Joyful Suffering?

All right well this isnt going to be any list or anything im thankful for. im not having a bad day or anything and at first what i was going to write seemed to not fit on here. but the more i thought about it the more i thought well it will work and i hope you guys get a blessing from it. ive been looking at I Peter a lot latly. it has became one of my new favorite books right there along with James. when i read it about a week ago it was incredible because of what i had gone through with some things and just the honor and glory that God gets from our trials and tribulations. im pretty much just wingin this because i havnt got too deep into it but i have been looking at it every night for about a week now and its incredible! first consider who Peter was and what had went on through his life. what was Peters occupation before the Lord? FISHERMAN!!! hopefully you knew that:) but he was a fisherman. and when you think of sailors and fisherman you just get that picture of a rough lookin foul mouth kind of guy. and thats what peter was before the Lord! he was a fisherman and he was a rough man with fierce and blantent attitude and probably very assurtive. even through the gospels you see how "dumb" peter is. he seemed to have the right motives behind most things he did but he was not wise in any way about what he was doing and did not think. kinda like me! i dont think a lot! im getting better Praise the Lord but especcially a couple years ago i did not think a whole lot. and clearly from what we see about peter in the gospels he just always seemed to stick his foot in his mouth. but... go right into acts after the gospels and see how much that man changed and how wise he was toward the things of God! after Christ had died peter had went back to his old life. he left what he had been taught and went back to being a fisherman. you have to imagine how broken he was when he denied the Lord those 3 times and im sure thats why he left and went back to his life. and then Christ came to peter and and and put the hammer on him. after three times of the Lord asking him to come and do His will peter finally got it and he obeyed. that is all in John 21. read that. and RIGHT after that time you see an imediate change in peter. it is incredible! read from there on into Acts and read about peter. when you think of how foolish he was and how many times he just made himself look stupid, he went from that young man just trailing along with the rest of the deciples to practically being the leader. from out of that young kid God brought forth a great man! you see that in Acts 2 when he preaches at Pentacost. and in verse 41 about 3,000 souls came to know the Lord through the preaching of Peter! 3,000!!!!!!! we could not imagine that now days in our wildest dreams! peter stepped up and became a great man of God. ok... now ill get into I Peter. (man this is long. SORRY) anyways... the thing that has been getting me soo much in I Peter is suffering. Peter in his epistle mentions over and over and over again about Christ suffering and how we as Christians suffer. when i say Christians that means Christ-Like, Followers of Christ. at least once in every chapter in I Peter he talks about suffering. the first time would be in 1:6-7. now 6 and 7 are the end of getting towards the end of what started in verse 3 but in verse 6 and 7 is where trials and temptations comes up. BTW i hope you are looking at all this while im writing. it would be kinda hard to understand if you dont! GET YOUR BIBLE!... but he says now ye "rejoice"... shew... rejoice even thoguh our trials and temptations. because those trials and testing of our faith is much more precious that pure gold and it is found to the honor and glory of God (vs. 7). vs. 10 and 11-there it is again. talking about the suffering of Christ. (im really trying to get though this in little as possible so your not sitting here for 5 hours reading this so study it yourself to get MUCH more out of it) Chapter 2 vs. 21-24! MAN!!! incredible verses! there again it talks about Christs sufferings and how He is an example of the way we should walk. (Hebrews 12:1-2) Chapter 3 vs. 18. to understand vs 18-22 better read the whole cahpter but it really kinda starts in vs 12. then the verses after 18 are linked with 18 as in the example of Noah in his days. now... chapter 4! heres where it gets good and comes more applied to us! (just a side note... 4:1-2,,, read and apply that carefully to your life! there it talks about some more suffering Christ did for us and what we should do! vs 1 and 2 is amazing!!!) (vs 11 is very good too:) now here is where it gets into us! where your have a bad day or your feeling defeated and you are suffering from someone or something... vs 12 and 13!!! when something is happening dont think that its out of the ordinary or weird and out of no where. cuz its not! just as Christ suffered for us we as followers of Him will receive critisism from other people, "But rejoice!" because we are suffering for the name of Christ!!! and what better thing to be critisized for? rejoice that you are suffering for such a worth name as Christ! now i dont want you to think that Peter just said things and didnt live what he said! he wasnt just saying this, he lived it! turn to Acts 5! read all of Acts 5 to get all the story and the picture in your head but when you get to the end after Gamaliel had stood up and and warned the people to let the apostles alone if their work was by their own power then it will eventually end but if the work they are doing is of God then nothing you do will be able to stop them. after Gamaliel said that look at the last 3 verses!!! they beat the apostles, and then commanded them to not speak in the name of the Jesus any more and then let the apostles go. vs. 41 "And they departed from the presence of the council , rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." MAN ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is incredible! if that dont stir your heart and show something to you then somethings wrong!!! man we need to rejoice in our sufferings because when we receive those sufferings we are worthy enough to suffer for Christ and for His cause! yes suffering is hard and being critisized by people is hard but look at what they are critisizing you for! because you are following the Lord! man we need to take after what Peter is saying in all of I Peter! and as show in Acts 5 he isnt just saying this stuff he did it! in vs 14 it continues with some more awesomeness! vs 16. vs 19. now go on and read the rest of I Peter. man the Lord is incredible to us! and we owe Him everything we have and all our desire! while I Peter talks a lot about the suffering of Christ and applies it as an example to us now, I Peter also talks a lot about because of all of that we ought to live His will and do His will ONLY!!! 4:1-2, 19. if you dont have the desire of pleasing and serving God more than anything else then look at what Christ went thought for you. I Peter has been a great reminder to me of what my Jesus did for stupid me! and there is a lot we can exceed in with the Lords help if we are just willing to do His will and live every bit of our life for His glory! even when we are suffering! even in that suffering, rejoice! i hope you got all that! it was prolly a little jumbled cuz i just sat down and wrote it! and sorry its soo long! but there is a lot in there. and there is WAY MORE in there! study it out yourself! I Peter is amazing! Our God is amazing!!! Be Joyful in Suffering!

Justin Beam
Heb. 12:1-2, Prov. 4:25-27