Affliction Is a Gift Too
Affliction doesn’t burn us—it draws out what’s already within.
📚 Devotional Credit:
Abide Above – Affliction’s Effect
📸 Photo Credit:
Photo sourced from Unsplash.com
We often brace ourselves against affliction as though it were a thief, come to rob us of peace and joy. But today’s devotional from Miles Stanford reminds us that affliction—when received from the hand of our Father—is one of His most precise instruments of love. It loosens our grip on what was once gain and opens our hands to the treasure of Jesus Christ.
The Christian doesn't suffer less than the world. If anything, our trials may be more intense because God is purposefully at work within us. Yet in the midst of affliction, a quiet wonder is formed: we begin to rest not only in the promise of heaven to come, but in the shared life of Christ that is ours now. This inner life isn’t imaginary—it’s real, rooted in a God who draws near, holds tight, and remains faithful.
Pleasures may distract us; afflictions often direct us. They draw us back to the Father’s heart, refine our perspective, and allow us to experience the Lord’s sufficiency—not in theory, but in the very marrow of our days.
Even chastening is not loss—it is love. In the same way Jesus drank the Father’s cup, we too can receive every sorrow as a gift shaped by His hand. And in that receiving, we find what Paul did: nothing in this world compares to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, not merely in thought, but in the fellowship of His sufferings.
📓 Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture:
Beloved, I am not far off in your affliction—I am within you, sharing it. The pressure you feel has not slipped past My sovereignty. I have allowed it, not to punish, but to purify; not to harm, but to hollow out space for My fullness.
Do not look to pain as an enemy to be evaded. Look through it to Me. I am using what you would never choose to prepare you for what I have already chosen: deeper knowledge of Me, sweeter fellowship, and the treasure of eternal things made present in your heart today.
You once leaned on what you called gain—your wisdom, your comforts, your reputation. But in My grace, I have stripped away the illusion of strength so you might rest in the strength I already am within you. I am your life, your peace, your joy—not when things improve, but now.
As Christ received the cup from the Father’s hand, so can you. The world cannot comprehend this kind of peace. They chase comfort to escape pain, while I give joy in the midst of it. This is your testimony: not that affliction is absent, but that Christ is present—radiantly, faithfully, unshakably present.
Scriptures Woven In: Philippians 3:7–8; Romans 5:3–5; John 14:27; 2 Corinthians 4:16–18; James 1:2–4; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Hebrews 12:5–11; Isaiah 30:20–21; Psalm 34:18; 1 Peter 4:12–13; Romans 8:17–18; John 16:22, 33.
🪄 Real-Life Analogy:
Imagine placing a tea bag in hot water. The boiling heat doesn’t destroy it; it draws out what was hidden inside. You couldn’t smell its aroma or taste its richness until the heat came. In the same way, affliction isn’t meant to burn you—it reveals Christ within you.
Today, when affliction touches your life—a delay, a loss, a deep sorrow—respond not with panic or resistance. Quiet your soul and say, “Lord, I entrust this moment to You. I yield to You. Express the life of Jesus through me here.” Whether it’s an aching conversation, a financial unknown, or a lingering pain, trust the One who turns every trial into a meeting place with Himself.
🙏 Prayer of Confidence:
Father, I thank You that nothing I face today is wasted. You are not only with me—you are within me. Christ is my peace, my joy, my strength, and my life. I lack nothing. I receive today’s discomforts not as random intrusions but as purposeful invitations to know Jesus more. I rest in Your wisdom. I rejoice in Your presence. I walk forward already held, already whole, already home.