fruit had been given the atmosphere on which to travel.

Genesis 22:15-18:

“15 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,

16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son --

17 “blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.””

The promise of prosperity after your soul death.

3 John 1:2:

“2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”

Jesus' Kingdom works like fruit.

Fruit, like grapes, have exponential growth. Each grape has two seeds in it, which produce two more grape vines, not just two more grapes. Just imagine if each vine had 1,000 grapes what the exponential increase could be!  The first reproduction cycle could have as much as 2,000,000.

Jesus' Kingdom works like yeast or leaven.

Yeast also has an amazing exponential increase. Yeast, or leaven, consists of living cells. Each cell splits into two cells, and they keep splitting and splitting until the yeast has grown in an amazing way!

Ungodly yeast or leaven.

In Mark chapter 8, Jesus was addressing the disciples in the boat about their fear of not having enough food, or you could say, provisions in life. They had only brought one loaf of bread for the trip and they became worried like so many of us.

Mark 8:13-21:

“13 And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.

14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.

15 Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”

17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?

18 “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?

19 “When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.”

20 “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.”

21 So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?””

Why did Jesus warn them about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod?

The yeast of the Pharisees.

The yeast of the Pharisees is self-righteousness. They turned God's Word upside down, focusing on external details but violating God's important principles and commands. They supposed that their external obedience to the Law could cause God to take care of their temporal needs.

The yeast of Herod.

Herod represents "the World system." Herod represents cheating, self-indulgence, grabbing power, hurting others to promote one's self. It is like the corporate world today and much like even some people who just exist on trying to steal to eat and others who live for the lust of pleasure.

Jesus was telling His disciples in effect, to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and watch the Kingdom yeast provide an abundance for your life, Matthew 6:33.

Godly yeast or leaven.

Matthew 13:33:

“33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.””

In effect what Jesus was saying all the way through Matthew chapter 13 was that if we would plug into His Kingdom that we would live a life of abundant fruit, not only for our own needs but also for His. What I am saying is that the only way to experience our full potential for supernatural fruit, way beyond our imagination, is to cooperate with God in the death and resurrection of our souls as I have been describing.

Amos 9:13:

“13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it.”

I did not learn this by merely studying the Word, although it is certainly in the Word. I learned, and still am learning this secret by experiencing my own soul death. When I saw amazing fruit appear, I became speechless, well almost!  It is a "mind blowing" experience, of entering into the rest of God, yet watching fruit come into your life for which there is not explanation other than God's working.

It makes sense. As your old flesh natured soul "dies" and is resurrected, it is renewed more and more into the likeness of Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate fruit bearer, and He lives in you!

Could the little boy or even the disciples in John chapter 6 explain or boast in feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves?  Just imagine what that little boy told his mama when he got home!  "Mama, you should have seen what that Man did!"

How are we to reckon this fruit?  What kind of mindset can possible predict the supernatural increase God can provide?

Jesus said that we could experience abundant life.

John 10:10:

“10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

The original Greek meaning of the word abundantly is:

4053 perissov perissos {per-is-sos'}

more, beyond measure, vehemently, more abundantly, very highly, exceeding some number or measure or rank or need., over and above, more than is necessary, superadded, surpassing, uncommon, pre-eminence, superiority, advantage, more eminent, more remarkable, more excellent, superior, extraordinary, something further, more, much more than all.

From Watchman Nee - A Table In The Wilderness, March 27.

The odor that draws others to Christ.

“The house was filled with the odor of the ointment.” John 12:3.

By the breaking of that flask for the Lord’s sake, the home in Bethany was pervaded with the sweetest fragrance. Something was set free for all to appreciate, and none could be unaware of it. What is the significance of this?

Have you ever met someone who has suffered deeply, and whose experiences have compelled him to find satisfaction in the Lord alone? Then immediately you have become aware of something. Immediately your spiritual senses detect a fragrance – what Paul terms “a sweet savor of Christ.” Something has been broken in that life in order to release what is there within of God himself, and you cannot mistake it. Yes, the odor that filled the house that day in Bethany still fills the Church today. Mary’s fragrance never passes.

God's presence through the Holy Sprit will comfort us in any affliction.

I believe that the reason that Jesus was baptized was so that He could make the statement before Heaven, Earth and Hell, that He, a righteous man would die the death of the unrighteous. We get baptized in order to symbolize the death of our old sinful nature. Jesus was baptized to symbolize the death of His godly nature for us.

When that happened, I submit that He felt a great degree of torment, realizing His future suffering. Notice, however, that the Dove, the Holy Spirit came upon Him to bring Him peace and comfort. That works the same with us. When life torments us, the Dove, the Holy Spirit, will come upon us in a powerful way to fill us with God's grace for whatever suffering we may be going through. I would rather have that, than any answer to prayer.

Matthew 3:13-17:

“13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.

14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.””

From Streams in the Desert 2.

Genesis 41:52:

“52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.””

Ephraim means, "double affliction, double fruit."

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls." Dr. Edward T. Sullivan once took for his text: "every gate a pear!! Every entrance into the heavenly life is through a pearl! What is a pearl? A wound is made in a shell. A grain of sand, perhaps, gets imbedded in the wound. And all the resources of repair are rushed to the place where the breach has been made. When the breach has been closed, and the process of repair is complete, a pearl is found closing the wound. The break calls forth unsuspected resources of the shell and a beauty appears that is not otherwise brought out. A pearl is a healed wound! No wound, no pear!!"

He went on to show how, in our lives, misfortune can be transformed into blessing, hurts changed into pearls of precious value. Even a grievous handicap may become a lifesaving power. He tells a story of Nydia, the blind flower girl in the Last Days of Pompeii. She had not become bitter about her blindness; nor had she sulked or sat at home. She had gone about the business of living and had earned her livelihood as best she could. Then came the awful day of the eruption of Vesuvius, with "The doomed city as dark as midnight beneath a thick pall of smoke and falling ashes; the terror-stricken inhabitants rush blindly to and fro, and lose themselves in the awful blackness." But Nydia does not get lost; because of her cross of blindness, she had learned to find her way by touch and hearing, and now she could go straight to rescue the life of the one she loved best. By learning to walk Swiftly and surely in the dark, she had made of her handicap a treasure and a God-send in the dark hour.

"Every gate a pear!!" Every misfortune, every failure, every loss, may be transformed. God has the power to transform all "misfortunes" into God-sends. So Jesus transformed the cross from a criminal's badge of shame into the sign of the love of God. Often it takes a wound to transform a denying Peter into a fearless rock of a man. "No wound, no pearl." Out of life's buffetings may come our richest rewards.

Whether life grinds down a man, or polishes him, depends on what he is made of!

[1] The Flowing River: http://www.isob-bible.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94%3Athe-flowing-river&catid=50&Itemid=74