Sufferings with Christ

What does it mean to suffer with Christ? Romans tells us that those who are children of God are heirs and as heirs share in the inheritance of Christ, the glory, provided we suffer with Him. As I continue to press into the Lord I am realizing that this suffering which is spoken about is the putting off of the flesh. Christ, being both God and man, had complete revelation of His position as the Son of God, of His inheritance as such, and of God's jealous love for Him. This complete revelation engendered full faith, holy fear, unrelenting love, and evoked in Him a pure desire to sacrifice Himself, to put off His flesh to the point of death. Christ patiently suffered in the putting off of His flesh with joy because of His revelation of God. The putting off of the flesh which is the submitting of my will to that of the Father's will, comes from a place of revelation. As I grow in intimacy with the Lord, deep revelation and understanding of the character of God, suffering with Christ becomes of greater joy. If I am to try and suffer with Him within my own power, outside of the revelation of the Father, then the putting of off the flesh becomes hopeless; it becomes a place of obligation, an unattainable goal by ones own strength. From this place of hopeless obligation rebellion is birthed, and I lack understanding as to why Christ would call me to such a level of sacrifice. There is no revelation of love or of the glory to come, thus I who am striving to put off the flesh outside of the power of the Holy Spirit become bitter, angry, hopeless, and eventually rebellious.

The solution...not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit is this mountain of flesh overcome. By the Spirit am I drawn to the Father through the Son, and by His Spirit am I sanctified, made into the image of Christ. Its about cultivating a relationship with the Spirit, not just Jesus and the Father. One is in need of the complete trinity at work in ones life to bring about suffering, patience with joy. The Spirit searches the deep things of God and is my down-payment for the glory to come. By His Spirit is the true character of God revealed, and by His Spirit is my heart transformed to the point that a desire to suffer with Him is produced enveloped in a joyful strength to do so. By His Spirit am I changed from glory to glory and by His Spirit is my mind renewed to the point in which it becomes the mind of Christ. Peter 4 tells us that to have suffered with Christ is to have put on the mind of Christ and to have become finished with intentional sin, to be finished pleasing ones self, and to desire the will of God. The mind of Christ has full revelation of the character of God, of the love of God, of inheritance, of identity as a child of God, and of eternal life. This mind is developed by the Spirit Himself and produces within us patience, long suffering, with joy...a life willing, out of complete unadulterated love, to submit ones free will to the will of the Father...suffering with Christ is the putting off of free will and the flesh and the putting on of the will of the Father.

I realize these next three months are to be a time in which the Lord will send to me true revelation of the character of God, of His love, of my inheritance, of my identity as a daughter, and of eternal life. In these months the Lord will uproot every area of anger, bitterness, hopelessness, and rebellion that striving religion has produced in my life. Out of His great mercy and love He is digging deep and uprooting all in order to prepare me and produce in me patience with joy. He is desiring to root me and ground me in love rather than the hopeless striving religion which I am now founded on. It is a foundation shaking which will produce life rather than bondage. May my heart be willing and open to receive all the Father has for me.