Faith(Affliction+Suffering)=Perfection

You know those verses that we have heard of and memorized? When people say them we can finish it for them. But then there are times when you read them prayerfully and they bring comfort. It is as if you are reading them for the first time! It makes so much sense!

I Peter 5.8-10

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Many times we do not realize we are being attacked by the devil. He uses the most subtle ways to influence our thoughts and decisions. That is why it is so important to be vigilant and on the lookout for his traps.

The only way we will know if we are being tempted to pull away from Christ and from what is right, is to know Christ and what is right. This comes through being saturated with the Lord and His Word.

We are never guaranteed a life without affliction and suffering, but we are guaranteed that "the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."

Being in a world and an environment that constantly tempts us to fall is the devil's way of afflicting us and causing us suffering. But with faith in Christ's strength we can resist and the Lord will perfect us.

Job 23.10

"But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."