Lesson 13: Formed through Suffering

Note to class leader: Review the areas of personal discipline learned in Lesson 12. Ask students who are willing to share their personal prayers from Lesson 12.

By the end of this lesson, the student should:

(1) Know key Scripture passages on suffering.

(2) Know God’s primary purpose for allowing suffering.

(3) Understand the benefits of suffering.

(4) Be able to articulate some of the key errors of prosperity theology.

Weisheng

Weisheng[1] is a friend of mine whom God is using to take the gospel to students from predominantly Buddhist backgrounds. Though his work is difficult and dangerous, the Lord is giving him souls. But Weisheng suffers seasons of severe depression. On one of my trips to visit him, he spoke of this: “Sometimes my mind becomes so dark that I must spend some days alone with the Lord,” he said. “I ask my wife to bring me only simple food; and in my room alone, I read Scripture and pray until the darkness lifts. Though these seasons are so difficult, I wouldn’t trade them for anything; because during these seasons, Jesus has become so precious to me!”

A Christian Couple

A young Christian couple I know has been praying earnestly for a child for several years, but God hasn’t chosen to grant their request. Their hearts are broken. However, people around them notice that through their pain the Lord is deepening their spiritual lives.

Jesse

When our son Jesse was blinded by cancer in 2001, he became a very bitter little boy until Jesus powerfully healed his heart, and in a moment of time.[2] Through this experience, Becky and I learned that the greatest healing of all is not the healing of the body, but the healing of the heart.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon, known in England as the “prince of preachers,” often suffered from depression. But he once said, “I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.”

These snapshots illustrate the power of suffering to draw us closer to Christ and to form us into his likeness.

► Perhaps there is someone in your group who would like to share how suffering has helped to develop the life of Christ in them.

[1] Not his real name.

[2] This story is found in Becky & Tim Keep, Eyes to See: Glimpses of God in the Dark, (Shoals: Whispering Pines Publishing, 2013).

Formation into the image of Christ requires suffering. To gain the most from suffering, we need to develop a biblically formed understanding of it.

Suffering is a reality for all Christians. Peter wrote these words to suffering Christians: “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”[1]

As believers we look at the world through two lenses. Through the first lens, we see the world as it ought to be and as it someday will be because of the glorious triumph of Christ. By faith, we see a world without conflict, decay, pain, or death ‒ a world fully redeemed and restored; a world free from decay and made completely new; a world of perfect love, beauty, righteousness, and peace.

"For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed."[2]

Through the second lens, we must see the world as it is now ‒ a world where all creation is groaning as it awaits final redemption. Paul wrote these words to Christians in Rome facing suffering and persecution:

"For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."[3]

Those who look only through the first lens, but refuse to acknowledge the second, will paint a distorted image of the world and create expectations never intended by the gospel. Jesus does not promise his sons and daughters a trouble-free life. In fact, he promised this: “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”[4]

Job’s “comforters” declare over and over that God always blesses the righteous with health, wealth, and prosperity, and that suffering is always his judgment on wickedness. Since Job was in deep suffering, the only conclusion, according to this theology, was that Job was wicked.

The story of Job proves that true prosperity includes suffering. Christian leaders are sometimes guilty of distorting God’s Word, as Job’s “friends” did. I once heard a dishonest worship leader declare financial “PROSPERITY!” to an assembly of very poor pastors and church members in a developing country. It made me angry, because it did not allow for the suffering these pastors were enduring as a part of true prosperity. Because this world has not been fully redeemed, faithful Christians often suffer right along with the wicked.

The Scriptures declare that all creation groans as a woman giving birth, and that even those who enjoy life in the Spirit have reason to cry out. Those who know the Spirit of adoption, who know God as loving Father, are not exempted from the agony of living in a fallen world. Life in these earthly bodies may not get any easier outwardly. We are not promised better circumstances, but we are promised inner flourishing through faith in Christ.[6]

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”[5]

We need to form a balanced, biblical perspective of suffering.

[1] 1 Peter 4:19, emphasis added.

[2] Romans 8:18, New International Version

[3] Romans 8:22-23

[4] John 16:33, emphasis added.

[5] 2 Corinthians 4:16

[6]“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.”
– Charles Spurgeon

“For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps.”[1]

Part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus is to suffer. To this we have been called. The apostle Paul fully embraced suffering for the sake of knowing Jesus more. He wrote:

"Yet, indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ."[2]

Suffering took many different forms in Paul’s life, as it will in ours. He experienced a “thorn in the flesh” from which God did not deliver him. He suffered persecution, abandonment, imprisonment, loneliness, physical discomfort, poverty, fear, pressures of ministry, and the trials of everyday life. But, through it all, God was bringing Paul into a deeper fellowship with himself.

[1] 1 Peter 2:21

[2] Philippians 3:8

In Romans 8, after Paul speaks of the groaning and labor pains all of creation is presently enduring as it awaits the coming of Christ and final redemption, he encourages us with this truth: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.”[1]

And what is God’s purpose? “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”[2] God has a purpose in our suffering, and that is to restore in us the image of Christ, who is the image of God.

The virtues and character of Jesus that we have talked about in this course cannot be fully formed in us apart from pain and adversity. Listen to Paul’s words: “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”[3]

As sons and daughters of God, the discipline we receive through suffering is a necessary part of our training, and without it we cannot partake of his holiness:[4] “Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”[5]

[1] Romans 8:28, emphasis added.

[2] Romans 8:29, emphasis added.

[3] Romans 5:3-4

[4] Hebrews 12:10

[5] Hebrews 12:11, emphasis added.

Suffering forms us into the image of Christ. Suffering is the fire God uses to refine us and to form us into Christ’s image. In her book, A Place of Healing, Joni Erickson Tada offers five benefits of suffering. I want to share these, with two additions.

► Read and discuss the following passages together. Discuss how suffering produces character, obedience, purity, direction, strength, love, and glory in Christians.

(1) Suffering can turn us from a dangerous direction[1] (Psalm 119:67; 1 Peter 4:1-3).

(2) Suffering reminds us where our true strength lies[2] (2 Corinthians 12:9).

(3) Suffering restores our lost beauty in Christ (1 Peter 1:6-8).

(4) Suffering can heighten our thirst for Christ (Jeremiah 2:13).

(5) Suffering brings us into a greater fellowship with Christ (Philippians 3:10).

(6) Suffering can increase our fruitfulness for Christ (Acts 14:22; John 15:5).

(7) Suffering provides God with opportunities to reveal the glory of Christ in and through our lives (John 11:4, 40).

Becky and I were desperate for healing in January 2006. Becky had been hospitalized for days at St. Luke Hospital in Manila with German measles. Even after she was discharged, she remained terribly weak. On top of this, when we arrived back to our campus home, we found our six-month-old, Carrie, very sick, running a high fever, and not sleeping or eating. All she would do was cry, and we learned that she had been in this condition for two days. Becky and I were exhausted and frightened, and we felt that we could not take another step.

When Becky saw Carrie’s condition, she urged me to rush her to Manila (a four to five-hour drive then), but I told her I was so tired I just couldn’t do it. Then, so clearly, the still voice of God spoke to my heart; and I felt that we should do what James 5:14 teaches and call for the elders of the church to pray for our sick daughter. They came gladly; and I’ll never forget how that as we prayed the peaceful, assuring presence of God came into our living room. We knew our Father had heard our cry for help, and that he had promised healing. Within about thirty minutes of our prayer, baby Carrie’s fever was gone; she nursed and fell sound asleep. From that moment, she was completely healed; and God was glorified!

(8) Suffering increases our eternal hope (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Blind poet Fanny Crosby showed an amazing attitude toward suffering, even as a child. At the age of nine, she wrote the following poem:

"Oh what a happy soul am I
Although I cannot see
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be!

"How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don’t
To weep and sigh because I’m blind
I cannot and I won’t."

One day, a well-meaning Scottish minister remarked to an adult Fanny Crosby, “I think it’s a great pity that the Master, when he showered so many gifts upon you, did not give you sight.” To this Fanny replied: “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition to my Creator, it would have been that I should be born blind?” “Why?” ask the surprised minister. “Because, when I get to Heaven, the first glance that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.” Fanny Crosby then gave the church the wonderful hymn, “My Savior First of All”:

(1) When my lifework is ended, and I cross the swelling tide,
When the bright and glorious morning I shall see;
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,
And his smile will be the first to welcome me.

Refrain:
I shall know him, I shall know him,
And redeemed by his side I shall stand,
I shall know him, I shall know him,
By the print of the nails in his hand.

(2) Oh, the soul-thrilling rapture when I view his blessed face,
And the luster of his kindly beaming eye;
How my full heart will praise him for the mercy, love, and grace,
That prepare for me a mansion in the sky.

(4) Through the gates to the city in a robe of spotless white,
He will lead me where no tears will ever fall;
In the glad song of ages I shall mingle with delight;
But I long to meet my Savior first of all.

Suffering weans us from earth and increases our taste for heavenly joys!

[1] Joni Eareckson Tada, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty, (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2010), 80

[2] Ibid, 82

Christians around the world are experiencing suffering like never before. For instance, most of the 70 million Christians believed to have been martyred since the time of Christ were martyred in the last two hundred years.[1] In the midst of the unprecedented poverty and suffering among faithful Christians, prosperity theology is spreading through the church like wildfire. Christians need to be able to discern this theology and need to be equipped with answers to its teaching.

What is Prosperity Theology?

Prosperity theology (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, or the gospel of success) is a religious belief among some [professing] Christians, who hold that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them; and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one’s material wealth....

"Prosperity theology has been criticized by leaders from various Christian denominations, including within the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, who maintain that it is irresponsible, promotes idolatry, and is contrary to Scripture."[2]

The prosperity gospel must be exposed because of its distortions of the Word of God and its destructiveness to the faith of many Christians. Satan often attacks the Word of God through slight distortions of truth because he knows that a small seed of doubt and false hope will reap a harvest of unbelief.

The questions before us now are not does God still heal, or work miracles, or sometimes give material blessings to his people; but can Christians on this side of eternity claim physical and material “blessing” as their right? Is physical healing promised on this side of eternity, through the atoning death of Jesus Christ?

In his classic book, Miraculous Healing,[3] Henry Frost points out a number of teachings regarding healing (a major emphasis of prosperity theology) which should be tested by the Word of God. From my reading of Frost’s book, I have outlined seven teachings of prosperity theology (especially related to miraculous healing) which have brought confusion to many sincere Christians.

Seven Errors of Prosperity Theology

Prosperity theology teaches that salvation equally involves the saving of our souls and the healing of our bodies on this side of eternity.

What does the Bible teach? Scripture agrees that the redemption of Christ will ultimately include our physical body, but healing is not promised in this life. Though Scriptures invite us to ask for healing, the gospel does not reverse every effect of the fall here on earth.

These bodies as they now exist are decaying. At the resurrection, we will be given new bodies “like unto his own glorious body.”[4] This old “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God … but we shall be changed.”[5] Paul says, in fact, that these earthly tents will be “destroyed;” but we will be given a “building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”[6] Like a decaying seed,

"The [earthly] body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body; and there is a spiritual body."[7]

Joni Eareckson Tada, a Christian lady who has suffered as a quadriplegic for more than 40 years, writes, “All life, all healing, and all atonement flow from the fountain who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Where else would it come from?” She goes on to explain, “What Jesus began doing to sin and its results [disease, decay, death] won’t be complete until the second coming.”[8] Just as seed won’t become a full-grown plant until it is buried, so these bodies won’t experience full redemption until they are buried in death.

We must balance our teaching about physical healing with the truth that sometimes God chooses not to heal because he has something better in mind for us.[9] Through a “thorn in the flesh,” for instance, Paul learned humility and the all-sufficient power of Christ.[10] Joni also says, “God permits what he hates (human suffering) in order to accomplish what he loves (our sanctification).”[11]

When our son Jesse was sick with cancer, we wrestled often with God for healing during the four-year battle. Literally thousands of people were praying for his healing. Some well-meaning and godly people even told us that they had received the divine promise of physical healing for Jesse, and that we need not worry any longer because the next doctor’s appointment would reveal that he was cured. Rather than getting better, however, the cancer continued to spread, until in 2001 he lost his eyes. The miracle that we found as parents through these most difficult days was the miracle of peace and joy and the underlying confidence that God was doing something better than physical healing! This “something better” is still being worked out in our lives and in Jesse’s life today.

Prosperity theology sometimes teaches that God’s covenant promises to Israel also apply to the church.

Some teachers of prosperity theology apply God’s covenant promises made to Israel as applying to Christians today. In Exodus, for instance, God promises the people of Israel that if they would “diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight... I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”[12] “Sickness belongs to the Egyptians, not to the people of God. And only as we return spiritually to Egypt, do we return to its [disease] and perils.”[13]

According to this view, faithful Christians will never get sick. Disease is reserved for unbelievers. Since God made a covenant of healing with Israel, this covenant must apply to spiritual Israel – the church.

There are a lot of problems with this covenant doctrine, but I will only mention a few:

(1) To go back under the old covenant is to go back to the old covenant law.

Christians are not living under the regulations of the Old Testament law, nor does every promise of the Old Testament law apply to us in the same way it did to Israel. If the regulations of the Old Testament law are still necessary for believers in Jesus, then he died for nothing.[14]

(2) Israel was set as a theocracy in which God ruled the nation.

Through Israel he wanted to demonstrate what his perfect rule would look like, to offer his people a visual portrait of a kingdom yet to come. When Christ does, indeed, reign and rule on this earth, his people will no longer experience pain of any kind![15]

(3) God made Israel an earthly people and gave them physical blessings in order to teach them, and us, spiritual truth.

This isn’t to say that he won’t give us physical blessings as he did Israel, but that they are not promised to us in the same way they were to the nation of Israel. God overcame Israel’s physical enemies; quenched their physical thirst from a material rock; gave them material food; appointed them material land they didn’t buy; gave them material houses and cities they didn’t build, cattle they didn’t raise, and harvests they didn’t plant.[16] But God has made us a heavenly people and has given us “spiritual blessings in heavenly places.”[17] He will conquer our spiritual enemies,[18] give us drink from the spiritual rock – Christ,[19] offers us spiritual food (Christ is the manna),[20] and a heavenly Jerusalem.[21] We are a spiritual temple,[22] a spiritual priesthood, and a holy nation.[23] No spiritual disease (sin) will in any way corrupt us as long as we walk in the light.[24]

It is very clear in Scripture that not every covenant made with the nation of Israel applies directly to the church except in a spiritual sense. We must not, therefore, claim promises not meant for us. Such thinking will only create disillusionment. The physical blessings and experience Israel had were only shadows and symbols of the greater spiritual blessings we Christians enjoy today, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”[25]

Prosperity theology often interprets Isaiah 53:4-5 as a promise of physical healing now.

"Surely he hath borne our griefs (pain, NIV), and carried our sorrows (suffering, NIV); yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."[26]

In this wonderful passage, Isaiah prophesies of a two-fold ministry of Jesus Christ: 1) Jesus our burden bearer (v.4) and 2) Jesus the sacrifice for our sin (v.5). As Jesus reached out in love to hurting people, casting out their demons and healing their diseases, he became mankind’s burden bearer. Matthew teaches this:

"When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed. And he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.'”[27]

When Jesus was wounded, bruised, and beaten on the cross, he was paying the price for our transgressions: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities... and with his stripes we are healed.” The healing Isaiah speaks of is especially focused on our healing from the disease of sin, not physical sickness! The apostle Peter encouraged suffering Christians to follow the example of Jesus who endured harsh treatment from sinners on our behalf: “Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.”[28]

Still today he invites us to cast all our cares upon him.[29] He says to us, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”[30] When we suffer, he suffers with us, prays for us, sometimes heals us, and always offers healing for our souls. While our present earthly bodies waste away, our souls are being renewed day by day because of the cross.

It should be noted that every reference to the wounds, bruises, and blood of Jesus in Isaiah 53 is connected to sin ‒ not directly to physical sickness.[31] Our sin was the horrible disease which caused Jesus such agony, humiliation, pain, and bloodshed. It was our sins which held Jesus to the cross, and by the stripes of Jesus we are spiritually healed.[38]

Because of the blood, we are no longer held in sin’s grip, are no longer enslaved to the desires of the flesh, and are no longer enticed by the things of this world. Jesus’ blood has set us free! Physical decay and death cannot take away what Jesus has done for our souls! Physical suffering will hide God’s face at times, but no amount of suffering or misery has the power to separate us from his love.[32] No matter what is happening in your body, in the atonement of Christ your soul will always be safe and secure. Because of the cross, we look forward to a future day when every effect of the curse will be gone! Our world will be made new. Weeds and thorns will be no more. Our bodies will be made whole. Suffering, pain, and death will be permanently destroyed.

All healing – both physical and spiritually – is in the cross. Healing from sin is promised now to all who believe on Jesus. Healing from sickness is sometimes granted now but promised later.[39]

Prosperity theology often teaches that Jesus’ promise of “greater works” in John 14:12 means greater miracles.

Many interpret this passage as Jesus’ promise that all disciples will do greater miracles than even he did.

Did the apostles perform greater miracles than Jesus? There are thirty-five specific miracles of Christ recorded in the Gospels, though he performed many more; but in Acts, only twelve miracles of the apostles are recorded, though they also worked many more. The point is: while miracles certainly aren’t excluded from the New Testament, they were never the focus.

Did any of the early disciples ever perform a greater miracle then the miracle of the loaves and fishes, or the turning of water into wine, or the stilling the storm, or the great catch of fish, or the restoring of sight to two blind men, or raising of Lazarus from the dead? Though some of the disciples did, indeed, work some powerful miracles, nothing ever fully matched the wonder of what the Lord had done. Together, the church has done greater spiritual works than Jesus in the sense that by his death and resurrection Jesus laid the foundation that we have been building on ever since.

To the early Christians, the preaching of the gospel was always central; occasional signs and wonders were used by God to validate the message and the messengers, especially in places where the gospel had never been preached. The reason signs and wonders have such power to grip and astonish people, even today, is because they are so rare. If miracles were to become normal and predictable, they would lose their effectiveness and God’s message would be ignored.

When I was a boy I knew a teacher who would once in a while clap his hands very loudly when students fell asleep or stopped listening for one reason or another. He had something very important to say and needed their eyes fully fixed on him. After he had startled the class and recaptured their attention, he wouldn’t keep clapping, but rather go on with the lesson at hand. If this teacher had clapped too often, his students would have learned to tune it out. We should understand miracles as God’s way of clapping his mighty hands to capture mankind’s attention, so that the powerful message of the gospel may be clearly heard, but not as normal, routine events.

I’ll never forget the effect of the dramatic healing of a little mountain girl some years ago. As we began to pray for her, a group began to gather ‒ some saved, but some were still lost in pagan darkness. As we Christians surrounded this little girl and held her in our arms, we felt the fearful power of Satan and saw with our own eyes the effect of a demonic attack. But as we cried out to God, sang together, and claimed the victory of the blood of Jesus, the little girl became very still and then fell asleep. After about fifteen minutes, she sat up, asked for a drink of water, and then, to our amazement, walked away as if nothing had happened! This miracle became a powerful sign of Christ’s superior authority to a village long held in Satan’s grip; and God was glorified.

Beware of the danger of seeking after signs and wonders,[33] but also guard your heart against unbelief. God is still healing and delivering today, according to his will.

Prosperity theology sometimes teaches that signs should be sought after.

In Mark 16:17-18 Jesus says, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

These “signs” are, indeed, following the gospel as it is being faithfully proclaimed around the world, especially in places where it has not been known. Lord, forgive us for our unbelief!

These signs and wonders, however, should not be sought after. They will naturally follow the faithful preaching of the gospel. As we humbly, obediently, and expectantly go into the world preaching the gospel, God’s power will be displayed in and through his church.

As an example, when Paul was shipwrecked and washed ashore on the island of Malta,[34] it was certainly no accident from God’s perspective. God saw an island full of lost people he had died to redeem. As Paul helped gather sticks for a fire, a poisonous viper latched onto his hand. Because he did not die, God began to open a door of ministry for Paul on that island.

Prosperity theology sometimes teaches that because Jesus is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,[35] then we should always expect the same answers to prayer.

Jesus Christ is indeed unchanging in his nature and character, but his activities are quite unpredictable. God is not a machine that we can program, control, or manipulate. He is a person who acts according to his will, for our good and for his glory.

God’s love for his children who suffer is unchanging. The one thing we can count on is that Jesus is unchanging in his love! He will never leave us or forsake us. His resurrection power will be mighty in us – power to sometimes move the mountain, sometimes climb it, and sometimes tunnel through it! His all-sufficient grace and peace will always sustain us in suffering and pain. Because he is sovereign, every circumstance we encounter will submit to his control and be woven into the fabric of his perfect design.

I’ll never forget the hour ride home after five-week-old Jesse had been diagnosed with retinoblastoma (cancer in the eye). As any loving parent would be, Becky and I were pained by the uncertainties which lay ahead; but as we rode along, an unspeakable divine peace enveloped us. This peace found entrance as we began to recall the unmistakable, providential circumstances which had brought us to this moment. Here are a few things that flooded our hearts with peace and praise. First, we weren’t supposed to be in the USA, but we were. A few weeks before beginning our first missionary term, I had “happened” to witness a crime and the state of Indiana agreed to pay our family’s way “home” if only I would testify. Second, we weren’t supposed to be able to get Jesse’s birth certificate and passport in time to fly out of Manila in time for the trial, but we did. Within three days of his birth, we had checked out of the hospital, fought through Manila traffic, and made it to the US Embassy with fifteen minutes to spare. We were the last customers of the day. Third, we weren’t supposed to be at the doctor’s office in Michigan, but we were. Though we suspected nothing, we decided to have a well-baby check-up before returning to the field. Fourth, as we were already putting our coats on to walk out of the doctor’s office, our pediatrician friend took one last look into Jesse’s eyes. This last look turned out to be the saving of Jesse’s life. We are convinced that if we had come back to the Philippines without catching the disease, Jesse would have surely died.

As we rode along in the car that October day, God opened our eyes like they had never been opened before to his behind-the-scenes, detailed management of our lives; and the overwhelming beauty of his sovereign, providential care took our breath away. Our confidence does not rest in our ability to command and manipulate God, but in his power to make every circumstance in our lives submit to his loving, caring, sovereign control.

Prosperity theology sometimes distorts the meaning of faith.

James gives this beautiful invitation to the church:

"Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up."[36]

One afternoon as I hiked through a certain village with some pastors, a very sick baby was brought to us for prayer. The child had been sick for two weeks, as I recall; and as we listened to the sad story from a tearful mother, our hearts were filled with the Lord’s compassion. I’ll never forget that as we laid our hands on this sick baby and began to pray, the Holy Spirit witnessed to our hearts that it was indeed his will to heal. It wasn’t hard to pray, but natural. We weren’t imposing our will on God but felt rather that we were his instruments. Our confidence for healing and boldness to ask came not by our own striving, but by the Lord’s purpose and grace. The next day when we returned to that village, we found the baby completely well, as expected. I believe this is the prayer of faith James speaks of.

Faith is simply trust. It is not trust for God’s children to demand their way. Trust is simply believing that God can, and also that he will, do everything he wills to do.

Physical suffering often provides us opportunities to grow in trust. Henry Frost writes:

"To me this is blessed experience: if sickness has come to put myself wholly at his disposal, either in sickness or in health; to enquire what he would have me to do in seeking for healing; to ask if the circumstances suggest this he will heal miraculously; to seek, lacking such healing, to know his mind in respect to healing of some other sort; and, finally, to accept the issue of his will, whatever it may be, not only submissively, but also in trust and with praise."[37]

► Discuss these seven errors of prosperity theology together. Are these errors manifest in churches or among Christians you know? What are some of the results of believing these errors? Feel free to also share stories of healing and deliverance.

[1] “Lausanne Conference Addresses Major Challenges for World Mission.”  Retrieved from https://www.christiantoday.com/article/lausanne.conference.addresses.major.challenges.for.world.mission/11224.htm September 12, 2020.

[2] “Prosperity Theology.” Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology September 12, 2020.

[3] Henry Frost, Miraculous Healing: Why Does God Heal Some and not Others? (Hagerstown: Christian Heritage, 2000). Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones described this book as the best he had ever read on the subject of divine healing.

[4] Philippians 3:21

[5] 1 Corinthians 15:50

[6] 2 Corinthians 5:1

[7] 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

[8] Joni Eareckson Tada, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty, (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2010), 64

[9] Hebrews 11:35-39

[10] 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

[11] Joni Eareckson Tada, “Joni Eareckson Tada Interview: Icons of Faith Series.” Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ September 18, 2020.

[12] Exodus 15:26

[13] Henry Frost, Miraculous Healing: Why Does God Heal Some and not Others? (Hagerstown: Christian Heritage, 2000)

[14] Galatians 5:2

[15] Revelation 21:4

[16] Deuteronomy 11:27

[17] Ephesians 1:3

[18] 2 Corinthians 10:3-4

[19] 1 Corinthians 10:4

[20] John 6:33-36; 1 Corinthians 10:1-4

[21] Revelation 21:2

[22] 1 Corinthians 3:16

[23] 1 Peter 2:9

[24] 1 John 1:9

[25] Hebrews 9:24. See also Hebrews 10:1.

[26] Isaiah 53:4-5, emphasis added.

[27] Matthew 8:16-17, emphasis added.

[28] 1 Peter 2:24, emphasis added; see also Romans 5:8-9, 1 Corinthians 15:3

[29] 1 Peter 5:7

[30] Matthew 11:28

[31] See Isaiah 53:5-6, 8, 10-12

[32] Romans 8:31-39

[33] Luke 11:29

[34] Acts 28

[35] Hebrews 13:3

[36] James 5:15

[37] Henry Frost, Miraculous Healing: Why Does God Heal Some and not Others? (Hagerstown: Christian Heritage, 2000), 110

[38]“What Jesus began doing to sin and its results won’t be complete until the second coming.”
– Joni Eareckson Tada

[39]“Christ did die to destroy sickness, and he will yet do it. But he does not say that he will, in a perfect sense, do it now, but rather, at a later time when he comes in power and great glory.”
– Henry Frost

Suffering is a tool held in the hand of a good and loving God. Embrace it. With it he is conforming you and me into the image of the Son. Remembering this will bring peace to our hearts and hasten our transformation.

"A little piece of wood once complained bitterly because its owner kept whittling away at it, cutting it, and filling it with holes; but the one who was cutting it... paid no attention to its complaining. He was making a flute...."[1]

[1] M.R. Dehaan, Broken Things, as quoted in Charles Swindoll, Favorite Stories and Illustrations (Philippines, OMF Literature, 1998), 547

(1) Take a test based on the material from this lesson.

(2) Spend at least thirty minutes this week reviewing this lesson, including the Scripture references, asking the Holy Spirit for insight.

(3) Record in your journal any specific changes that ought to be made in your life, as the Lord reveals them to you.

(4) Meditate on at least one Psalm in your daily devotional time and record in your journal what the psalmist says about the nature and character of God.

(5) Record in your journal a personal prayer for spiritual transformation and growth based on this lesson.

(6) Practice using Dr. Brown’s Daily Prayer Guide in your daily private prayer.

(1) Prove from Scripture that suffering is part of God’s will for Christians.

(2) What are the two lenses through which Christians should see the world?

(3) What passage teaches that Jesus is our example in suffering?

(4) What passage teaches that all creation is groaning?

(5) According to Romans 8:28-29, God is causing all things to work together for good to those who love him. What is his ultimate purpose? “That we might be __________ to the __________ of his __________.”

(6) What are three of the seven benefits of suffering mentioned in this lesson?

(7) In your own words, explain at least two of the errors of prosperity theology.