...But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. ¹¹To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

That a Christian shall suffer is a Biblical prophecy which that we can all confirm. Not only it is a prophecy, it refers to an intrinsic condition of living in a world contrary to God, a temporary world that will be cast away to establish the Kingdom of God. Once this is accepted by every disciple of Jesus Christ - Yahshua, we must also accept that it is God, and not ourselves, Who makes us perfect as Christians; Who establishes our faith; Who strengthens us in character and Who settles us in our lives and in our ministries as Christians until His coming.

In this occasion, and having accepted that it is His, not only the power, but the capacity to make us the disciples that He wants, let us see to what end we can labor under God's hand that He may settle us with the foundation of Christianity: Jesus Christ Himself.

 

GOD MAKE YOU PERFECT

Certainly God makes us perfect as disciples, as Christians, as people, as fathers, mothers, children, students, grand parents, workers, etc, etc, etc. For this it is important that we cooperate with our God if we also want to be made perfect by Him. The athlete who trains follows the instructions of his trainer, who knows him well, knows the discipline of the specific sport and how to obtain the best results. Let us go to train with God every day that He may make us perfect. The results are for victory.

We see how God makes His work perfect in Matthew 21:16 ...Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise. Also Jesus was saying to Paul that His power becomes perfect in his weakness, 2Corinthians 12:9 He also does in ours.

To be perfect, for example we can sell all we have and give it to the poor, Matthew 19:21. And we can keep His Word so that our love for Him becomes perfect, as well as if we love one another we are perfected in the love of Christ, 1John 2:5 and 4:12. God is faithful; therefore: ...He who began the good work in you will complete it, Philippians 1:6. By the way, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was made perfect through the afflictions of love for us, calling us brothers, who have become saved through His blood, Hebrews 2:10-11 and 5:9-10.

 

GOD ESTABLISH YOU

To be established, we must have first believed, be confident and trusting God, only then God establishes us in all we do, because we do it fulfilling His Word. Otherwise uncertainty, doubt and the lack of security are the rulers in the life of the man who does not seek to serve and glorify God in his life.

God established Solomon's throne, 1Kings 9:5. But this was before he sinned. If we remember, also, God promised Abraham a descendant. In both cases it refers to Jesus Christ, descendant of Abraham and King of Israel, and both things are for ever. God has not allowed any of His promises to be dependant on men, but on His Son Jesus Christ, faithful until death, and death of Cross.

Therefore, the good son of God prays that his heart will be established and firm to fear God, Psalm 86:11. In prayer our spirit is affirmed, as it says in Isaiah 35:3 ...strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

If we love God and our brothers our hearts become established and firm... 1Thesalonians 3:13. It is Jesus Christ's command in John 15:12, because greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. We are His friends if we keep His command and then our hearts are established and firm.

 

GOD STRENGTHEN YOU

The house of kind David was being strengthen and Saul's weakening, as the Bible tells in 2Samuel 3:1. And the reason was no other than the difference between David –with a heart that loved God and was dependant on Him– and Saul's heart –which was hardening denying the evident hand of God. In the same way we must acknowledge the hand of God in our lives, both in those doors that He opens, as well as in those that He closes, be humble, honor those He anoints, and always seek to do His will, if we truly love Him. If we acknowledge God in our lives and our relationship with Him is intimate and deep, God will strengthen us in everything.

Again the same verse that unifies establishing and strengthening, and I relate it with prayer where our spirit is established and strengthened, as it says, again  in Isaiah 35:3 ...strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

Our Lord Yahshua received help from an angel to strengthen Him when He was in Gethsemane before the moment of accepting the cup of the Cross, Luke 22:43. God will never leave us in the difficult times, but always must trust Him, let's come and seek Him always.

The Church, and all churches in particular, find in the Text of Acts 9:31 the key of what is happening: Then the churches throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplying,

Personally, as Christians, Paul reminds us that our strength is in the Lord and in the power of His strength, Ephesians 3:16 and 6:10, not through our own power, it is Him who strengthens us, because ...I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Philippians 4:13.

 

GOD SETTLE YOU

After the death of king David, his son Solomon found an already settled kingdom. His duty would be to maintain it, which was not possible due to the fact that he did not keep the Way of his father David, who followed in obedience and love for God.

The Greek Text of the New Testament, in which it was written, provides the word "themeliosei" - will settle" which may be translated as foundation, settlement or establishment. In any of these forms, God wants to tell us, through Paul, that we must be settled by Him. In the same manner as the Temple of Jerusalem was settled, and we say that Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, the foundation over which all the structure is raised, likewise God raises an entire Christian life after the foundation of the faith in Jesus Christ - Yahshua, until we are settled in our lives and in His Church, in that church that He chooses for us, where He has made us a member that unites to the Body with the joint that only God knows, and that He reveals in due time.

Our life is full of challenges and proofs, not only as Christians, but as people, as citizens of this world that we are given to live. Our dreams and ambitions, our project and families, all these things that sometimes we think we can drive, control or program, are under the hand of our Father in the Heavens. We cannot live our life to its full without counting on Him; even more, we must not, without asking Him: What is Your plan for my life and where will you settle me? The question of becoming settled, far from being only a geographical location, includes our family, our profession, our dreams and our belonging to a church, I don't mean to the universal Church, but to the local church, in which we are to serve God.

A Christian cannot choose the church where to serve God, because it is the Holy Spirit to Whom that power belongs. Many have asked me to which church they should go and many times I have recommended this one or that one. But God has showed me that this is a matter between Him and the disciple. Likewise it belongs to God to settle us in a country, in a city, in a family, when we marry, in studies for the profession we will do, etc. We cannot find our purpose until we have understood this.

How many times we ask God why in certain matters we succeed, even though we they are not our preferred, and on the contrary in others which are those we want it seams that we don't count with His approval and we don't succeed?

Once we have received from God the confirmation of the answer for each thing, after having prayed for whichever time needed, days, weeks, months, years, God always answers to each thing in His time. God has all kinds of ways to convince us of what, or where we are to be settled. Then it remains the matter of "when". In fact most of the answers He will tell us in advance of their fulfillment, but then we will be tried in patience until they fulfill. Also this is a power of God and in prayer and patience God will open those doors that we seek to have open, and they will be for His glory in our lives. It all is part of the marvelous plan of God, the great Architect of life and existence. Therefore in Him we trust, for He made us and not we ourselves.

Peter provides two bases of spiritual growth. One in 1Peter 5:10 and another, related to this one in 2Peter 1:5 where we can add to our faith, virtue; knowledge; self-control; perseverance; godliness; brotherly kindness and love.

The four steps we have seen come after suffering. The seven steps that follow come after faith. Both groups make the foundation of Christianity and in them we must exercise always, because God will settle us.

 

WHAT GOD HAS SETTLED

God has settled a number of things that we must remember to understand to what level the work is His.

God established His covenant with Isaac... Genesis 17:21. The descendants of Abraham, and from whom came Jesus Christ.

God settles the just... Psalm 7:9. The just is he who has been justified by the blood of Christ. No one can justify himself before God.

Jesus Christ appointed twelve... that they might be with Him. Mark 3:14. The Church is made by those members that God unites, and is ministered by those that God chooses. When the church is made in an artificial manner, by the will of men, it will not prevail nor gives the image of Jesus Christ.

God has established a day in which He will judge the world with justice... Acts 17:31. Every person will be raised to stand before God. God is the just Judge. Those who have repented and have believed in the work of His Son Jesus Christ will be part of the Kingdom of God for eternity. Not so for those who rebel against God and live according to their own will, for those the lake of fire is settled for eternity according to The Word of God, The Bible.

Finally the grace of God has been settled in the redeeming work of Christ for our lives, taking away the continual work of animal sacrifices of the Law. For Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. Hebrews 10:1-12.

It is in that grace of God, that having received the gift of faith, we come to understand that it is God in us, through His Spirit who settles us in His Son Jesus Christ. Our own justice does not work, our own religion or moral does not work. It did not work to Cain and due to rebellion and envy killed Abel, Genesis 4. Therefore let us stop trying to settle us ourselves and yield the throne of our soul to God.

 

CONCLUSION

That God settles us is a blessing that may be compared to the story of Israel when they received the Promised Land, where they where settled. First, one must leave Egypt, cross the Read Sea, receive the Commandments, walk the desert for 40 years, say good bye to Moses, cross Jordan, and enter into the Promised Land. In it the first thing we do is to put down Jericho. Now, the guarantee that the settlement prevails is going to depend of our obedience to God. Israel remained in the Promised Land since it was guided by Joshua, until the end of the kingdom of Solomon. The son of David did not follow the steps of his father at the end of his years and served his wife's in idolatry, leaving Yahweh and bringing with it the rough of God over Israel, that soon would be defeated by armies that destroyed them and took them captive.

Only in two occasions Israel has again been settled in the Promised Land, and both are for prophetic reasons, not for their obedience to God, but because God is faithful and fulfils His Word. The first was for the Temple to be raised before the fist coming of Jesus Christ as suffering Messiah. The second has started with the return of Israel before the second coming of Yahshua as Messiah King, and it is to come. God has settled Jerusalem as the city of the Great King, the heart of the world, the prophetic centre of His events, all written in The Bible.

In our lives we will be settled by God when we listen to His voice, and not to ours, in all that we do. Many write to this website asking help to find the church where to belong. The answer is that they must trust God. Many look for a job where they think they should be, without asking God in prayer, what is the profession with which they should provide their families. Or what person to marry and form a family. When these things are done following our own advice or of other people, and not God's there will not be a solid foundation and the project has the risk of falling, as it happens almost always. God's mercy, when the disciple repents, may get to save him from the tragedy, but why not do things well from the beginning? Israel did not do it and was deported, being the Jewish people wandering until God is calling them again to Israel to fulfill the last prophecy.

We close concluding that it is when we trust God and let Him be Who makes us perfect in what we do, establish us in the right path, become strengthen by Him in our position, work, family, ministry, then and only then God settles us, puts our foundation, our cornerstone of life, which was put before in us in Yahshua - Jesus Christ, waiting to be settled. When we believed, God was exalted in our heart, the faith in Jesus Christ became the foundation of our lives and the cornerstone was placed to build on it our life in Christ. This way we can trust God, and that what we do is His will, for by Him it has been settled. Paul described it with words of the Spirit:

...For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. Philippians 1:20-26. ...The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.