FROM DARK TO LIGHT

   There is a suffering that endures for more than a night, that does not end with the rising of the sun.
   There is a suffering that believers in Christ experience, a pain that medication does not heal.
   For us to know more of ourselves as we know more of Christ, believers encounter a time of  suffering. 
   Such suffering is of the Spirit of God, and not of the head; it is a suffering that is not of ourselves, but it is from God:  for without suffering we know not the suffering of Christ.  Without hurt and pain from deep within, we will not know the depths of Almighty God.
   For if this suffering should leave us, then we have lost the message of Christ. 
   The ways of this world are not the ways of God, for the world seeks speedy relief and quick remedies to ease pain or to fix problems. 
   Not everyone will understand the suffering of Christ, nor the suffering of believers.  For what we have in Christ, we want others to know as well.
   No matter if we teach, preach, sing, or write about Christ, if we are not experiencing internal pain, our message is from the head and not from the heart, and thus the message has no power from God, and our words are as idle tales:  and we are no more than entertainers, who have the stage for a while, then we are gone. 
   Suffering is the fuel of the message, for we hurt for others:  that others may know Christ and the power of His resurrection, just as we have come to know Him.
   Therefore, being born again in Christ is the same as a resurrection:  we are resurrected from an old life, now we are raised to walk in a new life.  Old things pass away and behold all things are become new.  The things we once believed pass away, and the things we believe now are totally new.
   Being born again in Christ is like waking up for the first time.  We have been awake, but our beliefs have been in darkness, as if we were asleep, or simply sleep-walking.  Our beliefs were not real though we believed that they were real:  as if our lives had been in a dream world, and our beliefs were only imagination.
   Now we see spiritually what we could not see physically.  For in Christ we are raised from spiritual darkness and born again in spiritual light.  Now we see and understand that Christ, who died for our sins, cleanses us from our sins because we believe in Him, which is our salvation.  That salvation is from Him and not from ourselves; that He did for us what we could not do for ourselves; that Christ died for our sins, which we cannot do. 
   Religion, on the other hand, will tell you that religion is the way to eternal life.  But what religion will not tell you is that man created religion, not Almighty God.  Religion is therefore man's way, and not God's way, and, obviously, religion is a lie and its ministers are liars. 
   Knowing this, Christians suffer because we want others to know the Good News of Christ.  We want others to know Christ, as we know Him, and not to believe in the death of man's religion; for none of the priests of man's religions died for sin. 
   Knowing Christ is about a relationship with Him, and not a relationship with religion.  We believe that Christ is alive and not still dead.  And because He lives, we believe that Christ will come again, just as He said He will do.  Likewise, we now know that Christ is life and that religion is a tomb for the dead. 
   Doing for Christ is not so much as us doing for Him, but rather what Christ can do through us:  that others will see Christ in our teaching, preaching, singing, and writing---without seeing us.
   For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.  (Job 19: 25)