When the Word says we are to be partakers
of Christ's suffering, it means we are to enter
into the victory Jesus bore for us on the
cross. The only suffering we encounter in
sharing His victory is spiritual. That's what
the Word is talking about when it says we are to
be partakers of Christ's suffering. In other
words, the only suffering for a believer is the
spiritual discomfort brought by resisting the
pressures of the flesh, not a physical or mental
suffering. Jesus has already borne for us all
the suffering in the natural and mental realms.
Romans 8:17-18 says we are to suffer
with Him so that we can be glorified
together. Jesus isn't suffering physically or
mentally, and if we are suffering with Him, we
don't have to either. Right now, He is our head
and seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews
10:12-13). As Christ's Body in the earth, our
struggle isn't against flesh and blood - against
the physical or mental. Instead, we
spiritually stand against principalities,
powers, rulers of the darkness of this world,
and wicked spirits in high places (Ephesians
6:12). That's why it's to God's Glory when we
are healed or delivered physically and mentally,
for we only have to fight in the spirit
realm.
As you have probably experienced, any
time we are walking in the Word and
fellowshipping with the Father, Satan will do
his best to stop us. He wants to stop this
spiritual relationship. He knows as we receive
revelation knowledge into our spirit, we
will learn to lord over him in the physical and
mental realms. Then his tactics to put us under
the law of sin and death will be futile (Romans
8:2).
James 1 says when we fall into different
temptations and pressures, we should be happy
about it! Why? Because the trying of our faith
works our patience - our steadfastness on God's
Word. In other words, the more our faith is
tried, the more we'll learn to trust in and rely
on His Word, and the more we'll be strengthened
in our spirit. Then, when our patience (our
steadfastness on God's Word) has its perfect
work, we will be perfect and entire, lacking
nothing. It's when we "lack nothing" that we
have been delivered. We don't have to suffer
physically or mentally.