February 4, 2026, holiness will always involve suffering, because the path to holiness is the path of the Cross: Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9.23). What is different about the type of suffering that comes through voluntary submission to the power of God, however, is that it is freeing: If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8.36).
Christ, the true God to whom you have surrendered yourself, is the Suffering One: He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53.3a). When we, however, endure pain, suffering and trials for Christ and His righteousness—Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake (Matthew 24.9)—we find peace, because we are magnetically drawn into His sphere of holiness and the sphere of holiness is the sphere of peace. He is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9.6).
Furthermore, one of the ways in which He shares His peace with us, is through our sharing, in His sufferings for the world that He adores: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3.16). Although it might be hard to believe, the bindings, brokenness, and torment that we experience in advance of coming to a stable place of total and complete freedom in Christ have a purpose.
This purpose might not yet be clear and that is okay. God reveals His mystery in stages. As the process of sanctification progresses through the cleansing and redeeming work of the Holy Spirit, more and more information regarding your divine design (God’s holy masterplan for your life) and the calling that blossoms out of it will come to light.
As the light of knowledge and understanding increases, the unifying vision that connects everything that has happened in your life and all that you have endured (and are enduring) will become clearer, sharper and more vivid. Illuminated by this light, the sufferings will become increasingly easy to bear, because you will understand (at last!) why it all had to be the way that it had to be and what it was—and is—all for.
Light alone is not, however, enough. We need love. The love of God, which has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit: Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5.5). The sweet and soft love of Jesus comforts, heals and strengthens us amidst our sufferings and the torturous experiences that we endure, for the sake of Christ and the divine justice that He will soon bring.
Step by step, stage by stage, battle by battle, warfare by warfare, His love will sustain and carry us until we come to the point at which we find the full and eternal freedom in Him that He has promised to those who love Him and endure to the end: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2.9).
Amen +
Source: Apocalypse
