Frequently people can think of pain as punishment for some sin. The very word pain comes from a Latin word meaning punishment, and subconsciously we might be thinking that if we admit to having pain, we are admitting to having secret sins. (Google image, Man in pain)
Pain is a reality that needs to be dealt with out in the open; and I want to minister to those who hurt. Christians, like everyone else, need to know that there are many people who have pain. People in pain are everywhere, yet pain is often a taboo subject.
This too often causes Christians to be locked in their private suffering, unable to draw on each other's prayers and concern.
We are supposed to get help and yet we are not supposed to need it! We are trained to be strong and uncomplaining. Keep a stiff upper lip has been our code. And when we don't feel like being strong or self-confident, the pangs of guilt can torment us.
Those who do not have chronic pain are often part of the problem. They praise those who suffer gracefully or silently. The hero is depicted as one who bites the bullet and refuses to acknowledge pain.
What is it that I recommend to Christians? The alchemists of old believed that there was a way to turn ordinary metals into gold. They never made it, but the principle survives.
There are ways to make pain work for us instead of against us. I'm not saying that pain is of itself good. It is a symptom of a problem. If we can solve the problem, we should do that.
But if, through whatever means available, we haven't found a way to solve the problem, then perhaps we can find a way to make pain work for us. And this is where praise can be a powerful force.
I believe this is one of the reasons God so clearly taught us to praise Him for everything. Why? Because He wanted His children to have a resource that would work against pain.
Pain says, "Be miserable, be resentful toward God and others. Be angry with someone or something." None of these reactions help us but can in fact increase our suffering.
God says in Romans 8:28 that He can make everything work for our good! Without understanding it, I can accept and believe God's promise that He can take even my pain and make it work for my good.
This doesn't mean that He causes it or even that He wants it. It simply means that He will keep His promise to His children to make everything work for their good.
If He failed to find a way to make pain work for our ultimate good, then His promise would be void. If He can't use everything, then the promise would be untrue.
If God is able to make everything work for our good, then shouldn't we learn to cooperate with Him? If I have pain, I can choose to make it accomplish something good.
For example, when I hurt, I may not feel like helping anyone, talking to anyone or doing anything worthwhile. But I can say, "Pain, because of you I am going to pick up the phone and call someone," or " I am going to pick up a pen and write to someone who would like to hear from me." Or, "I will tell someone that I love them."
There are any number of actions that I believe will encourage someone. I have made my pain work for someone else's good and therefore I have made it work for my own good. This opens for the Holy Spirit to increase my faith. I believe God is working and that He responds to my faith exactly as His Word promises.
Believing and practicing God's Word makes it possible for Him to work new miracles in us - the kind of miracles He knows will help us.
(Reprint in Praise News, of Foundation of Praise, June 2019)
Let's pray-
Father, the subject of pain is seldom discussed in Christian circles, possibly because some believe that Christians who are considered "good Christians", shouldn't be in pain.
Too often they are locked in their private suffering, unable to draw on each other's prayers and concern. What we're trained to do is to be strong and uncomplaining, though needing help; yet we aren't supposed to need it!
If, through whatever means available, we haven't found a way to solve our problem, then perhaps we can find a way to make pain work for us. This is where praise can be a powerful force.
Romans 8:28 assures us that You can make everything work for our good. If that be so, then we can praise You, as we work through our painful times, trusting You to make good come from it.
You will keep Your promise to Your children to make everything work for their good. If we are then in pain, we can choose to make it accomplish something good.
For example; when we're in pain, we may not feel like helping anyone, talking to anyone or doing anything worthwhile, but if we make an effort to help someone else in their need, our own pain can actually be what prods us to reach out, knowing how they must feel.
This opens us for Your Holy Spirit's increasing of our faith. We can believe that He responds to our faith exactly as Your Word promises.
Our believing and practicing Your Word makes it possible for You to work new miracles in us, the kind of miracles You know will help us.
In Christ Jesus' name we pray. Amen
Too often they are locked in their private suffering, unable to draw on each other's prayers and concern. What we're trained to do is to be strong and uncomplaining, though needing help; yet we aren't supposed to need it!
If, through whatever means available, we haven't found a way to solve our problem, then perhaps we can find a way to make pain work for us. This is where praise can be a powerful force.
Romans 8:28 assures us that You can make everything work for our good. If that be so, then we can praise You, as we work through our painful times, trusting You to make good come from it.
You will keep Your promise to Your children to make everything work for their good. If we are then in pain, we can choose to make it accomplish something good.
For example; when we're in pain, we may not feel like helping anyone, talking to anyone or doing anything worthwhile, but if we make an effort to help someone else in their need, our own pain can actually be what prods us to reach out, knowing how they must feel.
This opens us for Your Holy Spirit's increasing of our faith. We can believe that He responds to our faith exactly as Your Word promises.
Our believing and practicing Your Word makes it possible for You to work new miracles in us, the kind of miracles You know will help us.
In Christ Jesus' name we pray. Amen
76 - 80 of 100 one-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more this week-
76. Rom. 12:21 "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
77. Is. 12:3 "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."
78. Jer. 10:23 "O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."
79. Jer. 17:14 "Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise."
80. 1 Thess. 5:21 "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
Today's quote-
~ Oswald Chambers- "God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us.
God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal." (From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition)
Words of wisdom-
~ Faith is not a reference to demand anything of God. We are to be willing to obey what He tells us.
~ We're not to depend on our own ability, but to let God enable us to move in the gifts and talents He's given us.
Go Deep
Beth Wharton- "She was a cutter.
Little scars laced her arms and torso. A tapestry of pain hewn with every slice and nick. The most difficult case I had experienced. Years of abuse and negative self-talk programmed her for pain . . . "
Today's sermon spotlight-
AUGUST 18, 2019
5 Barriers to Embracing Change
"The familiar trumps the old, we're kept in our old ways, not being willing to try the new work of the Holy Spirit. We have no record of the changes He recommends. There's a price of change. It has to have an intentional determination that we become a part of the "new" things.
Speaker: Mike Cavanaugh
Series: Misc
CFC Madrid
Series: Misc
CFC Madrid
Jean's blog (Click to see snippets of the 7 recent posts)
Pages
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Helpful ways the Lord helped me in my marriage
Upcoming posts-
#3 God Has the Answer
9/10th- Tuesday's post by Billy Graham#4 The 3 Things We Search For
12th- Thursday's post by Billy Graham
Supernatural Power
14th- Saturday's post by J. Judson Taylor
#5 The Beatitudes: God's Key to Man's Search
17th- Tuesday's post by Billy Graham
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