IBCD Summer Institute: Plenary Session 5 “Gods Grace When Things Are Hard”

In the fifth plenary session we had the opportunity to hear from Jim Newheiser on a topic that he is intimately familiar with, suffering. Newheiser gave what Milton Vincent said was one of the top sermons he had ever heard on any topic, and I would agree.

Newheiser opened up James and showed us that “James helps us to see how we cannot waste our trials.” “You love your own comfort but He (God) wants you to be like Him. The greatest growth in our lives are through the times that we suffer the most.”

Newheiser showed us this in three succinct points from James 1:2–5:

• When - You face trials

Newheiser pointed our that suffering is apart of the Christian life, it is not optional it is a fact of life. God does not deal with us in the way that we would like him to, he uses trials in the lives of his people to make us further into the image of Christ. 

• Consider - God has worked in your trials

You must think properly about your trials. If you just let your brain go, you will end up wasting your suffering. But God can use your suffering to produce in you growth that you would not be able to produce on your own.

• Ask - God for wisdom

There is no other time that you need wisdom more than during trials. We need to try and see our situation from Gods perspective and not our own. Newheiser reminded us to “Never loose sign of the goodness of God.”