Jesus not only says that suffering is possible for his people, but it is certain.

God never promises that we can live the Christian life without difficulty, without peril,

without danger, without suffering, without calamity.

It drives me crazy when I hear these television preachers stand up there and promise that

if the Christian just has enough faith, they'll never suffer, they'll never be sick, they'll

never experience death and all that sort of thing, because it's simply not true.

The Bible repeatedly describes the history of God's people as a suffering people, and

as I've said many times, Jesus not only says that suffering is possible for his people,

but it is certain in the world.

You will have tribulation, you will have affliction, you will have pain and grief and all of these

things, so that we don't ever have an absolute promise from God to have a life free of

suffering or free of death or free of peril or danger.

What God does promise categorically, and what He does promise absolutely to us through

Jesus is His presence. I will be with you. And the negative, I will not forsake you.

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