Lord, the fruit of Your Holy Spirit includes kindness. This is also a facet of Your unchanging character that we easily forget when suffering.
Temptations everywhere annoy,
And sins and snares oft make me sigh;
My earthly joys are from me torn,
And oft an absent God I mourn.
(“Remembering All the Way the Lord Has Led Him,” Fawcett, J., p.d.)
Abba Father, this suffering is so hard
Help me to remember Your kindness toward me.
Through this wide wilderness I roam,
Far distant from my blissful home;
Lord, let thy presence be my stay,
And guard me in this dangerous way.
I’m so tempted to think I have it worse than others.
Then I read old hymns like this one (and sing it to the tune of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”), remembering it’s been hard suffering for everyone since sin entered our world Genesis 3.
I read of Paul’s “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hungers” (2 Cor. 6:4-5 ESV), and I’m humbled by Your kindness in leaving me Your Word and so many promises to Your beloved in Christ…into my suffering.
Thus far my God has led me on,
And made his truth and mercy known;
My hopes and fears alternate rise,
And comforts mingle with my sighs.
I read of my beloved Savior and what He endured on the cross for me, and I’m humbled by Your kindness in sparing me from deserved punishment for my sin. He experienced suffering far worse than any believer has or will experience. My immensely kind and strong Jesus lived through this separation from You while bearing the complete weight of my sin.
Your kindness in gifting me salvation, kindness past!
Outside of time as we understand it, You’ve already saved me, raising and seating me with Christ! So You can assuredly promise “that in the coming ages,” You will “show the immeasurable riches” of Your “kindness toward” me “in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7 ESV).
My kind and strong Lord of all, You can promise this because saving me is entirely Your gift of grace to me, in Your covenant love and merciful kindness toward me. From start to finish, to the praise of Your glory (Eph. 1:13)!
He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness,
But according to his own mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that being justified by his grace we might become
heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7 ESV).
Glory to You alone!
Jesus, kind and strong, I suffer now with Your kindness
Your affectionate and compassionate kindness, in all its riches, is Your gift that leads us to repentance as we turn to You and away from our sin.
Continue to re-turn me to You as I suffer, leading and feeding me in Your ongoing and unchanging kindness. You promise to grow, strengthen, and keep me, as I suffer, by the work of Your Holy Spirit. You promise to help me “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25 ESV), so that I can be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving others (Eph. 4:32).
Is this, dear Lord, that thorny road
Which leads us to the mount of God?
Are these the toils thy people know,
While in this wilderness below?
As You sanctify me, You promise You’re shaping me into a Proverbs 31 kind of woman who speaks “the teaching of kindness” (Prov. 31:26 ESV).
What a fantastic promise, my kind and strong Lord! As I suffer, You’re leading and transforming me by Your Spirit, in Your kindness, carrying and bearing me up as I walk yoked with Jesus, my Lord and Savior (Mt. 11:28-29).
No matter what my future earthly suffering entails, I trust Your kindness to me in Christ
My soul, with various tempests tossed,
Her hopes o’erturned, her projects crossed,
Sees every day new straits attend,
And wonders where the scene will end.
By Your Spirit, You promise to work in me to want to obey You, to “work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13 ESV). I don’t need to stress over this, but simply come to You continually, for Your sanctifying work is also Your grace, Your kindness, Your gift.
In Your power-full and strong kindness of drawing, saving, leading, and holding me up, this is why You can then promise:
‘Tis even so; thy faithful love
Does all thy children’s graces prove;
’Tis thus our pride and self must fall
That Jesus may be all in all.
In the name of Jesus, my all in all, amen and amen.
Material adapted from Praying God’s Promises Into Suffering: A Devotional Bible Study Prayer Journal, Lauri A. Hogle, © 2023
A playlist to sing to our Lord Jesus, kind and strong
Our kind and strong Savior is using this song to hold me up right now. We can always come to Him in every need. Singing His truths back to Him as we suffer helps us, physically, emotionally, cognitively, and spiritually! What a gift He’s given us, past, present, and future!
Sister in Christ, if it would bless you to join me and many others from around the world in singing to our Lord Jesus of what He’s done, is doing, and will do for us at the end…sign up here and weekly playlist gifts will come to your email. May they stir your hope in Christ and help you endure your suffering.
Other resources of our ministry are also below, offered with love:
To hear Scripture devotional with calming hymns, click here for YouTube podcast.
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