The Power of Suffering by John MacArthur, Jr.

From the Introduction

The atmosphere surrounding today's evangelical church, with its emphasis on easy believism and "feel-good-about-yourself" Christianity, has fostered an unbiblical attitude among believers toward the existence of suffering and persecution in their lives. In addition to the natural aversion to pain and difficulty, many Christians have acquired the notion that hardships should not even cross their paths. When various difficulties do come their way they believe these difficulties are not from God. But this has not been the mindset of Christians from the earliest days of the church...

Jesus tells us we should expect troubles: "In the world you have tribulation" (John 16:33). He Himself did not avoid dealing with hardship and experiencing feelings of distress.

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 the Apostle Paul, based on personal experience, gives a partial list of his troubles. "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed." Even history's greatest evangelist and missionary was not immune to sufferings, trials, and persecutions.

So we see that in God's sovereignty all kinds of difficulties and hardships are real and should be expected in the lives of genuine Christians. One primary reason many believers today have a hard time accepting the role of suffering in their lives or in the lives of friends and loved ones is that they have failed to understand and accept the reality of divine sovereignty. Many also fail to see adversity from God's perspective. In so doing, they completely overlook the positive, strengthening, perfecting effect that trials are designed to have on believers' faith...it is possible, and actually God's desire, that we do more than merely survive or barely tolerate a season of testing or suffering. The Lord wants the experience, though perhaps difficult, as we pass through it, to be a positive one in the end -- one that strengthens and refines our faith. (Job 23:10).

As you read this book it is my earnest hope that you will receive fresh new insights into the role of suffering in the Christian life. I pray that whatever misconceptions or doubts you have about the place of suffering in God's plan will fade away. May you instead, by His grace, be conformed evermore to the image of Christ as you understand better the refining power that pain and adversity exercise in the believer's life.

Contents

Ch. 1 - Suffering in the Plan of God

Ch. 2 - Examples of Faith in the Fire

Ch. 3 - Paul: A Profile in Suffering

Ch. 4 - The Silence of the Lamb of God

Ch. 5 - Preparing for Suffering

Ch. 6 - Dealing with Suffering

Ch. 7 - The Lessons from Sufferings

1. Suffering Produces Fresh Joy
2. Suffering Enhances Future Glory
3. Suffering Produces True Comfort
4. Suffering Yields Greater Wisdom
5. Suffering Yields Greater Humility

This book can be purchased at your local Christian bookstore or Chapters.