2 Corin 7:10, 11 “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what great earnestness godly sorrow has produced in you! How ready you are to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how full of longing and enthusiasm, how eager to seek justice”.
Hi friends, yesterday I watched the Bollywood movie ROCKSTAR through which God spoke a message to my heart. This may be out of the box thinking for many believers but I truly believe that if God really dwells in us, He can speak to us at the most unexpected times and ways and we just need to have an open mind and a pure heart to listen.In the beginning of the movie, Ranbir who wants to become famous in the music world tries unsuccessfully at it, becoming an object of scorn and mockery of all who know him. Naïve, he sets out undaunted to do whatever it took to make himself a ROCKSTAR. Little did he know what was coming for him when he decides to follow the life changing advice of his uncle. According to this uncle, Ranbir was an extremely shallow person who was too comfy in life. He advised Ranbir that in order for him to achieve his life ambition, he had to become a man of substance for which he would have to have his heart broken and pass through the sieve of suffering and pain.
The story then revolves around how Ranbir becomes a ROCKSTAR by going through pain of a very different kind. The part that really spoke volumes to me was towards the end when after achieving everything he had always dreamt of, Ranbir is left empty and lost in life. At a very crucial moment, he begs that same uncle [now his Manager] who had advised him earlier; to take away all that he had- fame, name, riches, glory and says I just don’t want all this. Just take pain away from my life. The life of greatness always has a price to pay.
There is a pain we endure when we make wrong choices and have to suffer the consequences but what when you are the innocent victim of certain painful circumstances in life? This is what I mean by Pain of A Different Kind! Many today preach a pain free Christianity; that once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, there will be no more pain in your life. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Take the example of the great men and women from the pages of the Bible.
Let’s look for a moment at the life of the Apostle Paul. Few of us will ever endure adversity of the kind he had. We read in 2 Corin 11:23-27 that he was imprisoned, whipped,beaten with rods,stoned,ship wrecked repeatedly,in danger from flooded rivers, thieves,Jews, Gentiles,his own people,faced danger in cities,deserts,stormy seas,danger from men who claimed to be Christians but were not,suffered weariness,pain,sleepless nights, hunger,thirst,cold weather,loneliness,burden of leadership etc etc. In addition to all this, we read of some unbearable suffering , a thorn in his flesh that tormented him more than any other hardship for which he repeatedly pleaded with God to take away but the only reply He got was2 Corin12:8,9 “My grace is sufficient for you for my power works best in your weakness.”
Another example would be the life of the blessed Mother Mary. Few of us consider the kind of suffering this wonderful woman of God endured. She was with child out of wedlock(Math 1:18).Consider the kind of unexplainable humiliation she had to endure for 9 months, after that it was time to have the baby and she had only a stable because there was no room at the inn in the village(Luke 1:7)Immediately after the baby was born, it was time to flee to Egypt with the newborn as Joseph was warned in a dream by the angel of the Lord.(Math 2:13,14).Then they frantically searched for Jesus at the young age of 12 as He sat in the Temple among the religious teachers discussing Scriptures with them.(Luke 2:48)Later on we see the heart broken mother watch as her innocent first born is whipped ,beaten, mocked ,disrobed and spit at and watches him crucified to death. A different kind of suffering that no mother on earth will ever bear again.
Among the many others are John the Baptist who was beheaded, Stephen who was stoned to death and the Suffering Servant, the Man of Sorrows , our Lord Jesus Himself. Heb 5:7 “ While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.”
The painful experiences of our Christian life is compared to the pruning procedure that the grape plant goes through in order to ensure optimal productivity. The vinedresser “cuts off the diseased parts of the plant, gets rid of bugs and even cuts away seemingly healthy but unwanted shoots so that the branch can grow stronger in the direction that he desires. From the branch's perspective, being pruned can be uncomfortable, if not painful, and at times also appear to make no sense. But "every branch" (John 15:2) should trust that the vinedresser knows what He is doing and be grateful for His care and attention.”- JustBible.netThere are 5 Ps that we need to remember when going through the Process of Pain.
1)PRAYER-Sometimes we may not understand why we go through certain trails during certain seasons of our life but we can be assured that our Heavenly Father knows what is best. Even when we don’t understand we need to be in constant conversation with Him honestly telling Him about our pain and confirming our faith in His goodness.
2)PROMISES-There are several promises in the Bible that we can stand on and declare out aloud until and unless we see our breakthrough. Just like Jesus counter-attacked satan with Scripture, we too need to use the powerful word of God. Heb 4:12 “For the word of God is full of living power. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
3)PATIENCE- Many times we just need to exercise self restraint in wanting to make things happen in our way and our time. While we wait patiently, God has promised to fight our battles for us. Psalms 30:5 “Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.”
4)PRAISE- While we believe and wait, we can also speed up the waiting process by praising God for the victory that He has already given to us. When we do this, we are declaring our faith in God and there is nothing that annoys satan more than this as by doing so we refuse to react on what we see but in God who we believe. Psalms 57:7-11 “ My heart is steadfast O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music. I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.”
5)PEACE- There is much power in being able to be filled with peace and behave in a way as if we have already got our answer from God. This pleases God because it proves our faith in His love. Psalms 46:10 : “Be still and know that I am God.”
Dear friend, are you going through some pain/ suffering, some thorn in your flesh that in spite of your obedience to the Lord and walking in love just will not go away? Friend, let us stop fighting the pain and instead embrace it with the full awareness that we can be joyful and peaceful in spite of the pain because it is in our pain that God shouts His love to us!
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Have a blessed week!
Take care, God bless,
Sparky Laurie