Because I Love You…I Suffer Well

I start a new “Because I Love You” series by telling the truth about suffering and why it belongs in the Christian walk. I walk through 1 Peter to show how trials can refine our faith, expose what we really believe, and teach us how to endure with love instead of self pity. 
• launching the “Because I Love You” series and the two vantage points of love toward God and love from God 
• defining suffering broadly as hardship rooted in the Fall while recognizing different levels of pain 
• suffering as inevitable for Christians and why Scripture says not to be surprised 
• the danger of believing “doing right” should prevent trials 
• 1 Peter’s picture of faith refined like gold through fire 
• a personal C-section story revealing entitlement and transactional thinking 
• suffering as a way to build a track record of God’s faithfulness 
• the role of discipline in resisting false comforts and self pity 
• why we choose to suffer well as an act of love and devotion 
• Jesus’ suffering as the foundation of our redemption and our courage 

Be sure to check out the podcast notes or the show notes, either down below the video or um wherever it may be from whatever you're watching for scripture references, anything else we might throw in there. 
Be sure to visit my website for more resources with today's episode, and I'll link the website right here as well. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hello

Welcome And The Pressure Of Optics

SPEAKER_00 0:20

and welcome to the Obedience with Love podcast. I'm your host, Alexis Pierce. The lighting is gonna be a little weird just because the sun's gone down, but yeah, thank you for being here. I'm excited to be here. This is actually my second time recording the intro for today. It's just so funny because what I was talking about before when I thought I was recording and I wasn't, was just that prior to starting the podcast tonight and recording, I don't know where I just stopped really wanting to. I didn't really want to record anymore. I just have this feeling I didn't want to do it, which I was saying could be warfare, but that I think a lot of it really stems from having to think about the optics now that I'm recording and it's like visually now that I'm doing the podcast visually as well, not just audio, and just the optics that I'm gonna think through that, like silly things like you know, I put my daughter down for her bed bedtime tonight, like I did her bath and her bedtime, and so I didn't have my ring on during that whole thing. And right before I started recording, I was like, Oh no, my ring's not on, my wedding's not on. Like, what are people gonna think? Like, I'm gonna make sure I put it on, like things silly stuff like this, right? That I'm like, I gotta think through those things, but yeah. So, anyway, um, because none of that really whatever.

Introducing The Because I Love You Series

SPEAKER_00 1:40

I was introducing today's topic for the podcast, which is a new series we're gonna be starting. It's called Because I Love You. It's a series Lord actually gave me when he told me to start the podcast back up again, one of the series. And so in the Because I Love You series, we're gonna explore different topics and we're gonna discuss it from two different vantage points. So the first vantage point being us as the believer, because we love you, like because we love God, we do X, Y, and Z, right? But the other vantage point is gonna be from the Lord's perspective, and like because I love you, I did X, Y, and Z, or I do X, Y, and Z. And so we get to see it from both sides. And my prayer is that the Lord will use the each topic in each conversation, each episode to shed light on how we can grow on our in our walks and how we can grow in our expression of love towards God, and can help fuel our faith on the on the opposite end. We hear from uh here in scripture how the Lord does or has done these things towards us. Um, help us grow in our faith and belief that God loves us, and again, that will fuel our faith to trust him and continue, continue to believe him and believe his word is true. So yeah, I'm excited. And today's topic is a topic that I've actually begun to see more people talk about this. So I can't say it isn't talking about a lot anymore. It used to not be, but it kind of is now. But all around suffering, and maybe it is people that I listen to talking about suffering. I don't know. But it's a topic that I really like to talk about because it is a part of the walk, and I think sometimes you gotta just be honest about that. Um be honest about it, and it's good to know what you're getting into personally. That's what I think. I think it's good to know what you're getting into. Um, where Jesus in scripture says count the costs, I think it's very important that like we do that because there are you know costs, but the reward on the other side is just so much better than the cost, and it's much more worth it, you know. In the grand scheme of things, what we get is a reward, meaning salvation and eternal life with with the with the Lord, with God. The cost is just so minuscule. So, but yeah, save from all suffering. We're gonna start the first episode of the series, and so we're gonna look at suffering from the vantage point of us as the believer and why we suffer well. So it's gonna be because I love you, I suffer well. And so, why do we suffer well as an expression of our love towards Christ? And what does it do for us on our walks? And how does the Lord use suffering to grow us and help us? Yeah, on the daily, on the daily.

Opening Prayer And Setting Intentions

SPEAKER_00 4:15

So yeah, I'm gonna pray in and then we're gonna get into it, okay? Dear Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord God, if you see me open my eyes while I'm praying, it's because the last time I thought I was recording, it was and I wasn't, it was when I realized I was I was when I was done praying, and I was like, oh no, I I recorded nothing. So if you see me beeking, it's because I'm trying to make sure I'm still recording. Okay. Dearly Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, I just thank you. Thank you, Lord God, for just being able to find the humor and things and when stuff happens, like just you know, keeping it pushing and enduring and having that diligence to keep going, even in the face of uh adversity and trial and things not working correctly, which for some could be considered suffering, you know, real-time learning. But we continue, we persevere, we endure um until the end. Because that is how we reap the reward. And so, Lord God, I just pray and ask that you will have your way during this episode, during this podcast, during our lives, Lord Jesus, for every single person, even if this one person that listens to this, and only one. Let this one person that is hearing this or watching this, Lord, be blessed by you. Not only or not just, you know, material things, Lord, but bless them with peace, bless them with joy, bless them with the ability to endure trials and hardships and bless them with your presence. Because, man, being known by you and having the ability to speak to you is such a blessing. And so, Lord God, I just pray and ask that you would speak through me and that you'll give me the power to do the things that please you and the power to do the things that you desire in today's episode and say the things that you have placed on my heart to say, and so Lord Jesus, I just trust you, I need you, I submit to you, have your way. I'm a living vessel for you, for your use, Lord God. And so, yeah, do what only you can do. I'm in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, let's get into it,

What Counts As Suffering

SPEAKER_00 6:08

y'all. So, today we're gonna spend the majority of our time in uh first Peter. I think that, you know, through my studies, we we might have Baronna James for just a moment, but for majority of my studies, I think that First Peter is a really great book to be in for a conversation around suffering. So, high-level, what is suffering, right? A lot of people define it many different ways, you know. Some people are like, you only suffer if I mean you're being persecuted, meaning like your life is on the line. That's when that's only true suffering. Some people say that suffering is any hardship that we face on this, you know, side of heaven. I think that suffering personally, and my my definition is very wide, right? Because I think that suffering is any negative uh experience that we have here on earth because of the fall. So it could be as serious, right, as your life being put in danger or your life being on the line because of your faith, to as minuscule as your feelings being hurt because in this mighty say, right? I think it's all part of the suffering. There are definitely levels to suffering or persecution and just the trials that we face, there are definitely levels I would not consider those two things, two examples I gave to be on the same level of suffering. But I think that they are all suffering. I think grief is suffering when we have a person in our life that passes. I think that conflict is a form of suffering. When we have, you know, issues with one another, like none of those things were meant to be, you know, and the perfect utopia that was the garden of Eden, right? Like none of that existed before the fall. And so anytime there's disunity or disagreement or frustration, anger, irritation, all of this is a part of all that is a result of the fall. And all of that really lens the suffering that we experience here on earth. And so, yeah, I don't see it as just super surprising. I also don't think that the super maybe quote unquote minuscule loathing is less important. I think all of it impacts us on the daily, um, and all of it um has the ability to make us feel like we're having a hard time in life. It truly does. And so it's important for us, I think, as believers, to know how to suffer well because it's inevitable. We're gonna go into the inevitableness of suffering next. But suffering is inevitable, it's something we're all gonna experience. And so we have to not think it's strange, we have to not be surprised, we have to know how to navigate it and not just navigate it, but really navigate it well so that we can reap what it is the Lord wants us to get from the suffering. Because nothing is done without intention, or nothing, and nothing is allowed even without intention from God. And so the Lord has purposes behind um allowing suffering to occur in our life, and he has a reason why he allows it and he knows what we'll get out of it if we're willing to allow space for him to do what needs to be done in our hearts and in our lives, and so let's go to First Peter, meet me there. Leave me there. It's so funny being on camera, like, and the thing is, I'm so goofy at times that like even just looking up and smelling like that, like I don't know. I don't even know why I did why I did that. Anyway, first Peter.

Reading 1 Peter On Trials

SPEAKER_00 9:42

And we're gonna be let's first go to just the first chapter, first Peter one. I'm gonna read verses one through nine. I like to read the greetings of the chapters, like of the letters, just cuz I don't know, it's cool to hear from them and know who we're talking about, and I think it's cool. Anyway, so I'm reading CSB. First Peter chapter one reads Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those chosen, living living as exiles, dispersed abroad in Pontius, Galatia, Capodicea, Asia, Pythonia, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Starting at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God's power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, even though now, for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials, so that the proven character of your faith, more valuable than gold, which, though perishable, is refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though not now, or though not seeing him now, you believe him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. And so there's so much fact in this. Oh my goodness. So let's get into it. Also, because the sun's going down, and when the sun goes out, this has to, yeah. Anyway,

Suffering Is Sometimes Necessary

SPEAKER_00 11:58

so I think one of the important things to call out here is that Peter uh speaks to suffering and trials as a like it's it's gonna be a necessity, like if necessary, which means that at times it will be necessary. That's in verse six. I'm gonna read it again. You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials. And so there's a necessity to the suffering when it happens. And I think that if you allow it to, that can be comforting. That when you're in a place of suffering, you're like, I need this. I don't know why I might need this right now, but I need this, right? Um, and if you allow the Lord to reveal to you the why, and you know, allow him to work out so we'll talk about what he's working out during that time of suffering, you'll reap the goal, the benefit, the reward of the suffering, which is to refine your faith, right? To strengthen your faith. And the ultimate goal of our faith is to have the salvation. That's what Peter says, is to be in heaven, have eternal life, to be with God. Like that's the ultimate goal of our faith. And so, suffering, to know that suffering aids in that ultimate goal is really encouraging, at least for me, to think about in my time to trial. And I'll be honest with you, I'm not coming from a place of like, oh, you know, my only suffering is like I said, somebody talking, might be mean to me. No, like as a leader over a ministry, as a leader at my job, as a mom, as a wife, I've experienced, I mean, not the highest level of suffering, not at all, but I've definitely gone through my own various sets of trials. And even prior to becoming a believer, right? Because it rains on the just and the unjust, right? And so even before I was justified by by Christ, and I was an unbeliever, and I was uh living in the world, doing worldly things, I was experiencing so much suffering and I had I had uh injustices done to me as a child, as a as a growing up, you know what I mean? And so I I experienced suffering even then, that even now as a believer, I've had to go through healing with the Lord and just renewal and re and just the Lord restoring my mind and healing me and deliverance and all that felt like suffering in the moment, in the process, right? But it did increase my faith and it did grow me and it did help me to see the Lord in in greater ways. And so again, all of it was necessary in the moment it needed to happen, meaning like the deliverance and all that stuff, not the not what actually happened, the trauma, but the suffering that the deliverance brought, right? And like dying to self, which is a former suffering in and of itself, dying to yourself, dying to your own ways, the suffering that that brought about all aided in me being able to see the Lord more clearly and understand him more and love him better, love him better, and love him with more sincerity, and so all of it was needed, and so I love that Peter speaks to this because I think sometimes in the midst of suffering and trials, we're like, Why is this happening to me? And like, what did I do? And I uh wrote a note here to expect it, right? And to not be surprised. I'm pretty sure it's chapter four of the same book, First Peter, where Peter says, like, don't be surprised. He literally says it, I gotta find it. I'll find it. Oh, here it is. There

Do Not Be Surprised By Fire

SPEAKER_00 15:33

it is. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeals come among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. So, yeah, so it's like even Peter's like, listen, don't be surprised. But I think a lot of times we are surprised. A lot of times we're taken off guard because we aren't prepared for it, you know, we aren't ready for it. And one thing that I wrote down is that I think that the shock and the surprise comes from us thinking that because we do the right things, right? We have this morality bent. A lot of us as believers, like I'm doing the right thing, I'm reading my word, I'm praying, I am fasting, I am going to church, I am loving my spouse, my husband or wife, taking care of my kids, I'm paying my bills, you know, I'm doing these things, quote unquote, perfectly, or I'm doing it well. That suffering should just move past me. Suffering's for those who aren't truly, you know, what our hearts and what our response show is that we think that suffering is for those who deserve it, and we don't think we deserve it, right? We think that our works excuse us from the suffering that the Lord Himself literally said that we will experience. Jesus literally said, In the world you have trial and tribulation, but take courage because I've overcome the world. But we're right now we're in the world, we're not of the world, but we're in the world. So there's gonna be trials and tribulation, we're gonna have that. But we think that a lot of us, maybe I'm not talking about you, but I know a lot of us that think that because we quote unquote do the right thing, that morality is there, that we should be excused from the suffering that is promised to all of us, right? And so that's why when it comes around the block and stuff at your house, you like, hold on, why you what you doing here? I did not invite you over here, you know? And I get it to a degree because it's always something that draws us back to the Lord because it's like jarring. It can be jarring, whatever suffering you're experiencing. Like, you know, the top of June, we had to let our family dogs down. That was one of the hardest things I've ever experienced. I didn't expect it to be that hard, to be honest with you. I didn't know what to expect, but I definitely didn't expect it to be that hard. And that's a form of suffering. Like I said, grief or even that's us all suffering. And it was really hard, but it did draw me even closer to the Lord because I needed comfort and I needed real comfort, you know, because it was something I hadn't experienced. I didn't know really how to feel, to be honest with you. And so suffering has a way of if you allow it, all this is if you allow it, because man, there are two ways we can go with suffering, right? We can either allow what needs to be done in our hearts and in our lives, like to happen, or the Lord is trying to use suffering to do within us, to do, to do it, to refine us. As we talk about, I'm gonna talk about more in further verses, like we'll either allow the suffering to refine us, or we will resist and reject and just out of like anger and frustration, we'll push God away. You know, we'll be like, mm-mm, you let me down. The disappointment, it really is disappointment at the root of all of that, but we'll push God away because we don't want to submit to what it is that he's doing, we don't want to submit to his sovereignty, and the sovereignty can be either um, you know, suffering or no suffering in the present time. But getting back to the inevitableness of suffering, we also gotta remember that Jesus suffered on the cross. Talk about all the time, Jesus died on the cross, he suffered on the cross. That's real suffering. He's just some real suffering. And so um, we gotta think about the fact that we are his disciples, we are Christians, which means little Christ, right? If we are made in his image, if we are becoming more and more like him, then that means we're gonna experience more and more than he experiences, right? Or that he did experience. And so what he experienced was suffering. And so we that's just a lot, baby. That's the lot, you know what I'm saying? That's what we got. And so then the question turns from, will we suffer? Why do we suffer? We gotta move from that because that's just maturity and understanding of the word shows us that it's gonna happen and it's for our good glory, use it for our good, right? And so we have to turn it from why, woe is me, come on, what this can be happening to me. We have to change our language and our narrative from that to now, okay, if this is inevitable, if it's gonna happen, right? Then how do I do it well? How do I do it well? And what could be the benefit from this, right? You gotta start looking, look for what you want to gain out of this situation, you know, and it really will help in the whole process of suffering. And so I think that that's a good point to go into next. It's like what what could we gain from suffering if we know that God is good and we believe that and we know that the Lord works all things to the Lord makes all things good for the good of those.

Refining Faith Like Gold

SPEAKER_00 20:51

What's the scripture, y'all? Y'all know what I'm saying. It's been a long day, but anyway, basically what I'm saying is the Lord works all things to the good of those who love him and are called called according to his purposes. Thank you, Holy Spirit. So if we believe that to be true and we know that to be true, then we gotta understand and find out, okay, what's the friend doing for me, then? You know, because it gotta be doing something good for me, because of what the word says. And so Peter kind of lays that out in verse 7. When I'll read that, it says, So that the proven character of your faith, more valuable than gold, which though perishable is refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What Peter really is getting at here is that suffering shows the character of your faith. What do I mean when I say that? Suffering will show do you actually believe? And if you do believe, what you what do you believe? And so, like, I would make it very personal to myself. When I had my daughter, I had to have a C section. I didn't get to have her naturally like I wanted to, and I believe. Believe in the Lord, period. Right. And at that time, you know, when I had first had her, I'm like, Lord, I believe you. I have all this faith to believe that you're gonna have allow me to have a natural birth and it's gonna be beautiful. I know that the fog meaning is gonna hurt, and so I'm preparing for the pay, you know what I mean? But I did not really prepare for a c-section, if I'm honest with you. I didn't prepare for that because I'm like, Lord, you wouldn't do that to me. You wouldn't do that to me, not your faithful servant. You wouldn't do that to me. That's crazy. You wouldn't do that to me, and he did. You know what I'm saying? He allowed for it, he allowed me to have a c-section. And there's so much we can get into, but I'm trying to stay on track. I can go to many places. Anyway, I had the c-section, right? And after I had the c-section, I now I can say what it is. And the Lord allowed me to get to a point, a place where He revealed to me what was happening in my heart and what you know, he was revealing through the suffering of it all. Because the C-section brought physical pain, you know what I'm saying? The healing process was hard. It was a lot. How to take medications and a lot, right? And so that was a lot of suffering for me. But what he was revealing to me was that I had one some entitlement, like, oh, I do all this for the kingdom of for your kingdom. Surely, surely you're gonna make sure that I get exactly what I want out of this pregnancy and out of this birthing and labor process, right? Surely you'll do that because that's what I deserve. That's entitlement, right? But what it also revealed about my faith in God was that, like, I thought he owed me. That's what it revealed, right? I I wouldn't have said that out of my mouth. You would have, I think back then, I wouldn't have said that. But my but my response to my suffering showed that I thought he owed me. And what suffering does is that it reveals the true nature of your heart, if you allow it. It reveal, it reveals the impurities that are within your face. So, like we believe a lot of things, you know, and some of that stuff be aligned to the actual truth of God's word, and some stuff be a little cloudy. And when you think about gold, like gold itself, when people or goldsmiths are going to purify gold, they have to heat it up, eat it up in a furnace. It gotta get real, real hot. And what the heat does, it doesn't harm the gold at all. It actually keeps the integrity and the components of the gold itself, but it brings to the surface the impurities in the gold, like, like you know, because the gold is like it's found like in mines, like in like, you know, dirt, debris. And so that stuff has to get cleaned up out of it. And the best way to do that is again putting the heat on it, protecting the integrity and the components of the gold, but bringing the impurities to the surface so that the goldsmith can clean that out, right? And skim that off. And so in my own personal life, you know, speaking about the C-section and the birthing process of labor and delivery, what that suffering allowed for was space for the Lord. Show me and see right there in your faith. Part of your faith and your belief in me think that you can do stuff for me, and then I have to do stuff for you. And that's not how this works. You know, that's not how this works. I'm not transactional. So, your part of your faith, we gotta make sure we we gotta rework some of that thinking, some of that faith you got, so that it's more aligned to the truth of my word. And God is great, he's gracious. I was gonna say he's gracious, then I said great, and that came out because he is great, amen. And so I just went with it. But God is gracious and he's merciful, and yeah, that's that's his mercy to even show us our hearts in that way, that's his mercy to show us the impurities, you know, in our faith, because he wants us to have a sincere faith, a genuine faith, to truly believe him fully, right? And according to his word, not according to what we think, no, according to the word, what is actual faith, you know, what is his actual character. We want to he want us, he wants us to actually know him fully. And so suffering does that. So the potential it has is to purify your faith, make it the most genuine, the most sincere faith in him and who he actually is. And the result of that, what we see in verse, I believe it's verse nine. Yeah, because you you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls, like the the result of all that purifying of our faith is salvation for our souls, and that is the good news, you know. That is the good news, and so again, moving from a place of woe is me, why is this happening to me, self-pity, and going to a place of what is the good that I'm about to get out of this? You know, what is the benefit? What is the purpose that the Lord has for this, and letting that be what your mind is set on, even in the midst of suffering, will help you endure it, will help you get through it, as well as you know, leaning on the Lord, trusting him. But you only gonna trust him if you actually know him, right? You know him for who he actually is and believe that. And that's what our faith is. Our faith is like us believing, and so even as we get through suffering, and because suffering only has is only as an appointed time, has an appointed start and appointed end, it ain't gonna last forever by the grace of God. So suffering is not all, it's not always, you know, yeah, it's not it's not gonna be there always the same way in the same like level of it's not gonna be that, but it's when we get through periods of suffering, right? And we recognize, oh wow, Lord, you didn't change. Oh wow, Lord, you are so loving. Oh wow, Lord, you brought me through that. You are so mighty, you are so strong that our faith even grows in that because it's like, oh my gosh, I got this whole track record of who you

Building A Track Record With God

SPEAKER_00 27:54

are. I think about like, and this is like a very common, you know, things people say, like David, right? When you go wanted to go face Goliath, which is this big, strong, mighty opponent in front of him, right? He called upon him and remembered what God did for him in other moments of adversity and other moments when he had an enemy in front of him, albeit smaller enemies. I mean, if you consider lions small, I mean, it's small compared to Goliath, right? But they were ferocious, right? They were big for him in that moment. Those were his Goliaths, even at that moment. Sometimes he hadn't had a Goliath yet. But it was the lions that he was that he remembered the Lord helping him, you know, take out and overcome that gave him the faith to believe that, oh, if he did it before, he'd do it now. You know, you know that song, like if he did it before, he'll do it again. Same God right now, same God back then, like that. That is what suffering does for us on our walks. It does that, it helps us to have this Rolodex of like, Lord, the Lord showed up here, he showed up there, he showed up that year, he showed up that month, he showed up then. Oh, in this suffering now, the Lord with me in this. I'll get through this, I'll be able to overcome this. Whether it be adversity, opposition, or whether it be pain and brokenheartedness, like all of it, all of all those things of suffering in our past and the Lord being there and showing up for us, aid in our ability to overcome it in our future, right? And in our presence. And it all aids to our faith to believe in him because we see how he has remained and has shown up every single time. As long as we make ourselves available, we are willing to submit and surrender and be like, Lord, I need you, like for real, for real. Like in recognizing our need and our weakness, he shows up and it it is only for our benefit because then we just know him more, then we just believe him more, and then it's like, ah, you're so great, like you're amazing. Like, that's all that it does. Like, and I'm not trying to make it, not trying to like, I don't want to like discount how hard suffering can be because it is really difficult, especially in the moments, right? Like I said, when I was, you know, going through the healing my C section and also had some issues with breastfeeding for a little bit, and like it was just it was hard and it was discouraging and it was disappointing. It was really, really hard mentally, emotionally, physically, on every level, it felt like. And then, of course, when you are hurting emotionally, mentally, physically, you're gonna be hurting spiritually, it feels like. And so, like, I had I I don't want to discount that suffering is difficult, it definitely is. What I want to encourage you in though is that the suffering is not for nothing, you know, and I don't know if that encourages you, but it always encourages me when I think about the fact that okay, I may be going through this, but Lord, you have a purpose for this, and Lord, you're gonna use this, and Lord, I'm going to reap a reward from this. And the greatest reward that I can reap, whether whether it be it something changing, me getting another job, me getting, me being able to do the thing that I'm I want to get, me making more money, whatever it may be, whatever it may be for you, right? Even if you don't get that, the greatest reward is that my faith grows, my sincerity grows, and my faith, my love for you grows, and all of that leads to a salvation of my soul. Because everything else on this earth, y'all, is gonna perish. It's gonna perish. It's gonna go. Like none of it's going with us, right? But our faith is the ticket to eternity in heaven with him. And that's what ah, that's that is the ultimate goal. That is the ultimate goal. We can have our own personal goals, professional goals here on earth, but all that junk is going to parish. It's gonna go, it's not gonna go with us, it's gonna be gone. And we gotta think with eternity in mind, and with eternity mind, the salvation of my soul is the most important thing. And so I'm grateful that even, oh, thank you, Jesus. I'm grateful that even in the finiteness of my own mind, the fact that I don't, I wouldn't be thinking about that. Like, like we just are human. We're not thinking about that. I'm grateful that my father in heaven does think about that. He's like, Alexis needs growth in this area of her faith. And so, as her father, who is sovereign, I gotta allow for this because this is gonna help her grow. This is gonna help her see me better. This is gonna help her have greater genuineness. This is gonna get this impurity out, this is gonna get this false belief out, this false idea out. Like this is it's gonna clean it up, you know? So that on the day, the day, the day, when when we when we stand before him, when I stand before him, I will hear that. Good job, my good and faithful servant. I will I will hear that. Oh yeah, I know you. I know you because I know you because you know me for real, you know, and like that's that's the benefit, that's the reward. And so

Resisting Self Pity With Discipline

SPEAKER_00 33:09

yeah, we have to or we're gonna have to avoid uh the self-pity, you know. I heard uh uh someone around some Keller, you talking about keeping our conscience clear even in suffering. I thought that was really big because when we're suffering, it can be really easy to fall into false comforts because they're not real comforts, fall into false comforts, like, oh okay, I don't really feel like reading my word anymore, or okay, I don't really feel like even talking to you, Lord, anymore. I don't feel like doing anything. I just am sad, right? And I think there's a time and place for that. I'm gonna be honest with you. I think there is a there is a grace the Lord has for like like for me, like your dog just died. If you don't wanna pray in tongues right now, in this moment, I got grace for that, mercy for that. Let's just sit. You know what I'm saying? Think about before, you know, think about how before Joe's friends messed up and opened their mouth, how they just sat with him, which is quiet. I think there's a time and place where just like, you know what, we just gotta sit because the grief is just a lot or the suffering is just a lot. We just gotta sit for a moment and just allow the Lord to encompass us, right? And just surround us. Because life would be life and it'd be hard. But that's a place that we cannot stay in. We cannot stay in that place. There is a time, thinking about even how, and Samuel, when he was grieving, God telling him, like, you know, Saul's no longer the king. He's like, I'm taking my presence away from him, taking my glory from him, taking my anointing away from him. He's no longer the uh he's no longer the anointed king. And Samuel was grieving. He was so sad because he had anointed Saul, right? He had, you know, he had was walking Saul all the way through, you know, him being king. He was invested emotionally, so it hurt. But at one point, God's like, okay, Samuel, we gotta stop. We gotta move on. We got we have got to move on from this. We cannot continue in this pity party, right? And so there is a time, like, because you have to talk about all the time. There's a time for each, for everything, right? And so there's a time to just be like, you know what, this is really hard, and I gotta process the difficulty of what this is. And then there comes a time when it's like, okay, and now I have to stop being so me focused, self-pitying, and pity partying what's happening, and trust the guy of this book that I of that I read and I say I believe in, trust the words that it says, and trust that this is for my benefit and for my good, and let that inform how I feel, let the word inform what I do, let the word inform how I maneuver this season of suffering. Let the word of God and my faith, in my trust in Him, let that be, you know, what motivates me, what motivates me, what drives me, not my feelings. And so we can't be in a little self-pity like that. But that's all about keeping our disciplines up. Again, reading, praying, fasting. You know, if you keep them disciplines up, it's gonna be hard to fall into self-pity because you're gonna be continuously going to the Lord and He's going to continue to speak truth to you. And the truth is, He's there. The truth is he's in control. The truth is you're not alone. The truth is it is but for the season. The truth is you will overcome. You know what I mean? Like he will continue to speak truth to you, the word will speak truth to you because it is truth. I mean, so the discipline will definitely help in the suffering. But

Why Love Chooses To Endure

SPEAKER_00 36:42

when it comes to suffering well, and why you suffer well, and how us suffering well, again, keeping the disciplines up, keeping our our hope in him, remembering the the potential and the purpose of the suffering, all that is suffering well. Why we do that is because of our love for God, right? Like what I wrote down, what made me think of is how in pregnancy and in birth, right? As a mom, you know that pregnancy is gonna make you uncomfortable being pregnant. It was it's so uncomfortable being pregnant, like it's hard. Even before you get into the labor delivery, you feel just big, can't get nothing. It's hard to get comfortable sitting down, hard to get comfortable laying down, it's hard to breathe at times. Like it's hard. You can't eat all the stuff you may want to eat. Like it's it comes with its own set of difficulty that to some people, and I think for some people in their pregnancy, they do suffer. They have a hard pregnancy, they have really hard pregnancies. And so you go through all that though, out of the love you have for the child that you're creating, right? And then when you get to the birthing process, as much as the C-section was difficult for me, I was never upset with with my daughter about the difficulty of the of the birthing process. I was so happy that she was here. I was so glad that she was healthy and she was, you know, I was even thinking too, thinking back about for the when I was talking about it before, that though it didn't come by way of which I may maybe would have chosen, my ultimate desire was that I had a healthy child. And I did. And so the Lord did answer my prayer, even though it didn't look the way I wanted it to look. But it's a whole nother topic, a whole nother topic. We don't have to get into that. But he gave me what I wanted, which was a healthy baby. It was just packaged in a different way, right? Because the Lord said, This way, this way I can get, I can give, I can answer your prayer, and I can get some stuff about it. You need to go. And that's on God being sovereign. But what I was gonna say was just that, yeah, like there's a joy and it's out of love. Like I suffered all the suffering that I went through from the pregnancy through labor and delivery through postpartum, all the difficulty, the suffering, the hardship that it brings inevitably. All of that, I would do it again. I would literally do all of that again the exact same way because of my love for my child. And so when we think about why we suffer well for the Lord, it's out of love because Lord, I love you so much that I know that there's, I know you're good. And I know you're good to me. And I know that there's good that's gonna come out of this. I love you, and so I'm not gonna turn my back on you. I'm not going to allow the present circumstances of my life, the present sufferings of my life to cause me to disparage your character, to cause me to look at you differently. I'm not gonna allow for that, Lord God, because I love you and I know you love me. And if I had to do it all again and it, if I had to do all the suffering again, I would do it again if it means that my faith in you grows, if it means my belief in you grows, if it means that our relationship grows, if it means that my love for you grows, I would do it all again. That is the heart posture of which someone who suffered, who suffers well has. I will do it all again because I love you, because I love you, and I know you would never allow for or do anything that will harm me. This is all for my good. So of course I will do it again, you know? And so, yeah, I think that it's important for us to have that mindset because if we love him, we would we would do it because he also did it.

Jesus Suffered First And Stays Near

SPEAKER_00 40:25

Like it goes back to he did it, he loved us so much that he was willing to suffer for us, and how much more for us, right? And I want to end with verse 18. Um it is chapter 18. Yes, okay, sorry. So verse 18 and 19, which says, For you know that you are redeemed from your empty way of life, inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable themes like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and slotless lamb. And this speaks to what we're gonna talk about next week: him suffering because he loves us, right? We are redeemed because of his blood, but his blood only came by way of suffering. His blood is only there, it only speaks for us, it only covers us because he was willing. Jesus was willing to suffer on the cross out of his love. It was the joy that was set before him, it was his love that drove him there, and he was willing to die in a painful, painful, humiliating type of death for our benefit. Out of in it was his love that drove him there, and so we have to keep that in mind too in our suffering of like, man, Lord, you suffer way more than this because you love me. I can do this out of my love for you, I can do this out of my um affection towards you, my devotion towards you. I can do this because you what I mean, this is nothing compared to what you did for me. Dealing with somebody talking about me, dealing with you know, just the the tribulations, the trials alive, dealing with actual heartbreak and heartache, like I can do this. Not only because you suffer me, you suffer for me, but I can do this because even in my suffering, you don't even leave me. So it's like Jesus was on the cross. We wasn't there, like, oh Lord, you got this. We love you. We're here, you can do this. Thank you for doing no, he was getting spit on, laughed at, pointed at, made fun of, ridiculed, humiliated, and still did it. And oh my goodness, it's like, but uh on our end, when we're suffering, he doesn't even leave us in the suffering, he's with us even in the suffering, he's there encouraging us, he's there strengthening us, and so it's like even in the suffering that's happening for our benefit, he still is there and remains, thankfully, to help us get through it. And so it's like we have no excuse and no reason to not suffer well. We have no reason because he had really no, I mean, God the Father. Thank you, Jesus. But like, no, nobody like us, his children, we weren't there encouraging him, egging him on, like, hey, you can do it, buddy. We weren't doing that, we were not doing that. We were the ones that put him on the cross, we were the ones saying, crucify him. That would have been us saying that, and so. We're the ones that put him on the cross into the suffering. But in our suffering, which is not because he's telling us that we gotta go suffer, it's due to our own, uh, it's so much we can get into. It's due to our is due to the fall, right? It's due to humanity, the brokenness of the world, the sin that is in this earth that it allows for the suffering. But he's like, not only will I make the suffering work for you and not against you, not only will I make it for you, but even while you're in it and while it's working for you, I'm gonna be with you so that you can know that I'm here, so you can be encouraged, so you can be strengthened. You're gonna know that I'm here too, that I will never leave you, even in this thing that I'm allowing that is hard right now, but for a time, but will produce even greater in you. Uh, it's just so good. But yeah, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And so, because I love you, this is my declaration, and I pray it's your declaration, because I love you, Jesus, because I love you, Lord. I suffer well in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, I suffer well. And so we're gonna just close in prayer, but I pray, and I will pray that that be your declaration as well, that you will suffer well because of your love for God, because He did it for you, like we're gonna talk about next week, and because He helps you

Closing Prayer And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 45:20

through it. And so, dear Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I just thank you for your word. I thank you that your word is good. I thank you that you are good, and I thank you that we can rely on the things that your word says. And Lord, I thank you that you use suffering in our lives to grow us in faith, to grow us in devotion, to remove impurities from our faith, our hearts, our life, Lord God, to bring to the surface the things that need correction, Lord Jesus. Um, and if we allow it, it will produce a good reward, a great reward, fruitful and yeah, a fruitful life for us in you, and a more genuine and sincere faith of you, Lord God. And so, Lord Jesus, I just pray over every single person that may hear this, see this, however they may get even come across this, Lord God, that you would help them to see that the present sufferings that they are experiencing in their lives pale in comparison to the glory that will be revealed, that the suffering that they are experiencing is being used even right now, even though they can't see it, even if they can't feel it, they don't feel it, that it's being used for their good and for your glory. And that, Lord God, you are there with them in it, that they are not alone, they don't have to deal with it by themselves, they don't have to overcome it by themselves, Lord God, but that you you yourself give us the power and the desire to do the things that please you. And it pleases you when we suffer well, and so you are giving us the power and the desire to do it all well, Lord God. And so, yeah, Lord, I thank you. I thank you that we are never alone in anything that we do, and that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, and that we we have the ability, we can, we can, and we will we declare it, suffer well out of our love for you, grow us in our devotion, grow us in our love to you, Lord, Lord God, and help us to help us to see you and see what you allow, see it in sincerity, see it in truth, Lord God, give us a better narrative, a real narrative, a true narrative of what's happening, and help us to remain in you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, y'all. Well, thank you for joining today's podcast. Again, obedience is love with your host, Alexis Pierce. Be sure to check out the podcast notes or the show notes, either down below the video or um wherever it may be from whatever you're watching for scripture references, anything else we might throw in there. And then feel free to click this link or uh or if I can place a link right here, hopefully it's right here to any resources that are attributed and associated with today's episode. Be sure to visit my website for more resources with today's episode, and I'll link the website right here as well. Hopefully, right here, right here, or down below. Everything will be down below too for more research or for more resources for today that are associated with today's episode. But I'm getting tired, clearly, because my speech is kind of just you know, we hanging out and so yeah, I'll see y'all next week for the next episode of Because I Love You I suffer well with the Obedience is love podcast. All right, bye guys, love you so much. See ya.