|
My big boast was my health. But one day in a hospital, I was diagnosed with chronic cancer of the lungs. My family and I really didn't know how to accept this situation. I felt it was definitely a curse. But as the believers in the local church prayed interceding prayers and supplied us with the Lord's word, I began to depend on God and when I prayed, I began to sense peace within. Obviously, if I looked at the environment, it was a curse but when I realized that this was the discipline of the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 12:5-6), I was full of hope. I am a mother of three children. Because they are the most precious children on earth to me, sometimes I discipline them. Is this a curse to the children? Undoubtedly, but it becomes a blessing. So knowing this principle, I prayed earnestly that my situation would not become a curse and that Christ in me would not become a Christ of sorrow in this situation.
When we pray, the Lord may not heal the sickness right away. But I really believe that in the proper time, the Lord may recover me fully. Yet while I still have this sickness, the God of peace keeps my heart in peace (Philippians 4:6-7). Lord, I do long for only Christ, I do not see the waves (Mark 4:39-41). For me to experience Christ in sickness was useful to me. I prayed to the Lord that I would gain what I must gain. I did not want this sickness to be in vain. I also hoped that my sickness and weakness would give other believers the opportunity to know the Lord more deeply (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). I began to see that for the renewing of my inner man, I need the discipline of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). I saw that God arrange my environment in His sovereignty, and through the discipline of the Holy Spirit, He works out everything for good (Romans 8:28). So that He might reign in me through my environment and reconstitute me inwardly with God's life (Romans 5:17). Second Corinthians 12:9 says, “And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.” What is a boast in weakness? Those who are in the world sigh in their weakness, but overcomers boast in their weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9; Revelation 2:11). Because there is the faith in me, surely by Christ I will overcome. Praise the Lord!
|
Main