God chastises those he loves

Many believers do not understand why they suffer; why they are sick, or why nothing works for them in the world. The reality is that when we are on the wrong track, and I'm not talking about sin necessarily, but just not being in God's will, well, God allows us to be in pain so that we can come into his presence and seek him with all our heart. 

If God loves us, then he must not allow us to be happy outside his presence. He must not let us get lost in this world, in a false peace and happiness. That is why it is said that God chastises those whom he loves.

We can be delivered from sin; live in a certain holiness and do no wrong, yet be on the wrong path, outside the will of God; and God must teach us obedience through suffering. 

If we look at the Perfect Example, the man Jesus Christ, we can see that he who is the only human being who never sinned, still learned obedience through the things he suffered. This proves that if we are suffering, it is not necessarily because we are living in sin, but because we are not in the perfect will of God. 

Of course, we can suffer while being in the perfect will of God, as was the case for Jesus Christ, as well as for the apostles and even for all Christians; but the first suffering we have as followers of Jesus Christ is the suffering that leads us to obedience. 

Unfortunately, most believers, when they suffer, do not understand; and most of the time, they turn to men in their misfortunes; but God says: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, but blessed are those who trust in Yahweh; which means that the curse comes on all those who turn to men instead of turning to God. 

That's why the men they turn to give them false teaching and bad advice, and lead them astray; because this is the fruit they reap by turning to men instead of to God. Then they end up believing that it is not right to suffer like this in Christ, and they unite with the blind who are heading for the pit; and they get a false peace from this world; they go completely astray. 

No! in reality it is quite normal to suffer when we want to follow Jesus Christ, and it is a great grace that God challenges us through suffering, so that we question ourselves and decide to come (or return) into his presence and seek him with all our heart. But unfortunately most people reject suffering, instead of seeking to understand its meaning. 

So if you have decided to follow Jesus, and you are suffering; and no matter what you do, nothing works properly; no matter what you do, you still have problems; no matter what you do, things are going wrong... it is simply because God wants to challenge you to give up everything you have undertaken and come into his presence, to truly seek him with all your heart. 

In these difficult times, the devil will do everything to turn you away from God's call; and he will use everyone to seduce you with lies. He will only wait for one thing, that you decide to put your trust in men; that you listen to them, so that through them he can mislead you and lead you completely astray. Know that many are definitely lost in this trial; it is terrible.

Finally, if you really seek God with all your heart, he will make you understand that as long as you do not abandon him to follow the crowds who try to mislead you by the will of the devil, he will not allow you to be happy outside of his presence; and you may suffer terribly, but it is necessary for your salvation.

It is a great grace not to be at peace when we are not in the will of God; it is a great blessing, and all who decide to follow Jesus go through it, but very few find the right way out. Most give up and turn to fables, false doctrines, or go back to their old pagan lives altogether. 

I still remember when I prayed to the Lord every day, living in true sanctification, stripping myself in his presence and praying for the revival of the Church; I asked him every day never to allow me to be happy in this world; never to allow me to drift away from him and lose myself in this world. I prayed to him that he would always make me suffer if I ever began to stray from his will.

Some time later I had to move, and during this period I had to take care of many things on earth; I had to rebuild my car in order to move; I had to take care of the move etc... Then I had a lot of hardships that followed; I had money problems because my landlord had cheated me out of 1000 euros of deposit and APL that he hadn't given me back (for me it wasn't serious but I had a wife and children). Right after that my uncle got sick, then he finally died, then I fell back into sin (addictions), then my health got worse, then everyone abandoned me and especially my own family...

Finally my situation only got worse, I drowned in depression, alcohol, cannabis, hatred towards all my relatives... and it was terrible. So I asked myself: how could I have come to this? I realised that from the moment I had to take care of my car and my move, I was distancing myself from the Lord. 

I was focused on the worries, the things of the earth, and I had abandoned what I was doing previously. I had almost become a lukewarm believer like others who have received the Holy Spirit and who are partially sanctified; indeed, if I do not compare myself to others, I can say that I had become a lukewarm believer, since I was divided, devoted to two things; on the one hand, to God, to my life of prayer and meditation, and on the other hand, to thinking about the things of the earth, which created in me a certain slackness.

Indeed, when one is lukewarm, one allows oneself to be often in debauchery, to have good meals, to drink wine, to watch worldly things on TV etc... details which for someone who had gone as far as I had are not to be taken lightly; because God chastises his disciples according to their spiritual state and the knowledge they have, the revelations they have received. 

Someone who was fully consecrated like me, who lived in total consecration to God, in true sanctification, every day in the presence of God; had no right to grow cold and become a lukewarm believer. The punishment had to be commensurate with what God expected of me in relation to the level I was at.

After moving out and being ripped off by my former landlord, I was in worry because he had given me a wooden cheque, which was credited to my account, and taken back a few days later, when we had bought furniture for our home. 

As I was not in the will of God, in the Spirit, in the presence of God, but in the flesh, I became anxious, and instead of putting my trust in God, I wanted to recover this money by myself, sending messages to the owner etc... I was in this process every day, instead of returning to my life of prayer, of total consecration, and satan took advantage of the fact that I was in the flesh, in this weakness, so that my uncle fell sick and died, so that I would fall really low afterwards...

To be brief and to come back to the basic subject, during this period when I was falling very low, God did not allow for a single second that I would be happy outside of his presence; outside of his will. He allowed all these trials, so that I would understand that I had to come back to this life of total consecration, of true sanctification, and I thank Him today, while I was undergoing these trials, I was crying terribly and I was angry with God. 

I said to myself: how could I have come to this? I was in sanctification, in the presence of God, and I was delivered from sin, I didn't want any harm... but I understood that it was simply because I was going out of God's will, and that God allowed all these trials so that I could come back into his presence, into his will. 

During these trials, there are two solutions: either we lose ourselves, or we turn to God; and unfortunately, most believers lose themselves, in all sorts of ways. I finally remembered that it was myself who was asking God some time ago: don't let me be happy outside your will; don't let me be well in this world... and that God was only answering my prayers; and I even understood that it was he who had inspired these prayers so that I would remember them during these trials. 

I got to the point where I was crying and saying to myself that I would give anything to get back to the consecrated life I had with God, and that I didn't want to get to that point, and that really taught me a lesson. It made such an impression on me that I really don't want to go through that suffering and despair again. 

God said to me: do you see where disobedience leads? Even though before I got there I was far from being in sin like most believers; I was far from living like them; but yet, just because I started to deviate and move away from God's will; I who had gone so far with God, well I had to go through terrible suffering, which I would not wish on anyone, in order to be chastised, and so that I would never forget it; so that I would say to myself: I never want to go through that again. 

I thank God for delivering me from the ordeal and bringing me back to him, who thought it would never be possible again, because it was impossible in my own strength; but it was possible by the grace of God, provided I put my trust in him alone. 

When I started writing this publication, I did not plan to give this testimony, I simply asked God to inspire me with a sharing, a teaching, and I started writing as I always do, but this time the Lord led me to share a passage from my life that has a bearing on the basic teaching of this publication. 

So if you have decided to follow the Lord and are suffering, I urge you not to turn to men and beware of the counsels of men, that you may not be lost; and to forsake all your undertakings in this world, and set yourself apart in the presence of God, that He may teach you, sanctify you, prepare you for His work. 

We have nothing to do in this world (apart from Christ); we have nothing to gain by thinking of the things of the earth; but we have everything to gain by drawing near to God. Nothing matters apart from his will. All is vanity apart from his will. 

May the Lord bless you abundantly.