Refined in Suffering: Finding God's Purpose

Marian Anderson's life is an example of being refined in suffering.

She maintained a deep relationship with her Lord Jesus Christ.

Her mother taught her to behave righteously towards her fellow man.

Marian chose to avoid situations and show love instead of retaliation.

Music Music Music Music Music Music My husband Lee and I were watching the life and story of a woman by the name of Marian Anderson the other evening. Marian Anderson was a famous African-American contralto and was one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century. All throughout watching the video of Marian Anderson's life, both Lee and I experienced such a profound anointing and presence of the Holy Spirit. In summarizing her life, she was born into a poor family where both her mother and father worked menial jobs to support their three daughters. Marion's father died when she was 12 years old, and her beloved grandfather died a year later. Marion's mother worked many long hours to support her daughters, and Marion herself was forced to drop out of high school and help support the family. That's just how bad things were. and when she was very young, the pastor of the family's church called Union Baptist Church recognized that young Marian, who was six years old at the time, had a rare gift from God and began to give her the opportunity to sing solo in the children's choir. She was able to go back to high school and graduated at the age of 24. Marian's fame began to spread. Discouragement due to racial prejudice almost won out when her first public appearance in concert produced negative reviews. She went into seclusion for a year, and she determined that she would do something else with her life rather than sing. Her precious mother encouraged her to press on, and Marian Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-20th century. She was refused permission to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Then, President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt had heard of what had happened to Marian in this act of rejection and bias and invited her to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Easter Sunday to a crowd of more than 75,000 people and radio audience in the millions. She was such a hit, and God used this awesome event to change the course of acceptance, to break down the barriers for black artists in the United States. She was the first black woman to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1955. Marian Anderson was such an important symbol of grace and beauty during the Civil Rights Movement in 1960s. She sang at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Marion remained active in her church and was involved in the adult choir. She had a quiet and peaceful temperament and would never let her disappointments in life ruin her relationship with her Lord. Racial prejudice was her greatest disappointment. Up until the 1960s, black people were not allowed in public restaurants, nor, as she found out, was allowed to enroll in all-white schools of music because she was black. Her mother was her greatest inspiration and always encouraged Marian to look to Christ and know that God had given her a gift that was to be used for His glory. But because Marian Anderson never complained about her disappointments nor let the discouragements that she faced get the best of her. God advanced her right through the opposition. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fought her battles for her because she relied, depended, and waited upon him. This woman of grace and beauty was born into a close-knit family whose faith played a major role in shaping and molding the character and nature and direction of this person of such great renown. Marion's mother's watchwords in teaching her girls were pleasantness, modesty, and gratitude. Humility was anchored in faith. Arrogance was inconceivable. She passed these wonderful traits on to her famous daughter. Marian had written a biography called, My Lord, What a Morning, and she also sings a song with the same title, which can be heard on YouTube, by the way. The next morning, before my husband Lee and I began to pray together, we were discussing what an awesome example of a life of this individual who overcame during her struggles in life as a young girl up until her recognition of the rare gift that God had given her. And all through it, she maintained such a deep and intimate relationship with her Lord Jesus Christ. As we were talking, the Spirit of the Lord spoke clearly to my heart and said quite plainly, she was refined in her suffering. Both Lee and I felt the presence of God fill up in the room where we stood. The Holy Spirit said it again, but only this time he put it in the present tense by saying, You are refined in your suffering too. Teach about this. I said within my heart, Yes, Lord, I will do that. I love how the Holy Spirit will take something like the life of this precious woman who highly esteemed him and glorified him in song, lived a quiet life of humility, and then the Spirit of God witnesses it by manifesting his presence and anointing and says, teach about how you are refined in your suffering too. Oh, Jesus is truly worthy to be praised and adored, dear church. He has made all things possible for you and me. And of course, the first thing that I seek to do in any teaching is to back it up and base it on God's word. So the first scripture we must look at today is found in Romans 12, verse 12. Rejoice and exult in hope. Be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Marian Anderson's mother had taught her about behaving rightly towards her fellow man and she taught that this Christian life and relationship should be open and honest characterized by love and it should be patient and generous Marian Anderson lived up to the word of God that her mother had taught her And this young woman exemplified a truly Christian life by honoring her God in her patient suffering. How many of you know that it is not an easy thing to keep your mouth shut in times of persecution and suffering? Verse 17 of this same chapter declares in Romans 12, 17, Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is honest and proper and noble, aiming to be above reproach in the sight of everyone. This is saying, in the midst of persecution and suffering, you and I are commanded to behave righteously towards our enemies. Christians should make every effort to be at peace with their enemies, striving to win others to Jesus Christ by showing his love, rather than retaliate with a show or display of hatred or bitterness. In learning about the life of this beautiful, godly woman, Marian would rather than fight against the prejudice she received, despite her enormous popularity, she preferred to avoid situations whenever possible. In Europe, she was welcomed into the finest hotels and restaurants, but in the USA, she was shifted to third and fourth class accommodations. In the South, she often stayed with friends. Simple tasks such as arranging for laundry, taking a train, or eating at a restaurant were often difficult, and she would take meals in a room and travel in drawing rooms on a train at night. And of all of this, she says, quote, if I were inclined to be combative, I suppose I might insist on making an issue of things, but that is not my nature. And I always bear in mind that my mission is to leave behind me the kind of impression that will make it easier for those who follow. Romans 12.17 again says, Repay no one evil for hatred, but take thought for what is honest and proper and noble and aiming to be above reproach in the sight of everyone And again this is saying that we should make every effort to be at peace with our enemies striving to win others to Jesus Christ by showing his love rather than retaliate with words or actions that we will regret at some time later in our Christian journey. You see, retaliation or getting even also will prevent a Christian from walking in the blessing, in the promises, in the providence of God. The Old Testament scripture that parallels Romans 12, 17 is found in Proverbs 20, verse 22. It states, Do not say, I will repay evil. Wait expectantly for the Lord. he will rescue you. Well, Jesus is our greatest example of one suffering for a cause. This cause is identified in John 18.35 when Jesus stood before Pilate and Pilate said to Jesus, Your own people and nation and their chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? Verse 36, Jesus answered, My kingdom belongs not to this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here, from this world. It has no origin or source. Verse 37, Pilate said to him, Then you are a king? Jesus answered, You say it, you speak correctly, for I am a king. Certainly I am a king. And this is why I was born. and for this reason I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth, who is a friend of the truth, who bears the truth, hears and listens to my voice. This is the cause, or the reason why Jesus divested himself of his glory and took on the form of mere man. And this is the reason that he was born into the world. his father sent him to speak the truth as though it was from his own mouth and he was born to be king he is an eternal king with a kingdom that is not of this world I am so thankful that our precious savior did not give up in the middle of all of the horrible suffering he incurred for each and every one of us aren't you? who we can get a glimpse into the very heart and soul of our Lord Jesus Christ and from whence he gained his strength and source of joy as he was in the midst of his fiery trial as we read Psalms 16 verses 10 through 11. We'll begin with verse 9. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory my inner self rejoices my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety. For you shall not abandon me to Sheol, the place of the dead, and neither will you suffer your Holy One to seek corruption. Verse 11. You will show me the path of life in your presence. Please hear that. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Both Peter and Paul saw these verses as a prophecy of Jesus' resurrection. because in Acts 2.27, the apostles quoted these verses in testimony of the Messiah to the Israelites who were gathered around them. The beauty of these verses here is that Jesus was without sin, but remember he had taken up on himself all the sin and the corruption of mankind, and still once he died, his body would not see decay. Corruption of the body was a sentence relegated to fallen or sinful man as a penalty from the fall in the garden. Jesus knew that after he died, he would go to hell on our behalf. But he knew also his father would not leave him there, but would after three days bring him up from the depths of the horrible dark pit and seat him at the father's right hand. Jesus said, You will not let your Holy One see decay. In Christ's words in verse 91 say, You have made known the paths of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasure at your right hand. verse 9 sums up Jesus' joy of going to the trial and enduring the suffering that he was going to face on yours and my behalf he says in Psalm 69 therefore my heart is glad and my glory my inner self rejoices my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety Jesus Christ is joyful in his suffering my heart is glad he says the hebrew meaning for the word glad here means to cause to brighten up to make gleeful and vivacious to make merry and rejoice my heart rejoices and is joyful are christ's words even as he knew he was going to face this horrendous ordeal jesus really sets the pace for us, dear church. And this is telling us that his joy comes from being in the presence of his Father. Verse 11 says, you will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. Dear ones, and this is speaking about something that is supernatural and divine and can only come from the wellspring and source from which it originates. Therefore Jesus says, My heart is glad, it is utterly joyful in my God, my Father. This divine presence is made manifest in your life too, because whatsoever you do, it is done or should be done with the aim and full intention of pleasing him. The man Jesus Christ was in constant communion and fellowship with his father, and this is why he was without spot and blemish. I pray you catch that, dear ones. I pray you catch it. This is why Jesus was without spot or blemish, because he was in constant communion and fellowship with his father. His confidence was in his father's promise, and that was that he would raise him from the dead. It is done, and it is finished. These were Jesus's last words. It is finished. He had completed the mission that his father had sent him on and had given him to do. Now the greatest king with the only eternal kingdom is making it possible for you and me to be kings and priests while we live on this earth. You must know, dear church, that in order to qualify for these offices, there must be a refinement that we will go through. Jesus' example for us is that we must be refined by these fiery trials that we will go through. Suffering qualifies us for the crown of life that we will receive in the end. Jesus was and is, always has been perfect. He has no sin in his life. But you and I are created beings that must be born again and transformed into the image and the likeness of our Maker. just as our beloved Savior was raised from the dead by the power of his Father so must you and I be raised from the dead by sharing in the sufferings that we go through in this life Romans 6.4 declares so that just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father so we too might habitually live and behave in newness of life for if we have become one with him by sharing a death like his we shall also be one with him in sharing his resurrection by a new life lived for God since our way maker has gone before us and is our example and our strength then nothing is impossible for us to face down the road there is a popular song that we sing in the church and it says because he lives I can face tomorrow and because he lives all fear is gone and because I know he holds the future life is worth living just because he lives how very true then it should be whatever trial we may face that brings suffering we will remember to have the same joyful outlook that our precious Savior had as he walked through an example calm endurance as he went to the cross. Again, the key, the reason or the secret of why Jesus could walk in calm endurance was because he remained constantly in the presence of his Father. And remember, it is only in the presence of God where we can experience the fullness of joy and endure the painful trials that come our way Our painful trials purify us because we remain in His presence and rely on Him to bring us through There is a place in God that I always want to be. I always want to be in the view of His vision, dear ones. Psalm 17, verse 8 declares, Keep me the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings From the wicked who oppress me From my deadly enemies who surround me We live in an evil world today, dear church David quoted these words in prayer to God And was reminding God of his sincere efforts to live a godly life He asked God to hear his prayer He asked God for protection from and triumph over his enemies and expressed confidence that God would answer his prayers. David said, Oh my God, please hide me under the shadow of thy wings. And this is a metaphor taken from the hen and her little chicks. And if you do not know or have not heard, God is very jealous over you. in Zechariah 2.8 God speaks through the prophet saying whoever touches you touches the apple of mine eyes how very precious how very comforting this statement should be for you as followers of his son Jesus Christ we are precious in his sight something you really need to grasp here is the fact that Jesus has made it possible for you and me and all others who live in his presence to become kings and priests in this life. Romans 5.17 declares, For if because of one man's trespass, death reigns through that one, much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing grace and the free gift of righteousness, putting them into right standing with himself, will reign as kings in life through the one man Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. We have the awesome opportunity as a Christian who actually lives in the supernatural manifested presence of God Himself to live and reign as kings in this life. Now listen to Romans 6, 11 and 12. So consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relationship to it broken, but alive to God, living in unbroken fellowship with him in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal, short-lived, perishable bodies to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lust and evil passions. Verse 13, do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members and faculties to sin as instruments of wickedness, but offer and yield yourself to God as though you've been raised from the dead to perpetual life, and your bodily members and faculties to God presenting them as implements of righteousness. You see, sin should not rule or reign as king in our bodies, because Jesus Christ took all sin to the cross with him, and it is nailed there. And after he died and breathed his last breath, he went to the depths of hell and left it there where it belongs. Now neither you nor I have to struggle with sin remaining as king in our bodies or our minds and souls. But now, living in Christ and dwelling constantly in his presence with the help of precious Holy Spirit, we can reign as kings over sin in our lives today. Each true child of God has been given the opportunity to reign as a king in this life through the abiding in Jesus Christ. And what we are talking about here is the renewed life in Christ. You see, we must rule over sin in our lives before we will qualify to become priests. The first chapter of Peter paraphrase says, Get rid of all sin, all wickedness, deceit, insincerity, pretense, jealousy, envy, gossip, and instead crave the unadulterated pure word of God and grow beyond the milk of the word, because if you hang out in the milk of the word, you will never know God's righteousness nor overcome sin in your life. Well, verse 5 says, Come, and like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house for a holy, dedicated, consecrated priesthood to offer up those spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. You see, in order to be true priests or worshippers of God, we must put away the sinful pleasures that came with our old nature. but it is here where most of our greatest refinement or purification takes place. This is what I like about the sixth chapter in the book of Romans. It teaches and deals with the renewed and resurrected life. Now how many of you know that change is not easy? This kind of change speaks of refinement and there is a pain or a suffering in this kind of spiritual change. We know not the way that our all-knowing and loving God in heaven will bring this kind of change in our lives to renew the old fallen nature that has ruled over us as king for so many years. But God takes willing souls who have come to realize that they need a Savior to deliver them from the bondage of sin. And he takes nobodies and fashions them into kings and priests for his own glory. and yes indeed someday we will reign with them as kings and priests in his eternal kingdom but right now in this life we have the opportunity as I stated previously to become kings and priests in this life ruling over sin in our mortal bodies as priests in this life we are called worshippers of the most high God we have direct access to God Christ Jesus has made that possible when he said, it is finished. The veil was rent that separates us from the Father. And now, as priests in this life, we can go directly to the Father and make requests of our needs, but more so, we can worship face to face with the Eternal One. As a priest today, instead of offering animal sacrifices, we offer ourselves. We offer our substance, our tithes, our offerings and our service. And dear ones, the thing that our beloved king looks to receive the most from you as a priest in his kingdom is your song of worship, your prayers and your sincere conversation and fellowship. You cannot drag sin with you into this place and neither can I. We read in 1 Peter 2.1 where he said, Get rid of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander, etc. Isn't it so very interesting that in the struggle of our purging of sin from our lives, that the Father remains jealous over us? I almost envision this as I watch a butterfly emerging from the cocoon stage. of the butterfly's struggles as it pulls itself out of the shell of the cocoon. It must be how the Father views us as he watches from on high, as we struggle to come out of this sinful way of life. You are refined in your struggles, were the Holy Spirit's words to me. You see, suffering is a good teacher of the holy order. Hebrews 5.7 describes that Jesus, although he was a son He learned obedience through what he suffered And by his suffering, his completed work made him perfectly equipped To become the author and source of eternal salvation To all those who heed and obey him Yes, indeed Suffering is a good teacher of the holy order of God's plan in my own personal experience I can say I have learned more from going through the fire than anything else it is almost like feeling the rod of God in my darkest times I was able to see the most in God's eternal plan and order and there is a testimony about a pastor who was recovering from a very grave and dangerous sickness One of his friends came to visit him and said, Pastor, even though God seems to be bringing you up from the gates of death, yet it will be a long time before you will sufficiently retrieve your strength and regain vigor enough to have a clear mind to preach as usual. The pastor answered, Oh, you are mistaken, my friend. this six week illness has taught me more about the holy plans and things of God than all of my past studies and all of my ten years in ministry put together what a testimony Apostle Paul certainly learned the lesson of being refined in his suffering as well and we all love it that he was able to share with us and it was ordained of God He says in 2 Corinthians 12 7 To keep me from being conceited because of these surpassing great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that Christ's power may rest on me and that is why for Christ's sake I delight in weakness in insults in hardships in persecutions in difficulties for when I am weak then I am strong we could say Paul went from thorns to grace. He had experienced an awesome spiritual experience where heavens opened up and he saw into the realm of the supernatural. And to keep Paul from becoming proud, God allowed an infliction to remain with him. To keep Paul from becoming proud, God allowed an infliction to remain with him all of his remaining years, even though he asked God to remove it. He finally learned to thank God for it and realized how much his affliction taught him about the sufficiency of God's grace. Dear ones, I ask you today, in what ways is God refining you? What kind of trials have you been experiencing these days? Are you thanking God for these trials and the troubles and afflictions? or are you fighting against them and against God? 1 Peter 4 verse 12 declares, Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality as though something strange, unusual, and alien is happening to you. But insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, rejoice so that when you see his glory full of radiance and splendor, once revealed you may rejoice with triumph. Can I tell you that if you want to share in the glory of God one day, you must share in the grief that paves the road or way to glory. We should not be surprised when we suffer for our faith, but rather we should rejoice and know that if we bear through suffering now, we will reign with him as kings and priests forever. just like the pastor who was inflicted with a serious illness for a six-week stretch. He was able to grow in a way that he had not in all his years of ministry. I know that for myself in first-hand experience. I have been coming through a health trial that has lasted for three years. In the first few months of my ordeal, the Lord Jesus Christ himself appeared to me and told me that he would restore me even though I still have a ways to go with some other issues I can tell you dear ones that Jesus my healer my great physician has healed me of sugar diabetes I have records of blood tests before and after and I am here to tell you that our God reigns and he does just what he says he will do. I have learned to be patient and wait on him, and above all to trust him. When I was going through my darkest moments in that first six months to a year, I could not even walk upstairs to my office. I remained downstairs with my Bible in my lap, reading the scriptures, declaring the word of God over my life, and studying. Dear Church, we serve a loving and merciful God. But I am here to tell you as well, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And this is a warning to the willful sinner, for those who deliberately continue to sin after knowing the truth. There's no other sacrifice that will cover these sins, but only God's fearful judgment. the Lord Jesus Christ. What a loving God. He finds it good to bruise you and me. He did not spare his own son the suffering of the cross, and surely he will not spare us the suffering which is so necessary to refine and perfect us. Did you know that through your suffering you are perfected? Jesus was perfected through his suffering, not in the way that we are, however. The horrendous suffering that our beloved went through stood in the fact that he was made more completely equipped and prepared for the work he came to do by the sufferings that he our nature, by way of our trials and through the word of God. For some, the cross they have to bear will be war. For others it will be sickness. For some they will experience poverty. Others will have troubling of the mind. Others will experience imprisonment due to refusal to recant their faith. Others will experience persecution. Others will be exiled and others will face death. and through all of this God teaches us patience and perseverance until he sends help from the sanctuary and makes a way for us from our troubles but I ask you again what are you personally going through in the way of trials or troubles remember this is his way of refining you did you know that God isn't mad at you nor does he hate you Did you know that this awesome work of God in your life right now, through these troubles and trials, is His love being projected at you? Do you know that He cares for you and is hopeful that you will draw closer to Him? Do you know that the Holy Spirit is your ever-present help in times of distress? Do you know that when you are completely alone in the very depth of your trial, whether it be sickness, imprisonment, persecution, loneliness, loss of home, car, finances, or a loved one, or whatever you may be facing today, the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is always there for you. He promises never to leave you, nor will he forsake you. And when you call out to him in all sincerity, he will inflame your hearts to rise above the trouble and grasp a hold of him and hold on tight until he brings you through he also gives you a renewed joy so that you may cheerfully bear up during these trials and tests so that you may rest in full assurance that he is with you and he has not forsaken you he remains your sweet comfort and you know that you know that he will never depart from you because he is jealous over you and he loves you more than you will ever know. Some are required to literally give up their lives by the sword so that the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ may increase and shine throughout the whole world. We have a case at hand right now with a pastor in a foreign nation who stands to be executed for converting to Christianity. The Christian community is making a big noise over his projected execution so that this ungodly leader in that nation might back down. I've asked myself, am I willing and ready to face the guillotine or the sword one day if my Lord would require that of me? Are you? As I said earlier, we live in an evil world today. God is busy refining his people by way of their suffering. To be refined in our suffering means that we will grow in maturity. As we grow in maturity, we are perfected. One last question I ask you. What price are you willing to pay in order to be perfected in Christ? Are you willing to go through whatever he requires of you in whatever trial he chooses? Are you willing to give your life by the sword if he should so choose? Well, dear ones, no matter whether it be persecution for being a Christian or whether it be sickness or financial difficulties or loss of a loved one, it is all sent our way to refine us and perfect us to be kings and priests who will reign with the Master one day in his eternal kingdom. We are on a journey to know and grow in the love of God and share it with those around us. This is what it is all about. This is the design of God in the whole scheme of the divine order. It will all be worth it one day as we step into our assigned office as kings and priests in Christ's eternal kingdom. allow him to refine you in your suffering no matter what may come your way

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