Page 166 - Evidence of Things Unseen

and ambitions of our soul must be subjugated to the will of the Father. We must walk
according to the leading of the Spirit, not according to the natural course of this world.
All those who do so will certainly be considered odd. They will be met with many
reproaches. In the hour when their commitment to obedience is producing in their being
the greatest sacrifice, they will find the world, and a worldly church, casting condemnation
at them. If they hurled insults at the Son of God as He was offering Himself as a sacrifice
in obedience to His Father, will they not do so with all those who follow in His steps?
In closing the letter I communicated to this sister yesterday, I wrote the following:

I have been thinking recently whether we truly have a proper mindset in regard
to suffering. We are Christ, for we are a part of His body. Yahweh has appointed a
cup of suffering that Christ must drink. Yahshua drank the largest portion of it, and
then He has presented the cup to the rest of His body. Most have chosen to not drink
from the cup at all. Yet a remnant have acquiesced. Some have sipped at it, trying to
only get a taste, but no more than they had to. It has been a mere remnant among
the remnant that has had the mind to drink fully that the sufferings of Christ might
be brought to completion and that they might set an example for others.
Are we not brought to a quicker death if we drink deeply? Christ's sufferings were
intense, but short lived. Others have seemed to smolder like a wick all their lives.
Their sufferings have never burst into flame, but Yahshua is so gracious that He will
not even extinguish a smoldering wick. They will have to smolder a long time,
however, before the work of purification is accomplished in their life.
Consider that the three Israelites who were cast into the furnace heated seven
times hotter than usual. They were in the furnace but a moment, and even then the
visible Son of God was present with them. The more intense our trials, the greater
the manifestation of the Lord we will be met with. He is near to the brokenhearted,
to the sorrowful, to those suffering for righteousness sake.
So be encouraged sister. Suffer well with me as we embrace the cross God has
appointed unto us. And thanks for asking about my welfare!

Back in February of this year I was led by the Spirit to leave the mission after three
years of service. The Lord has indicated that I am to prepare for a ministry of teaching. I
believe I will be traveling and the Lord will provide open doors of opportunity. Yet even in
this time of preparation the trials continue. I still find that I must die daily. The message the
Lord has given me to proclaim is the message of the cross.
I am no glutton for punishment. However, I realize that suffering is appointed to us
in this time. My great hope is that I might not resist this work, but that I might willingly
drink deeply from the cup of suffering presented to me. This willingness is of itself a
triumph, for it goes against the inclinations of the natural man. It is choosing identification
with Christ above self-preservation.
I expect the trials will continue even as the Lord sends me out on the road. Yet I look
to the Lord to walk with me through every trial. Nothing can separate us from the love of
Christ. Let us encourage one another with these words.
May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.