Father God, even as we rejoice in our Savior’s resurrection, sometimes our suffering so overwhelms us that we can hardly pray or read Your Word. Yet, You know we desperately need Your Word’s truths as we suffer. Strengthen and encourage us, just as You did other disciples of Jesus in Acts 14…
It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22 CSB).
Could our necessary and many hardships…be part of Your victory in bringing us all the way home, “to enter Your kingdom?” The Christian life of earthly suffering is such a paradox, not at all what we might think.
Stir our hearts into a “praise interruption” as we consider Your saving and victorious work in our souls, as we suffer.
Praising our Savior, the reigning and resurrected King Jesus
Praise the Savior now and ever;
praise him, all beneath the skies!
(“Praise the Savior Now and Ever,” Clementines, V. H., 569)
Our Father, we were once dead, separated from You, condemned forever for our sin. But Jesus was separated from You on the cross so that we who trust in Him for salvation never will be! No matter what we suffer on earth, we are now alive with Jesus Himself, because Jesus is risen and alive!
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved (Eph. 2:4-5 ESV, emphasis added)!
Praising our Savior for victory over sin
Prostrate lying, suffering, dying
on the cross, a sacrifice.
We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind (Eph. 2:3 ESV, emphasis added).
Victory gaining, life obtaining,
now in glory he doth rise!
Every one of our failures as sinners is now Christ’s victory over sin, becoming our own victory over sin, even as we suffer. Holy, holy, holy God, Jesus bearing Your judgment for sin has now become our acceptance and approval from You, as those who are unified with Christ!
Man’s work faileth, Christ’s availeth;
he is all our righteousness!
Our brokenness and shattering as we suffer in this evil and fallen world of sin propels us to Jesus, who is our only wholeness and righteousness before You. We desperately “need Thee, every hour.” And You’ve given us all we need to bring us home to Yourself. What a “victory in Jesus, my Savior forever!”
Praising our Savior for victory as we suffer
He, our Savior, has forever
set us free from dire distress.
Our sorrows turn us to Your comfort. Our hurt and pain turn us to Your healing love. When darkness overwhelms us, You give us Your light. When we’re too weary to keep going, Christ’s endurance in His suffering becomes Your gift of empowered endurance for our own trials. When our fears of Your judgment spiral, remembering Your gifted eternal inheritance to us calms us down into hope for our sure future.
Through his merit we inherit
light and peace and happiness!
![[God] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6 ESV)!](https://i0.wp.com/laurihogle.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Eph.-2-6.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1)
Praising our Savior for His victory over Satan, at the cross
Sin’s bonds severed, we’re delivered;
Christ has bruised the serpent’s head!
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14 ESV).
Death no longer is the stronger;
hell itself is captive led…
Christ has risen from death’s prison;
o’er the tomb he light has shed!
Praising our God for His victoriously sanctifying grace
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:8 ESV).
Loving Father, it’s all Your abundant grace ongoing as we suffer! For You’re drawing us close to You when we suffer, or when we sin, or when our trust falters. You’re transforming us into becoming more Christlike, set apart in Him, in this sanctifying process of our need for You.
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4 ESV).
For his favor, praise forever
unto God the Father sing!
Praising our God for His victory in powerfully keeping us in His kingdom through enduring in “necessary” hardships
And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4 ESV).
Praise the Savior, praise him ever,
Son of God, our Lord and King!
Praise the Spirit; through Christ’s merit
he doth us salvation bring!
In Your victorious name, our Lord and King Jesus, thank You and amen!
Songs for us to praise our Savior for His saving victory as we suffer
Sister in Christ, in our great need, let’s praise our victorious Lord! He is risen and His victory is ours! In His gracious gift of singing to Him, “singing for joy” (Ps. 149:5), let’s ask Him to help us victoriously endure these “necessary” hardships. Praying this week’s playlist gift will be God’s empowering gift of “light and peace and happiness” as we sing of our victory in Christ. And this?
What a victory in Jesus, when we suffer!
Glory to God alone!
If weekly “victory in Jesus” playlists that help us sing of our gospel-centered hope in Christ would bless you, sign up here and they will come to your email, with prayer and love from a sister in Christ who understands.
2 Comments
Barbara A Mattox · April 3, 2024 at 7:39 am
Thank you, Lauri, for your post and your prayers! You and Paul are in my prayers. My Jesus be exalted and glorified!
Lauri Hogle · April 3, 2024 at 12:17 pm
Glory to our Lord and Savior! Dear sister, thank you so much for your ongoing prayers and encouragement, for you know the suffering lingers. The songs are really true – “Yet N0t I, but Through Christ in Me!” We absolutely do have “Victory in Jesus!” Why? He is our Savior, forever! Praying this encourages you as well!
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