Jay and Katherine Wolf recount the journey they have walked through with God and show us that you can survive anything when you learn to redefine everything. Suffering will come to all of us; it’s part of being human, but through knowing Jesus, we can come to a place where we suffer with strength.
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Scripture References
33.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
24.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26.But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Life Through the Spirit
1.Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2.because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me free from the law of sin and death. 3.For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13. God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.8:3 Or flesh, for sin And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4.in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5.Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6.The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7.The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8.Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9.You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10.But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life8:10 Or you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11.And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of8:11 Some manuscripts bodies through his Spirit who lives in you.
12.Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13.For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14.For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15.The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.8:15 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture; also in verse 23. And by him we cry, “Abba,8:15 Aramaic for father Father.” 16.The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17.Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Present Suffering and Future Glory
18.I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19.For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20.For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21.that8:20,21 Or subjected it in hope. 21 For the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22.We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23.Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24.For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25.But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26.In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27.And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28.And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who8:28 Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, who; or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good—with those who have been called according to his purpose. 29.For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30.And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More Than Conquerors
31.What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32.He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33.Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34.Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36.As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”8:36 Psalm 44:22
37.No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38.For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,8:38 Or nor heavenly rulers neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39.neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1.Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:
2.Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise to the God of All Comfort
3.Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4.who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5.For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6.If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7.And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8.We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,1:8 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 8:1; 13:11. about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9.Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10.He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11.as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Paul’s Change of Plans
12.Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity1:12 Many manuscripts holiness and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. 13.For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14.as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15.Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16.I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17.Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?
18.But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19.For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas1:19 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20.For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21.Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22.set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
23.I call God as my witness—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24.Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.
3.
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
About the Contributor
Katherine & Jay Wolf are best-selling authors and founders of the Hope Heals Camp for families affected by disability. They live in Atlanta with their two boys. View more from the Contributor.