Page 41 - The Gate and the Way

experiences of suffering we face are ultimately chosen for us by our Father in heaven. Did
not Christ reveal this when He prayed to His Father in Gethsemane? He understood that the
cup of suffering presented to Him was chosen by God. It could only be honorably removed
by the same. Christ could have delivered Himself in the courts. He could have mounted a
defense. He could have confounded His accusers with His wisdom as He had done so many
times before. Yahshua had legions of angels at His dispatch, and could have called on them
to deliver Him. Yet, He did none of these things.
As we come to discern the necessity of suffering, and its role in our perfecting as sons
of God, we will enter into this same place of rest that was demonstrated by Christ. We will
not act out of fear, seeking to deliver ourselves from the suffering we see before us. Those
who trust Yahweh will know that He will not ever permit anything to truly harm them.
Though our outer man may perish, our inner man will be preserved alive.

Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For
Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be
slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who
loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Yahshua our Lord.

It seems strange that the church can read a passage such as this and not understand
that it is appointed to the sons of God to suffer many things. Yet, through deceit, often
embraced willingly, the church has come to believe that these words speak of someone other
than themselves.
If you have embraced the understanding that YOU are called to follow Christ down an
afflicted path, you will not think it strange when you encounter difficulties and difficult
people. It is my hope that you would perceive that adversaries must come, and many will
appear from within the household of God. If you are not afraid of suffering; If you stand in
the confidence that it is Yahweh who holds your life in His hands and not man, then you too
will be able to resist the urge to enter into contention with flesh and blood. You will be able
to bless those who curse you, and to walk calmly to the slaughter as a sheep that is silent.
It is as we quiet our souls in the face of many threats that we begin to experience the
release of the Spirit within us. That gentle, patient, forgiving, and longsuffering nature of
Christ is revealed in us. Perhaps we too will find that some will be brought to marvel at the
peace in which we abide. Such is the faith that overcomes the world.