there's purpose in
your pain whenever it feels
like the devil is attacking
when he's testing you it's important to
remember
that sometimes god's preparation
comes packaged as pain
sometimes god's preparation it comes
packaged as pain in other words there is
a purpose in your pain
god might be using the pain that we're
enduring to do something
in us before he does something through
us maybe the very thing that you've
dreaded
the most is what god might use to
develop
you in a way that he can only use that
in fact the stronger
the pain might be an indication of the
bigger
the purpose that god has on the other
side
so when i don't see the point and i feel
like my life is being dismantled
could it be that god's preparation
comes packaged as pain
and maybe if you could see it that way
it wouldn't take the pain away
but it would give the pain a purpose
if you could see what you've been
calling a failure
really wasn't a failure it was a
foundation
see it doesn't it doesn't tell you when
it shows up
i am your preparation
i believe in this the the the thing that
you saw as a betrayal
what if you just decided i'm not gonna
see it as a betrayal anymore
he was preparing me
pain is an instrument in god's hand to
sow into you perseverance
to put something good in you that's what
a good parent does that's what a good
teacher does
i'm gonna put you in pain but for a
purpose not to destroy you but to build
you
to sow into you perseverance the ability
to abide
even under greater weight there's
purpose in your pain today
god will use it for great purposes if
you allow him
he uses this test of faith that testing
carries the idea of a refiner's fire
he's assuming you have faith this is
someone who trusts god
believes god's guiding their story and
that faith is put into a fire why
to purify it to make it better than it
is now
and so god will do that with your life
and if you understand that you can have
joy even in the pain no matter what kind
of pain you're going through right now
or no matter what kind of pain you're
going to go through in the future it may
be physical pain
it may be emotional pain it may be
spiritual pain
it may be financial or relational or
mental
mental pain you will be far
better prepared to handle pain you'll be
far better
prepared to cope with it if you focus on
the potential benefits
and the possible purposes of that pain
we all go through disappointments
setbacks loss
pain is a part of life it's easy to get
discouraged
even bitter think why is this happening
to me
the key is what we do in our times of
pain
pain will change us heartache loss
disappointments
they don't leave us the same if you go
through a divorce
a legal battle a friend betrays you
eventually
that will pass you'll get through it but
you will be different
now how the pain changes you is up to
you
you can come out bitter or you can come
out better
you can come out with a chip on your
shoulder blaming god
or you can come out stronger with a
greater confidence in god
you can come out defeated giving up on
your dreams
or you can come out with a new passion a
new fire
excited about the new opportunities in
front of you
all of us experience pain my challenge
don't just go through it grow through it
that difficulty is an opportunity to get
stronger
to develop character to gain new
confidence
anybody can give up anybody can let it
overwhelm you
but you know what that's doing wasting
your pain
that pain is not there to stop you it's
there to prepare you
to increase you to develop you
use pain to draw closer to god
and trust him more use
the pain in your life to draw closer to
god
and trust him more you know when
anything painful happens
you've got a choice you can either run
to god
or you can run from god god whispers to
us in our pleasure c.s lewis said
but he shouts to us in our pain
and thousands of people's lives have
come to know christ
out of pain or their lives were
transformed by the process
of learning to worship learning to trust
learning to draw close to god
when you're in pain the bible says god
is close to the brokenhearted
god is never closer to you than when
you're in pain and many of you could say
pain turned me to christ pain is an
opportunity to grow in character like
christ but again it's a choice
when when you're in pain you can be
bitter or you can
become better pain can be a stepping
stone
to maturity or a stumbling block to
immaturity
it's not automatic i don't even know who
all your heroes are but think about who
they are
most of them i would guess are people
who went through incredible difficulty
and rather than being destroyed by it
they were improved by it they got
tougher skin
and a softer heart they got greater
vision
and they got greater trust pain has
potential locked into it
to make you someone who can be used for
great purpose if you let it
i have a king who loves me my instructor
has put me in this crisis
not to crush me but to teach me and as i
trust him
he will build me so i can praise even in
the midst of the pain
you see the fact is pain always
transforms us
either for good or bad it'll make us
bitter or better as i said
pain never leaves you where it found you
you know i have studied all my lifetime
what makes great leaders and what makes
great winners
in life and the number one quality of
those who win in life whether it's in
sports or any other area
the number one quality is resilience
it is the ability to bounce back
everybody stumbles
everybody falls everybody has failures
everybody has pain and suffering
but those who actually make it in life
get up
pick themselves off bounce back and they
have resilience as the bible says
that the though a man falls seven times
a righteous man falls seven times
he rises again everybody falls but the
righteous person gets back up again
and keeps going that's called resilience
that bounce back ability
we've all heard the saying no pain no
gain
if everything was always easy we
wouldn't be prepared for our destiny
some of the things i face today if i
would have faced them 10 years ago
they would have overwhelmed me i
couldn't handle it back then
god knows what you need when you need it
every struggle is making you stronger
every difficulty is growing you up
every painful time even though you don't
like it
it's developing something in you that
can only be developed in the tough times
don't complain about the pain without
the pain
we couldn't reach the fullness of our
destinies
there is a purpose for the pain we may
not always understand it
joel why did i get sick why did i lose
my loved one
why did my marriage not make it i can't
answer that
but i can tell you if god allowed it he
knows how to bring good out of it
this is what faith is all about god i
don't like the pain
but i trust you i believe you're in
control
now i'm not gonna just go through it i'm
gonna grow through it
i'm gonna keep a good attitude i'm gonna
count it all joy
knowing that this pain is leading to my
gain
do not waste your hurt do not waste your
pain let god use it
your greatest ministry will come out of
your deepest
pain your greatest ministry will come
out of your greatest
weakness and failing if you'll be honest
to god
honest to others and honest to yourself
it will become your ministry in other
words who's better qualified to help a
struggling
veteran than somebody who's been a
struggling veteran
who's better qualified to help someone
recover from an
opioid or prescription drug addiction
than somebody who's
struggled with an addiction to opioid or
prescription drugs
who could better help someone who has
struggles with a special needs child of
some
some special need than the parents of a
special needs child
when i share my strengths that doesn't
make us feel close but when i share my
my weaknesses you go oh it draws us
closer rick has problems and if god uses
him then maybe god could use me
when you share your pain it helps you
grow in christ
and when you use your pain to minister
to others
who've gone through the same thing or
going through what you've already gone
through
that's called your ministry just like
your deepest ministry
will come out of your deepest hurt your
deepest life
message will come out of your deepest
pain
this is real authentic witnessing
now i want you to listen very carefully
every area in your life where you've had
pain
you've never thought about this but it's
true every area in your life where
you've had pain
you have a testimony so don't waste it
you say i don't have a testimony oh yes
you do you ever had gone through
bankruptcy then you have a financial
testimony
have you ever had a marriage conflict
then you have a marriage testimony
have you ever had a rebellious child you
have a rebellious child testimony
you ever been in had a heart attack or
anything like that
then you've got a physical testimony
don't waste your pain don't waste your
hurt
there are people all around you who are
going
now through what you've already gone
through and they will listen to your
story
did jesus experience pain of course he
did
did jesus experience times when he was
lonely yes
when he was tempted to be discouraged
yes
when he was simply tempted yes did jesus
have people misunderstand him and
criticize him
yes you know the greatest witness of
god's love
the greatest example the greatest
demonstration of god's love
was not jesus's perfect life
the greatest witness of god's love was
not jesus sermons
the greatest witness of god's love were
not the miracles of jesus
the greatest witness of god's love was
the suffering
that jesus went through on the cross