- Post authorBy Thor Petter Braarvig
- Post date12. December 2021
- 2 Commentson Part of Jesus Suffering
PART OF JESUS SUFFERING
22.12.04 – by Thor Petter Braarvig
In the middle of my despair. I am sitting here, making dinner and playing with the kids. I want to use my life for God and God alone, nothing else. God has revealed to me that He has a plan for my life and that is enough for me.
Because of this, I have been waiting a lot; but I have met God, he has showed me his depth and His incredible greatness. I have said to Him, “As long as you have a plan for my life, I am ok, because that will be the only thing sufficient to me!”
I have been through tribulations in many years. My life did not become what I expected. I really wanted to be someone that could satisfy my self-confidence. The Lord has thought me another great lesson. He does not need anything of me. I have to die complete away from myself and totally submit to Him and His plan for my life. Then the vision that He has planted in my heart as a seed will grow forth in His time.
In this teaching session I’d like share with you some important truths which also Jesus and Paul talked about, how we as Christians need to die away from our flesh, from our own ways and from dead activities, so that the Holy Spirit can have His way. It may take a while. For me it has taken a long time, but it is worth it.
This lession is divided in three parts:
– The Fall
– Jesus life before His ministry
– Why it is necessary for us to take part in Jesus suffering
The Fall:
I think life is crazy….it is insane; in fact the whole thing seems dumb sometimes! There are so many suffering people, so many crazy people walking around today.
The whole system that we are a part of is so unjust!
How can even one day be used of having a good day in this mess?
Who is making all this stuff anyway?
Is there any hope, any solution?
Ok, I know what you are thinking. God made all perfect!
There were something in His Kingdom that wanted to destroy God’s perfect creation, the man, something full of envy!
Though it is hard to comprehend, the Lord knew everything that has happened today before it ever took place! Why? Because His thoughts are far above ours; He is not in the same time frame as you and I are. He can see the beginning and the end at the same time. He knows everything!
From the beginning God knew the whole time that there were flaws within His creation. He was not satisfied just making everything perfect, programmed to do His will, like the angels were. He wanted his children to submit to Him, love and worship Him of free will. He knew that true love could not grow forth in a relationship that his children were forced into. Creation was not based on a free choice so far (the angels).
There was a lack of conscience concerning good and evil. That is the possible reason why Lucifer, who was the greatest angel in heaven, got jealous of mankind. He lacked the right behavior based upon his choice. He misunderstood the whole thing, his level and submission to God; he may thought he was a fault or something . Perhaps Lucifer misunderstood what he was and therefore it seems he became very self-centered and selfish. It is incredible to think that heaven formed with the spoken word of God, could house envy and error. God’s creation is supposed to be perfect. How can a flawless creator form a creation that is blemished? There is something you must understand. God decided to shape and mold the mayestetic things we see, with it is elaborate details, but He could not choose or create perfect behavior from his creation unless his creation is facing the choice.
God knew the whole time that He would have to cope with the falling; first with the angels in heaven and later in the Garden with Adam and Eve. He was aware that He had to give mankind the possibility to make their own choices, based on free will. In doing this, He would be able to achieve a perfect creation, willingly submitted to His authority. At the point of first life, mankind had the task to align themselves in perfect relationship with a holy God based upon their own attitude and response to Him.
When Adam and Eve made the choice that led them out of their close relationship with God, they suddenly felt naked and in need to hide. God was still Adam and Eva’s friend after the falling, but He needed to take care and clothe them in the physical world that they all of a sudden where a part of. They had fallen out of the spiritual completion and got into the physical world. God had to kill animals to clothe them. This was pointing towards Jesus as a lamb, Jesus dying on the cross . His only son leaving heaven of his own will, to take all mankind sin and being a substitute for his creation. Jesus dying on the cross was his plan from the very beginning and in the time, a new beginning.
The whole plan of God came to happen on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was able, after Jesus sacrifice on the cross, to fulfill the reconciling of mankind, giving the dead spirit of man a rebirth to a new spiritual life in the human body., in spite of the falling away from God in the garden of Eden. This means God established his power in man’s spirit, creating a new life that is opposite to the normal life which is controlled by the senses and lust. A new stronghold in the human being, opening up for a new life from the heavenly places available to every human being, through faith. Pieces of Gods plan are falling into place.
The reason why I am talking about the falling and God’s plan is not to focus on the devil, but to place an importance of understanding why things happened that way.
The devil has a lot of control in the world today. His mandate is to deceive as many as possible, even the chosen ones, if it is possible. Matt. 24,24. Here is your personal revelation very important. Do you have vision for your life, based on a Rhema from God? Or do you have an understanding based on the Logos, all the words of the bible? We have to establish a spiritual understanding and living, so we will not be deceived through our senses and lust through our flesh . Jesus says:” My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me” John.10,27
Now we are getting closer to the purpose of the life of Jesus on earth.
We know a lot of his three and half years ministry, walking Israel, but do we know or understand the purpose of his first 30 years?
Jesus life before the ministry
How was it possible for Jesus to be born of Mary? Mary was pregnant not because of her husband but the Holy Spirit Matt.1,18 Jesus received one part from the heavenly places and the other part from the human places. The Bible says Jesus decided to walk away from heaven to be a man, fulfilling the love and the plan of God. Fil.2,6-8 The Bible even states that he was both God and Man. That is why he could be a substitute for us. He was a man and went through all the tribulations of life just like us, but without sin.
In the first thirty years of his life, it was only once that Jesus was in public. He was 12 years old. He was I Jerusalem to celebrate Easter together with his parents. When they left thinking he was with them in the crowd. He was still in the temple. His parents had to return and when they found him they were upset. “Why did you do this to us?” they said. Jesus answered : “Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” Luk. 2,49 Even at that time, Jesus knew he was the son of God! He was not anointed yet for the ministry though. But even at that age he was aware of being the son of God being in the house of God, the house of his father.
I think he was trained for 30 years, so by the time he had reached that age He was primed for his ministry and finished educated for what he was doing for the three and a half year ministry. He had to fulfill 30 years, even being a carpenter. He had to work, he had to be a part of the society and to be a part of life and his family. He was not in the newspaper, like a radical or something else. He was a normal man. He was very much normal. He was that normal that he did not make any notice. He was just like everybody.
What I will try to concentrate on is the suffering of Jesus! There are so many scriptures that talks of taking part of Jesus suffering. The Spirit has to lead us into the depth of the Word so we can understand the life on Jesus, because He is the firstborn among many brethren and sisters and He is leaving an example for us to follow. 1. Pet.2,21 “ For to this we were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps!”
Why is it necessary to take part of Jesus suffering?
Paul is saying several times that we should be a part of the suffering of Jesus Christ!!
What is really happening with the modern way of Christianity today?
Do we really have the right revelation of who God is and how we were supposed to live like as his children? Do we really know how our relationship with God should function?
Today you can see many christian’s moving from the spiritual realm and more and more over to the soul’s realm. Which is controlled by our senses, what we see, what we smell, what we taste, what we hear and what we feel . The devil has a definite strategy to deceive mankind. Turning the focus from the spiritual life to the physical life, to hit us through the senses, to be more comfortable in the flesh – the old man. We may be deceived to believe more in taking care of the old man, then letting him die every day on our walk with Jesus.
The Suffering of Jesus should be a part of every christian following Jesus – to be clothed in his suffering for all our sins. Every sin that showes up in our life we can give over to Him that took all on Him so we can die away from it, the flesh and follow Him in the spiritual life. This is a very important procedure every day when we put up the old man on the cross to die and then follow him in the new man.
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