Most people run from pain. They seek to avoid as much pain as possible. However, decisions made when running from pain just bring that much more pain to a person. Words spoken from the reservoir of pain result in more pain for the speaker and listener alike. A lifestyle lived with pain in control is a lifestyle so influenced by the power of pain that the hurt throbs inside to the point that every thought, word, and deed is infused with its negative effects. Every relationship tie then is strained by the need of the person wounded by mental/emotional damage to attempt to pull comfort from the relationship. But if the other person has a similar well of pain that he/she is drawing from, comfort won’t be found, only intensified discomfort.
Trouble, and the pain that comes from it, are a part of life (Job 4:8; Job 5; Job 14:1; Matt. 6:34; II Cor. 1:8). It is our reaction to trouble/pain that is the key.
Running from pain involves some of the following attributes/strategies (among others):
walls/filters/fear/mistrust/accepting lies of the enemy/unforgiveness/bitterness/blame/judgment/critical spirit/control/resistance to the Spirit’s leading/resistance to the Spirit’s comfort/unteachable/stubbornness/ignoring issues/avoidance/hiding/rebelliousness
Pain can’t be masked with popularity, position, prestige, power, degrees, or titles. It is unaffected by self-help books/courses and inner peace techniques (Prov.25:19).Typical worldly counseling or surface-surfing Christian counseling can’t touch it. It always catches the one fleeing. It overwhelms the one avoiding. Pain is in control with prisons, chains, and locks that require keys beyond our own resources and devices.
The pain-filled person is in a constant battle against trouble(Job 15:24) so he busies himself blaming others/being bitter/being unforgiving/secretly, or not so secretly, being mad at Father God/being defensive/being offensive/acting tough/being overly aggressive or overly passive/being boastful/craving significance/down on himself, etc. In this way pain wins - fear wins. The cycle of pain spins out of control in people no matter what demeanor they display as a mask for people to see. Pain is in charge. Pain is in control. Heb. 12:15
Next Installment: What destroys the power of pain?
Trouble, and the pain that comes from it, are a part of life (Job 4:8; Job 5; Job 14:1; Matt. 6:34; II Cor. 1:8). It is our reaction to trouble/pain that is the key.
Running from pain involves some of the following attributes/strategies (among others):
walls/filters/fear/mistrust/accepting lies of the enemy/unforgiveness/bitterness/blame/judgment/critical spirit/control/resistance to the Spirit’s leading/resistance to the Spirit’s comfort/unteachable/stubbornness/ignoring issues/avoidance/hiding/rebelliousness
Pain can’t be masked with popularity, position, prestige, power, degrees, or titles. It is unaffected by self-help books/courses and inner peace techniques (Prov.25:19).Typical worldly counseling or surface-surfing Christian counseling can’t touch it. It always catches the one fleeing. It overwhelms the one avoiding. Pain is in control with prisons, chains, and locks that require keys beyond our own resources and devices.
The pain-filled person is in a constant battle against trouble(Job 15:24) so he busies himself blaming others/being bitter/being unforgiving/secretly, or not so secretly, being mad at Father God/being defensive/being offensive/acting tough/being overly aggressive or overly passive/being boastful/craving significance/down on himself, etc. In this way pain wins - fear wins. The cycle of pain spins out of control in people no matter what demeanor they display as a mask for people to see. Pain is in charge. Pain is in control. Heb. 12:15
Next Installment: What destroys the power of pain?
7 comments:
Good word dad, but what do you do with Paul in Romans 12:7b-10 who praises God for the pain (thorn in the side), but it is something he desperately prayed for God to take away. In some way isn't pain a reminder of our fallen humanity and the reality that we are not yet with God. It is as if pain keeps us in check, a reminder that better days are to come for the believer, and not to get comfortable.
Now I know that there are those who obey pain as a god. They wake up and depend on it, and they trust doctors, therapists, and anyone who will sympathize with them. Their sin is their reliance on everyone but Chirst, and I believe that this is the essence of your blog.
A stubbed toe is the greatest reminder of the present reality that we are not yet with Christ, but there is a day when every tongue shall confess that he is Lord of all. What a marvelous day...i can't wait
Very excited to see the NEXT INSTALLMENT!!
Thanks so much for commenting, son! I think you meant II Corinthians 12:7-12 as the passage about Paul's thorn in the flesh. Paul was dealing with "a messenger from Satan" (The Message says, "Satan's angel"). The "flesh" here is the old man, not skin and bones, so this is not primarily physical pain, but a spiritual attack of the enemy. Also, as I will discuss in the next installment, Jesus is interested in healing our hearts from emotional/mental pain which affects our spirit ("grace is sufficient," "power is perfected in weakness," "power of Christ may dwell in me," "for when I am weak, then I am strong.") The point I'm making is that Paul was not overwhelmed by His difficulties (which the Father allowed), but he took them as a badge and became an overcomer (I John 2:12-14; I John 4:4-6; I John 5:4,5) because the power of Christ consumed Him as He relied on Jesus, not his own strength, abilities, talents, giftings, wisdom (II Cor 1:12,17), etc. (natural resources). The focus became Jesus, not the difficulties, so unbelief, blaming, mistrust, unforgiveness, etc. could no longer be the strategies to deal with trouble and the pain it produces. He had to rely on the fruit of the Holy Spirit (supernatural resources) so that what was meant to destroy him was conquered in the spirit and produced fruit for the kingdom rather than another Christian casualty (Rom. 12:21). In the spirit, supernatural resources and strategies are substance, not just nice ideas. We can "eat" them and "drink" them spiritually as good gifts from the Father to help us stand and overcome, even if the enemy's attack is spiritual AND physical (malaria) AND life-threatening. Look at the truth attributes on The Deception Vs. Truth Part 1 post. These are some of the resources and strategies of Kingdom living on earth that we can receive as a gift from a Father that we become intimate close to in a Father - son relationship. Even though the "flesh is weak", we can walk spiritually in the willing spirit and put the flesh to death by the power of Jesus in us (Matt. 26:41). Jesus instructed us to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10) so that the kingdom of God can dwell within us (Luke 17:21). I taught people for years to obey the Word and obey God, but if they are relying only on their own resources and not the resources of the kingdom within, they will weakly fail and blame the weakness of the flesh or the trouble of life......but Jesus is so much greater and we can experience Him NOW!
Thanks for the correction on the passage, I was studying something else when writing the comment....oh the ADD is managed, but never goes away lol. I can see parts of what you are saying, there are differing view on what the "thorn in the flesh" was. I still find it unusual that he asked God to take it away and God said no...you will see and learn to depend on me even through your inadequacies. So either way you see the thorn in the flesh...God allowed it for his glory, just as he did the boy in John 9 "he was born blind so the power of God could be seen in him" I love this, God allowed this boy to go through tragedy so that God's glory could be revealed through him...God's in control of it all. I love that in Job 1:8-12 God actually suggests that Satan look at Job and test him, and is still in control of what Satan does and doesn't do. Why, why in the world would God give Satan the go ahead to peruse Job, could it be that God desired 2 Cor 12:9 for Job as well. I also see an underlining truth that the more faithful you are to God the tougher it gets in this world, ie Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, David, the disciples (most who lost their lives in martyrdom) in Acts 5:40-42 when the follows of Jesus are beaten and they rejoice....Paul, and so many more.
I don't disagree with you when you say the we need take on the image of Christ...ie eat and drink good gifts from God, I believe if there was anyone who was to claim this it was Paul, and he experience more pain and agony than anyone, but was absolutely filled with the joy of the Lord. James 1:2-4 joy in pain, I love this...infact I would say that we get a better picture of Christ when we are suffering, because it strips off any dependence on any other thing except him. So that the cry of our hearts would be "the joy of the Lord is my strength," and that we would resonate with David in 23. I do resonate with the fact that we can experience Jesus now, but what I don't believe is that God doesn't allow pain in our lives. I believe pain is a reality of a world separated from Christ and is a constant reminder that we are not home yet. And as close as we come to Christ, death and earthly pain are still a reality, but we as believers flip this idea of agony and praise our Heavenly Father. We may be saying the same thing, but in a different way...or we might get to go back and forth like this for days, either way, we are discussing scripture....and that is always good.
First off I would like to say that God never told Paul "No." He said, "My grace is sufficient for you...." in II Cor. 12. Father God was revealing to Paul a truth that He wanted him to learn. You don't need Me to step in and make the messenger of Satan depart because I have already given you the abundant grace within you to repel attacks of the enemy because greater is He within you than he that is in the world (I John 4:1-6), whether it be the actual attackers or the spirit behind them. So Paul, and us, are "hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed" because we are "always carrying about in the body the DYING of the Lord Jesus, that the LIFE of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" and "in our mortal flesh." (II Cor. 4:8-18) Jesus is the supreme example of wondrous resurrection life coming out of death, and the resurrection happened here on earth, not heaven.
Concerning different interpretations of passages..... There is only one interpretation of TRUTH (albeit with many levels and facets) for a passage of Scripture because Holy Spirit's job is to "guide you into ALL TRUTH" (not opinions), "teach you ALL THINGS" (no difficult passage, spiritual concept, or doctrine needs to be left out), and even "tell you things to come." (John 16:13-15; John 14:26) So, many interpretations of passages have to be discarded from the discussion because they are from the viewpoint of unbelief.....just like the opinions/doctrines/interpretations held by the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, disciples, individuals, and multitudes of Jesus' day. Does the opinion/doctrine/interpretation line up with the person and character of Jesus who is TRUTH and perfect theology?
Concerning the man in John 9, he was allowed to be born blind "that the works of God should be revealed in him." He was HEALED physically and spiritually, not left in blindness. He was a sign and a wonder showing the contrast spiritually of blindness/seeing, belief/unbelief in a physical example that the unbelieving Pharisees tried to discount and proved themselves to be spiritually blind.
Concerning Job.... First of all we are under a better covenant than Job because we have been fully redeemed by Jesus and Holy Spirit resides in us 24/7 resulting in the sufficient grace that God tells Paul that he possesses in II Cor. 12 with the power of Christ resting on him/us. Secondly, Father God testifies of Job's faithfulness to Satan. Satan suggests that God touch what Job has, complaining that Father has a "hedge" around him, he is "blessed," and "his possessions have increased." I would argue that this was his normal state - protected by Father with the normal troubles of life that Father delivered him out of (Ps. 34:19). Job may have even given the enemy legal access to attack him because of his fear of losing everything (Job 3:25). Whatever the case, Father allowed Satan LIMITED access to attack Job. But even with Satan's stealing, killing, and destroying allowed to come against Job, marriage to a defeatist/negative wife, and some generally mixed advice, Job stood and was rewarded with a restoration of all he had before the attacks (and then some). It is John 10:10....Satan attacks....Jesus gives abundant life. So, yes, pain....but pain is healed. Yes, loss.....but loss is restored.....and added to. Focus on pain or loss......and it remains a cloud over our life. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth (Col. 3:2), and Heaven comes to earth in powerful ways (no sickness in Heaven, no pain in Heaven, no loss in Heaven).
So James 1 says we can enjoy the joy that is available to us in various trials because the end result is "that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." Lacking nothing? That's what it says.....
i am looking forward to the next installment
This is really powerful, thank you Pastor Bill!
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