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• How slowly one learns that His sympathy is not expressed in removing the affliction but in raising one above it to Himself, so that He becomes so endeared to the heart that He is more an object to the heart than oneself. -J.B.S.

• Christians: Set Apart And He too, the great Creator of the universe became a ‘spectacle’ to men – a sign of suffering, affliction and ridicule, but also a sign of wisdom; a sign of power; a sign of great resurrection glory.

• Afflictions are borne more easily. Temporary sorrows are made to work for our eternal enrichment. Short-lived discomforts and distresses are a spring-board to heavenly joy. The world is dying. The world is doomed to destruction. The word is passing away as a vapor and holds no security.

• I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.Hosea 5:15

• Affliction provides opportunity for us to learn more of our Father in His mercy, as well as providing a deeper understanding of what others may be called upon to go through.

• The world is divided into two things - pleasures and afflictions; I am more afraid of the pleasures than the afflictions.
• In afflictions you turn to the Lord.

• The first time the evil one moved against Job, it was to afflict him in spirit and soul.
• Again, the Sovereign Lord, Who is always progressing towards His perfect plan, permitted Satan to 'again' afflict His servant – in order to accomplish HIS eternal purposes that Christ should be all in all – the focus of God’s plan from eternity past.
• Suffering Afflictions From start to finish, Job is a wonderful type of God’s whole plan for man.
• James tells us Job is for an example of suffering affliction, and of patient endurance.  And so for a second time we are told that again Satan smote Job.

• Loving Words As she stood in anguish and pain, gazing at her dying son, a sword indeed pierced through her own aching soul, leaving her heart bloodied and bruised, and probably bereft of hope.  Despite the sins of all humanity that weighed so heavily upon the shoulders of our blessed Lord; despite the bitter pain, affliction and anguish He bore, for your transgressions and for mine, He saw His own dear mother, in her deep and gaping grief, and His own breaking heart of compassion reached out, in love, to her.
• An Eternal Love At His tender age of thirty-three, He bore the accumulated pain and grief of all humanity.  His was not the anguish of a typical, three-score years and ten lifespan.  His was the excruciating heartache and bitter torment, meted out and endured by ALL through history.  He did not suffer affliction at the hand of God for a few brief hours on the Cross as some seem to imply.  His pain spanned the culmination of every single filthy, foul, disgusting sin.  His pain spans 7000 years of sin that the world has ever amassed.

• from fruit to more fruit to much fruit, until purity of heart and godly righteousness become the inner clothing of your heart – and the outward garment of your being. And still the fires of affliction and the furnace of adversity are heated.

• Faithfulness of God When we are faithless, He is faithful. God desires to break our egos and our self-will –not our spirits. Indeed, in the spirit, we should grow stronger under affliction.

• Afflictions, therefore, many times are the advance token of the Father that we are being prepared for a special ministry of comfort to others.

• He quiets His afflicted disciples - tossed about on Galilee's lake, with the words:- Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

• Blessed Words In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 we read: Blessed be the God, Who comforts us in ALL our afflictions.
• Oh, what numerous kinds of suffering can afflict us, and how many various levels there are to cause us grief.

• And self-dependence only comes to its end, with most of us, when sorrow, suffering, affliction, broken plans and hopes bring us to that place of self-helplessness where we throw ourselves upon our Father in seeming utter helplessness and defeat.

• when sorrow, suffering, affliction, broken plans, and lost hope bring us to that place of self-helplessness and defeat.

• Wicked Enemy Many in these evil days will be afflicted with wounds that aren’t of their own making. Many in these last days will be the target of the enemy who seeks to destroy.

• Men and women that were destitute, afflicted, tormented..

• In much patience; in afflictions; in necessities; in distresses; in stripes; in imprisonments; in tumults; in labours; in watching..

• Here we are clearly told that ALL who endure to the end – His End in their lives – ALL who allow the chastening of the Lord to correct, prune and root out the old – all who endure their own ‘Job experience‘ to the end (until Christ is All in ALL…) ALL will be doubly blessed, like Job – for God is full of compassion and mercy.” But there is more, for James continues, Is any among you afflicted?
• let him pray.. Is any among you afflicted – like JOB …….
• Job2:45. God will expose the roots of the old Adamic nature, with its prideful religiosity, until the old self-life is crucified and the new-life is transformed into His image. He will take your personal ‘seed of affliction‘, turning you into a ‘vessel of comfort’.
• Weight of Glory Do you really understand that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory? 2 Corinthians 4:17.

• Refining Work You are being refined – purified in the fires of affliction for His glory.

• as we live out this life of affliction and woe – as His representatives on earth.

• In JOB we read how Faith can live beneath afflictions rod;

• In everything – commending ourselves as bond-servants of God… in much endurance; in afflictions; in hardships’ in distresses; in beatings; in imprisonments; in tumults; in labours; in sleeplessness; in hunger; in purity; in knowledge; in patience; in kindness; in the Holy Spirit; in genuine love; in the word of truth – in the power of God.

• He is the love in our life. For our light afflictions which is but for a moment, worketh in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where-unto ye do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19

• And self-dependence only comes to its end, with some of us, when sorrow, suffering, affliction, broken plans and hopes bring us to that place of self-helplessness and defeat.

• Before I was afflicted l went astray: but now have I kept Thy word (Ps. 119:67)

•  2 Corinthians 6:2-11 Behold, this is the way we should live:- in much patience; in affliction; in necessities; in distresses; in stripes; in imprisonments; in tumults; in labours; in watchings; in fastings.

• Fulfilled Promises Scripture is replete with promises fulfilled and vows completed:- The Lord visited Sarah – and He did unto Sarah as He had spoken.  Joseph told his brothers – God will bring you up out of this land. The Lord fulfilled promises to Abraham, Hannah, Mary, Zechariah, Simeon. Similarly His people, the nation of Israel. We read in Hebrews 11:32 I have seen the affliction of my people..

• For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:15-17).

• Will you choose to fill up the afflictions of Christ for His Bride's sake'?
• rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the church (Col. 1:23, 24).

• Affliction and suffering are the lot of all men, the privilege of all believers.

• This man who wrote these words, just look at him in this way: somehow he had seen Christ at the beginning and through his long years he had seen more and more of Christ, until in prison with all those terrible sufferings and afflictions and adversities and sorrows and disappointments that had come upon him through those years, his catalog of adversities right at the end; Christ is more than everything.

• Trial of Faith But faith is tried in the furnace of affliction, and deep faith is furthermore strained, as increasing pressure bears down.

• We find some of His servants deeply chastened at first, in order to prepare them for a useful course; and some after a useful period are brought low and afflicted in order that they might learn how truly and fully our Father is sovereign. -J.B.S.

• We may have to let go the particular occasion of our trouble, and first recognize, and then embrace with our heart, the fact that in the affliction there resides the immense eternal potentiality of an increase of the image of God Son, which is to be the one and the only character and nature of the eternal kingdom.

• It is in this school that we acquire the ability to comfort others; so that our personal affliction or personal comfort work unto the same end, even the profit of others for we are their servants for Jesus’ sake.” -J.L.H. 221

• God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction (Gen. 41:52).

• Heavenly Things Hebrews 8:5 tells us that the terrestrial, serves as examples and shadows of heavenly things, and become an example of suffering affliction, and of patience, we should bear..

• We naturally shrink from trials and sorrow, but when we find ourselves enjoying the resources that are in our Father, to which our trials have caused us to have recourse, we remember no more the path of affliction which led us thereto.

• Afflictions are in the hands of the Holy Spirit to effect the softening of the heart in order to receive heavenly impression.

• rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the church (Col. 1:23, 24).

• We cannot do good to others save at a cost to ourselves, and our afflictions are the price we pay for our ability to sympathize.

• For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17).

• God is Sufficient When the accuser starts to point his intimidating finger in your face. Don’t try to answer his charges by means of your own self-effort. Don’t slip back into your old ways of penance and afflictions of the flesh. Don’t step out independently, thinking God can't work out your problem by Himself. Don’t answer his accusations by producing your own good works of righteousness. Don’t believe the accusers lies – that God is not sufficient for all our needs.

• Our Light Affliction Remember, Beloved Child of God, our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2Cor.4:17.  “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me” Matt.11:6.  'He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.' Matt.11:15

• Sufficient Grace He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,He sendeth more strength when the labours increase;To added afflictions He addeth His mercies –To multiplied trials, He multiplies peace.

• And yet He knew that He – the Giver of life and love, would be so despised and rejected. He knew that the precious Son of His love would be oppressed, and afflicted by men. He knew His chosen, anointed One, would be led as a lamb to the slaughter by those He came to save.

• Baptism of Suffering We cannot do good to another, save at a cost to ourselves. The afflictions we bear are the price we pay to bear each other's burdens. He who would be the helper must first be the sufferer. He who would seek to help and save, must first bear the pain and the cross. We must drink of the cup that Jesus drank from.. and be baptised into the baptism that He was baptised in.

• No trial or affliction can reach you who are abiding in Him, without His permission.

• The furnace of affliction is for those who by faith are inChrist.
• What happens in the furnace of affliction?
• Am Irefined in the furnace of affliction?
• You will have tosay there is good and bad in us, and the furnace of affliction isto get the badness out of us and leave the goodness!
• The furnace of affliction is not for the removal ofthe bad out of us so as to leave the good that is in us, andsecure it!
• The furnace of affliction is the applicationof the Cross to the getting rid of you and me, in order to leavethe whole place for Christ.

• called his many trials and tribulations - these light afflictions.. 2 Cor.4:17.
• that like Paul we may also reckon that, our light affliction, is but for a moment..

• But we also know that Paul was afflicted in this and every way..

• He comforts us in our every affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction by means of the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God (2 Cor. 1:4, Wey.).

• Affliction, adversities, sufferings, sorrows, temptations, trials, doubts, disappointments roll in upon us.

• And He too – the great Creator of the Universe, became a ‘spectacle’ to man..  a sign of suffering, affliction, and ridicule, but also a sign of wisdom, a sign of power... a sign of great resurrection glory – the sign of a life consecrated to God.

• He sees opposition, adversity, trials, and afflictions as an advantage for those in Christ; for this eliminates self to its only advantageous position - crucified and dead – and we discover we can do nothing of ourselves and start to rely on Him alone.

• Job was a righteous man who was seriously afflicted by the destructive hand of Satan, causing him deep distress and pain.
• Eliphaz reasoned that all suffering is a result of sin and because his friend was afflicted, he questioned Job's integrity and concluded that his friend had sinned against the Lord, which Job strongly refuted.
• Eliphaz reasoned that the innocent never suffer, while the guilty are always afflicted.
• Paul encourages us to be patient in affliction and to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, while James instructs us to consider the trials and suffering we go through as a great joy, knowing the testing of our faith produces endurance, which in turn brings our hope and trust in the Lord to its completion.
• Every evil in this world is a result of sin, and although suffering may result from our own sinfulness, we can also be afflicted through the sins of others or by an assault from the enemy of our soul.

• Paul was a man who was also subject to rejection, hostility, sufferings, afflictions, distresses, and opposition.
• Let us entrust our lives and futures into the safe-keeping of our Heavenly Father Who is the God of all comforts for, like Paul, not only are we subject to rejection and hostility, sufferings and afflictions, distresses and opposition by a world at enmity with our Heavenly Father, but we have His eternal promise that He Who He raised Christ from the dead will deliver us from life's difficulties and dangers.

• But the chastening rod of our Father in heaven is short-lived, and the momentary affliction we receive from His Fatherly hand is for our beneficial training and is beyond all comparison with the eternal weight of glory that awaits us, in Christ.

• Many were slain with the sword, destitute, tormented, afflicted, and experienced a multiplicity of terrible ordeals at the hands of wicked men and corrupt governments.

• The Word of the Lord is nourishment for the soul, comfort of the heart, help for the afflicted, and shelter from the storms of life.

• The second and third signs were connected with healing those that were sick, for as Isaiah prophesised - the Lord God anointed and qualified Christ Jesus to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, the helpless and the afflicted.

• Our faithful God is the one who fed the hungry multitude, provides comfort for the broken-hearted, gives succour to the weak, strength to the weary, hope to the afflicted, and salvation to all who trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins - for while we were yet sinners, God in His grace provided a Kinsman-Redeemer to save His people from their sins.
• Though we may be afflicted on all sides... pressured, perplexed, and persecuted for righteousness sake, we have not been forgotten or abandoned by our Heavenly Lord... for Jesus is with us always and forever, even to the end of the age.

• Afflictions, grief, poverty, and lack is generally considered as lamentable, calamitous, pitiable, and often unfair.
• Like Paul, we can also commend ourselves as servants of God as we face our own afflictions, hardships, distresses, and poverty in the power and sufficiency of the Spirit, with patient endurance and rejoicing in the hope set before us.

• Paul's life certainly demonstrated one who was filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, no wonder he penned those poignant words: That I may know Christ and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering.

• Over and again we discover wonderful ways that the Lord delivers His servants from their afflictions and saves them from the hands of their enemies.

• For our light affliction and unjustifiable suffering for Christ's sake, will only last for a moment, but will work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and bring honour to our Father in heaven.

• There is no more beneficial activity than reflecting, pondering and contemplating the Word of God, which is nourishment for the soul, rest for the weary, peace for the troubled, comfort for the afflicted, and instruction for the man of God.

• Let us pray for our leaders, support the weak, help the afflicted, love and serve all men, and let us read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Word of God, knowing that we are living in perilous times - and our only confidence and help lies in Jesus Christ, our Blessed Hope.

• The joy of the Lord was the fruit that caused Paul to rejoice, As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, for in all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

• We too can fellowship in His suffering and fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.
• When we share in the afflictions of our brothers and sisters in Christ, in a small way we also help to fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions - and the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ Jesus our Lord.

• As before, Satan was permitted to further afflict God's faithful servant, only spare his life, was the one condition.
• Job was so tormented by this additional affliction and the pain was so intense that the poor man took a piece of broken pottery to scrape the boils that covered his body, while he sat among the ashes in deep distress.

• Throughout the Church age, there have been many Christian men and women who have lived in this way - believers who have rejoiced in their afflictions for the sake of Christ - martyrs who have lived and died as examples for us.
• The faith in which they stood, enabled them to glory in their tribulation and exult in their afflictions.
• As we consider this truth and apply it in our lives, we know that the pressure, affliction, and hardship we may be called upon to face, will produce in us a patient and unswerving endurance, a proven character, and a hope that is rooted and grounded in our Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

• It was Satan, not the Lord, who afflicted Job, ruined his estate and smote all his livestock.

• Indeed, it is recorded that there were over 60 million slaves in Paul's day, and much attention was given, in Scripture, to the instruction and conduct of slaves, as well as their slave-masters.People often offered themselves as slaves when they fell on hard times, and Paul gave important instructions on how to carry out their duties as unto the Lord, even when their masters were unfair.Although he gave instructions on godly living as a slave, Paul also encouraged those in slavery to secure their freedom whenever possible: If you are able also to become free, rather do that, was His wise advice.Of particular importance, it is to be noted that nowhere in Scripture are members of Christ's Body instructed to engage in the abolishment of slavery or the correction of any other social injustices, in preference to our given ministry to the lost.Jesus said, The poor you will have with you always, and Paul could easily have said, slaves will continue to be with you (however distasteful this is) until Christ's return when He comes to set up His earthly kingdom of peace, prosperity, righteousness, and justice.Although we must certainly stand against the evils of our day, protect those that are weak, help those that are afflicted by social injustices, and show patience towards all men, the preeminent function of the Christian Church is to honour the Lord and tell sinners about Jesus – that He died to pay the price for our sin and rose again so that all who believe on Him will not perish, but have eternal life.We are told to go into all the world and preach the word of truth to a lost and dying humanity.

• With this in mind, after cataloging a fearsome list of the most traumatic circumstances that may impact our lives or afflict us in the physical, emotional, and spiritual realms, and having proclaimed that nothing can separate us from Christ's love (including tribulation and distress, famine and nakedness, peril, persecution, and death), Paul emphatically declares that we are conquerors in every single situation that crosses our path, in time and into eternity.

• The Spirit-inspired words of Isaiah were an encouragement to the people of Israel, who were suffering affliction during their Babylonian captivity, and it is the same Holy Spirit that speaks to us and gently leads the body of Christ through the peaks and pitfalls of this worldly system. 
• He is the One Who protects us in the way of affliction, by pointing us to Christ as He plants our feet on the expressway to heaven.

• Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?

• But rather than being hailed as the sinless Son of God Who became Immanuel, God-in-the-flesh, to die on the Cross to save us from our sins, the Lord Jesus was oppressed and afflicted by those He came to save.

• Lamentations speaks of a depressive darkness that had enveloped the land, and the bitter affliction the people of Judah underwent.
• Judah has gone into exile under affliction, is the prophets heart-breaking confession.

• Love endures all things by maintaining an uncomplaining attitude in every affliction and trial, tribulation and temptation, persecution and pain, whether it be for the sake of the saints or for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Remember, He has scheduled every day of our lives and knows the tears that will result from the afflictions of His people.

• They prayed that God would save them in their affliction and deliver them from their enemies, just as He had done in bygone days, when He brought them out from the land of Egypt and redeemed them from bondage and enslavement to their Egyptian masters.

• But although the enemy of our soul may afflict us with temptations and trials, God is good - and in His grace, He will use those trials to test our faith and develop in us spiritual endurance that brings us into a maturing faith in Him.

• For all of us who have trusted Christ as Saviour, these poignant words can pierce our own hearts as we begin to understand that the sinless Son of God was willingly afflicted, bruised, pierced, and crushed with wounds that we merit.

• Earlier in this Psalm, we are told not to fret about evil-doers nor to be envious of those that work iniquity, for when our mind is correctly focused on the Lord, then our hearts are not weighed down with the troublesome behaviour of the wicked, nor overwhelmed with the continuous influx of evil in the world.Rather, we are instructed to keep the eyes of our heart upon Jesus Who has promised to carry all our burdens and to comfort us in all our affliction so that we may offer solace to others who are also weighed down by the cares of this world and oppressed by evil-doers.As we change our focus onto the Lord, so our faith in Him is excited within our heart and we are encouraged, by David, to trust in the Lord and do good – to feed on His faithfulness so that we may become strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

• Year after year, Hannah would travel to the house of God in Jerusalem to plead her case before the Lord.No wonder after so many years of disappointment, she made a vow to the Lord: O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.God is not bound to answer our prayers the way we desire, nor to fit in with our preferred timing.

• This unprecedented assault left this God-fearing man bereft of his family, stripped of his wealth, despised by his wife, physically afflicted, a social outcast from his community, and totally unrecognisable.

• We are to bless those who insult and persecute us, pray for those who do evil against us, help the afflicted, and minister to the brokenhearted.

• He healed the sick, cast out demons, brought comfort to the afflicted and fed the hungry.

• May we never forget that we have an assurance that if we die to the old self-life and live the new life of Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, (as did this great apostle of God), our consolations will more than compensate for the inevitable afflictions and difficulties that accompany the lives of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Part of His promise to David, was that God would also appoint a place for His people Israel to live: I will plant them in their land, so that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again - nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly.
• The raging of the nation and deep political unrest, has been the tempestuous backdrop for Israel since their return to their land in 1948, but the day is coming when: They will live in their own place, as God has promised: They will not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly.

• Christ was uniquely qualified to apply this glorious prophecy to Himself, for He had indeed been anointed of God to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to those that were captive to sin, and freedom to those that were enslaved by Satan.
• Christ was indeed uniquely qualified to proclaim: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me, to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.

• He longed to be set free from his afflictions through death and the grave.

• He was smitten of God and grossly afflicted.

• He tells us that God's Word has become a solace in times of difficulty and distress, and that it refreshes and revives him when weary and discouraged: This is my comfort in my affliction, he confesses, that Your Word has revived me.
• We live in a fast-moving world, where we are increasingly beset by difficulties, dangerous afflictions, and persecution.

• He displayed His authority over sickness, disease, and those afflicted with various ailments and pains, and those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics: And He healed them all.

• And Paul was able to rejoice in his suffering or the body of Christ - for in so doing he knew that he was sharing in Christ's suffering - and was filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ - for His body's sake, which is the church.

• Indeed, these pathetic people were living under great affliction and were enduring much hardship.

• And so it seems that Paul bravely chose to write this second, biblical epistle, before visiting the church once more, to ensure that any misunderstanding on their part, or any bad feeling they may still have towards the apostle, was addressed: It is out of much affliction and anguish of heart that I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

• And by the power of His indwelling Spirit, we can exult in our tribulations and rejoice in our afflictions, knowing that the trials of life bring about endurance and perseverance.

• He understood that the Son of the living God and Creator of the universe had power to vanquish the illness with which his servant was afflicted.

• salvation to the afflicted..
• Jesus had come to bind up the brokenhearted and comfort those that were afflicted..

• Job was further afflicted with painful boils that covered his entire body... and only the reader of the book of Job is aware of the reason for his suffering.
• Unbeknown to all the characters in the story, God had permitted Satan to afflict His faithful servant... as a test of Job's unshakable commitment to his God.
• The Lord gave Satan permission to afflict him, only spare his life, was God's command.
• They did not know this evil enemy had wagered that Job would not maintain his integrity and stand fast in the faith if sorely afflicted... but the Lord knew the heart of his servant, for there was no one like Job in all the earth.

• They recalled the nation's afflictions in Egypt and were reminded that it was God Who heard their cry when they were enslaved in Egypt, and God Who answered their pleas for help.

• But as we read the early verses in the book of Nehemiah, we find that after the initial distress of hearing the disturbing news that the captives in Israel were living in deep affliction, the walls of the great city of Jerusalem were broken down, and the formerly impressive city gates remained burned and charred from Nebuchadnezzar's initial invasions, this man of God wept, mourned, fasted, and then prayed to the God of heaven.

• They were stoned and sawn in two, put to death with the sword, went about in sheepskins, were tempted, destitute, afflicted, and ill-treated.

• He was tempted and tried like we are, yet without sin, and Jesus was also required to suffer deep pain in the fires of earthly affliction and false accusations.
• The fires of affliction, though always painful, can either scorch and singe a servant of God OR they can become a purifying tool that refines our character and hones us into the man or woman that the Lord desires us to be. 
• When we understand that the will of God is to rid each of His children of all the accumulated dross and clutter of our lives and burn away all that is of me, myself, and I, we are better equipped to face the purifying furnace of affliction in the knowledge that the tests and trials that we are facing are but for a moment: And when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
• Let us trust His Word of truth, knowing that when He has tested us in His furnace of affliction, we WILL come forth as pure gold.

• For three and a half years, Christ had been healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, healing the broken-hearted, and helping the afflicted – as the prophets of old had foretold.

• He has said: Let not your heart be troubled, for He is the God of all comforts Who comforts us in ALL our affliction.
• The wonderful result of this is that we in turn may be able to comfort others who are also in any kind of affliction, with the same wonderful comfort that we have received from our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

• Like the Son and the Spirit, He comforts us in all our affliction so that we are able to comfort one another with the comfort He gives to us.

• and in spite of the many difficulties and dangers that are a part of our everyday lives - our confidence is in the Lord, for He cares for the afflicted and He refines the righteous in His mercy and grace.

• All God's ways are just and right, and genuine concern for the poor and afflicted is not only traced through the books of Moses, but threads its way through the entire Scriptures.

• Paul reminds us that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, and He is the One Who comforts us in all our affliction.

• Jesus suffered and was afflicted for the sake of righteousness, and He warned that in this world we too would suffer tribulation.
• Paul recognised the wonderful outflow of consolation and salvation that his brothers and sisters in Christ received because of his own suffering, and wrote, if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.

• Despite his physical afflictions and unjust imprisonment, he recognises that his circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel of Christ... for we know that all things work together for good, to those that love God and are the called, according to His purpose.

• Afflictions, faults, failings, and grievous sins can cause us to stumble and sin, and king David is one such example.

• He is not to search out afflictions and distressing situations, but should be willing to suffer whatever hurt or hardships come his way.
• Suffering afflictions for Christ's sake should be considered as part of our service to the Lord Jesus.

• How we praise God that there remains a promised Sabbath-Rest for God's people of God and may we regularly call to mind Paul's trustworthy statement, For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him.... for the momentary, light affliction of this present age, is producing for us an eternal weight of glory -  far beyond all comparison.

• This verse recalls the prayer of a man that is severely afflicted by all the distressing circumstances of life that were battering him.
• He is crying out to the Lord for mercy, both for himself and for his afflicted nation, Israel.

• It nourishes the hungry, comforts the afflicted, supports the weak, gives strength to the weary, and confounds the enemy.

• The Holy Spirit of God was upon the Lord Jesus Christ Who was sent by the Father to bring good news to those that were afflicted.
• He came to save sinners that were afflicted, those who were heart broken, and ones who were shattered in spirit and soul.

• Peter also warns of the fiery trials that all believers will undergo on their Christian journey, but reminds us that our earthly afflictions will soon pass, producing in us an eternal weight of glory that will far surpass our expectation: For after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, Who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

• He forewarned of the afflictions that would follow if they wandered after foreign gods and backslid into apostasy.

• Although God does not cause the problems and pain we go through, He permits difficulties and dangers, sorrows and sicknesses, anxieties and afflictions, pain and persecution, in order to perfect our faith in Him.

• His deep lament reminds of us of the afflictions of Job who covered himself with sackcloth while ashes mingled with his unconsumed food and tears streamed into his drinking vessel.

• Christ was afflicted on our behalf, and Christ took the full force of God's anger, wrath, punishment, and judgement against my sin and yours.

• Faith that has not been tried in the furnace of affliction and faith that has been through the purifying fires of suffering and pain.

• The needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.
• We live in a fallen world where men of faith will always suffer trials and tribulations, but the Psalmist offers hope for all who trust in the Lord, even though there may be seasons of lack or times when we feel forgotten or afflicted.

• Despite their rebellious ways, the prophet presents words of consolation and strength to the afflicted people of God.

• should be considered as momentary, light affliction, which are producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond what we could ask or think.

• He wants us to come to him in prayer and praise regularly and to expect HIM to deliver us from every eventuality in life - for He knows that the testing of our faith through the things that we experience and the afflictions that assail us, produces patient endurance, a Christlike character, and steadfast hope in God, that will never be disappointed.

• James, the younger brother of the Lord Jesus, explains that the testing of our faith produces endurance, while Paul in this passage encourages us, by revealing that we who are afflicted, will certainly be given relief, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire. God is the righteous judge of the whole earth, and although we appear to be living in days when evil men prosper, and the righteous are treated unjustly... punishment and judgement awaits our persecutors, while peace and rest is the reward for the people of God who are abused, afflicted, troubled, and oppressed.
• But we are called to rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that affliction works perseverance in the life of a saint.
• Paul's comforting words to these suffering saints in Thessalonica, gave great assurance to them in their affliction - and also reassures us that a day is coming when God, Who is the righteous Judge of the earth, will one day repay the very people who afflict His children.
• Indeed, they will be afflicted with great trouble and severe punishment.
• One day, the tables will be turned, and those who are afflicted will be given relief.

• My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.
• He records the many times that the Lord saw and responded to the accusations, affliction, and troubles that stalk his path and praises the Lord his God Who puts to flight the enemies who secretly lay snares to entrap him.

• Paul refers to suffering as a light and momentary affliction, which is achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs all the hardships they inflicted, and God is using all such trials to train us in all godly graces, knowing that suffering produces patient endurance, endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens the confident hope of our salvation in Christ, and His heavenly rewards.

• Paul considered the sufferings he endured for Christ's sake as a light affliction, which would one day produce in him an exceedingly great and eternal weight of glory, in the ages to come.
• He did not enjoy his suffering at all, but he knew that the pathway of affliction was the same route that the Lord Jesus Christ had to take on our behalf, when He set his face like a flint towards Jerusalem and walked to the Cross.
• This momentary, light affliction, he wrote, is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, which is beyond measure and surpassing all comparisons.
• Paul knew that the afflictions of this age are preparing us for a glorious future that has no limits - and it will remain ours into the eternity of eternities.
• We need never endure our affliction alone, for He has promised to be with us, and God is faithful, Who will not allow any of us to be tried beyond what we can bear.
• There is no affliction that we have to face alone, for He has promised to provide us with the sufficient strength we need to endure it - no wonder Paul describes life's mounting difficulties as a momentary, light affliction.
• And yet this was the simple secret that Paul openly shared in many of his writings – that the evils of this life will one day be lifted like a silken shroud, which will quickly pass away like the melting mist of the dawn, which evaporates into the first golden rays of the early morning sunlight.However great and burdensome the afflictions of this life may prove to be, the magnificent rewards of the eternal glories that are ours by faith in the Lord Jesus, are by comparison very small, very insignificant, fleeting, and momentary.
• The coming glory that awaits us, far outweighs any afflictions we suffer today.

• The daily round of life and the common tasks we face seem to go around in circles, and the fires of affliction and pressures of life, at times, seem hard to bear.

• Like Peter, the apostle Paul was ready and willing to endure suffering and persecution for the sake of Christ, knowing that his soul was secure in His hand and that His grace was sufficient in every affliction he faced.
• For the unbeliever, however, who rejects God's offer of salvation, there awaits His terrible wrath, which will be far greater than our short lived afflictions in this current age.

• However, as the Lord's covenanted people, they forgot that obedience would bring them blessings, while disobedience would result in punishment, and God used the bread of adversity, and waters of affliction to get their attention.

• The Lord our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and just as Elijah was one of God's many servants who was being refined, like silver in the furnace of affliction, our lives are also brushstrokes on the canvas that God has been painting throughout history.

• Despite all the suffering, pain, hurt, and distress that the prophet Jeremiah faced in life's school of affliction, the Lord was teaching him many lessons about the great faithfulness of the Lord and His never-failing mercies, which are new every morning.
• But the lessons that Jeremiah learned through his school of affliction are ones that we need to learn in the circumstances that we are called upon to face today - that it is good to trust in the Lord and to depend on Him.

• Making a vow to God she prayed, Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your hand-maiden's affliction... if you will remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him back to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.

• He is Salvation to the sinner, Refuge to the saint, Comfort to the afflicted, Strength to the weak, Health to the sick, and He is the Resurrection and Life-everlasting to those who trust in His name.

• Such heavenly joy can be maintained in the midst of all afflictions and distresses, for the joy of the Lord is our everlasting hope and strength.

• In this world we will have tribulation, but whenever we are afflicted or oppressed, whether through conflicts without or fears within, we are to take comfort in Christ, trust His Word, and fear not, for God will expose every satanic evil plan and will one day judge the world in righteousness.

• for your perseverance and faith, in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions, which you endure.
• in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions, which you endure.
• Paul wanted to remind them that the Christian life is not an easy thing, but lovingly commended them for their perseverance in the midst of the deep distress they were going through - and so he wrote, therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions, which you endure.

• Suffering for Christ was nothing unusual for this apostle to the Gentiles who had come to learn that our present troubles, our momentary afflictions, and our short-lived sufferings are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory, which far outweighs any trials or tribulations we may have to face on earth.
• Praise God that like Paul our times are in God's hands, and no matter what present sufferings, momentary afflictions, difficult troubles, or harrowing persecutions we may be called upon to face, they are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory which far outweighs any trials or tribulations we may be called upon to face in this earthly realm.

• that He would bless those that were poor in spirit, feed the hungry, heal the sick, comfort the afflicted, defeat their hated enemies and set up the prophesised heavenly kingdom of peace and prosperity.

• There are times when punishing circumstances invade our lives which God uses to hone us and refine us - to test our devotion to Him and to try our faith in His Word, which is more valuable than gold... so that we may be purified in the furnace of affliction.

• The enemy seeks to afflict the effective witness of every fruitful disciple.
• But in Christ, Paul reminds us that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world, and although we may be afflicted in every way, we are not crushed, for the Lord is our life and our strength.

• Oh yes, He is more than equipped to comfort us in all our afflictions.
• And yet there is a deeper meaning, a wider purpose, and a greater reason that our Father of mercies, and God of all comfort condescends to stoop down and comfort us in our affliction and to console us in our miseries, for He has purposed that we who are comforted of Him, may be ready and equipped to comfort and succour all those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort and consolation that we ourselves have received from our Heavenly Father.
• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

• The Lord is in His holy temple and He tests each one of us in the furnace of affliction so that when we have been tried we will come forth as pure gold.

• Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, but the day is coming when these words will finally and fully reach their fulfilment.

• Satanic accusations against the goodness and grace of God are still being whispered into the ears of believers today as we, like Job, continue to be compassed about by many forms of suffering and misfortune, persecution and pain, destitution and danger, heart-aches and affliction, the sword and a martyrs death.

• Afflictions and anguish stalk our path like a hungry pack of jackals and they are no respecter of persons or position, clime or creed, wise or foolish, young or old, believer or unbeliever.

• This afflicted man had lost all his worldly wealth, his ten adult children, his wife's respect, and the esteem he enjoyed from the local community... nevertheless, his faith in God never faltered and he was able to say, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there.