“No pain…”
…you know the rest 🙂
Child of God I want you to understand that if you witness any sort of real anointing, any real power of God, any real move of God that came through a man or woman of God… I guarantee that they have had to endure a lot of pain.
Pain. We do not like to feel pain. We build walls around us to block out pain. We go out of our way to do things in very particular manners so that we don’t feel pain… and somehow… someway… it always ends up at our doorstep.
Even more so in Christ.
Paul was given a thorn in his side. Sort of like a thorn in a lion’s paw… except this thorn was not physical. Oh no… he said it was a messenger of satan to buffet him or to beat him.
Have you ever felt that satan was trying to beat you down with his voice? Or maybe just with evil thoughts that you didn’t ask for running through your mind? This is what this scripture is talking about (2 Cor 12:9)
So Paul PRAYED! He did as it says in James 5:13 where “Is there any AFFLICTED… let him pray”. He prayed for this thorn to be plucked out of his side and God said that famous scripture…
“My grace is sufficient for thee“
AWWEEEEE MAAAAAAAAAAAAN! We don’t wanna hear that! We wanna hear “Be HEALED in the name of Jesus!” (and we DO hear that, and we will hear that when it’s time). We don’t wanna hear the fact that God will allow some things from satan to not leave our life!
But why tho?????? (cue the lakeisha meme)
Luke 9:23 says, “If any man follow me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross daily, and follow me.” NOW… let’s do an excercise of EXEGETICAL study.
When exegete anything, you are trying to get the meaning that the AUTHOR had behind the writing. We do this by breaking down syntax, structure, context, historical background and time of writing, repitition, figurative language, symbolism, etc. (I love doing this with rap lyrics… but even more so I love doing this with the word of God!)
The cross of Jesus was the bloodiest thing recorded for any ONE man in history.
He was beaten with a whip of metal and glass… for 3 hours. He had a crown thorns placed upon his heads by solidiers as they beat him and spat upon him. He had to CARRY this HEAVY cross alllllllllllll the way to golgotha, (city of skulls I believe?) And it was there that he bled out for 6 hours.
Hours.
So he says to follow him… you gonna need to pick up your CROSS.
Do you get the picture yet?
I know that this messenger of satan that afflicted Paul afflicts many of us today. It is the same weapon use to distract, divert, disturb your development in God… and in life. It is, according to Eph 6:12-13, spiritual wickedness in high places (meaning the supernatural, spiritual realm, governed by the laws and word of God). And that we are at war with spiritual wickedness in high places everyday (2 Cor 10:3-5).
Now… pain might manifest itself in different ways for you, but we all have it. Some in our bodies… some in our minds. But I heard God himself tell me, “You’re GONNA have problems!”. Tis the nature of life!
The SOLUTION: You’re dealing with pain upon pain upon pain and you’re wondering when will it all end?
When will the cycles of certain thoughts end? When will afflictions run their course? When will we get the healing in our bodies that we so desperately need??
Hold on my friends… hold on! Just a little while longer!
Deu 16 says (SUPER DUPER PARAPHRASING) that God will give you a reason to rejoice because he has blessed everything you’ve put your hand to. There will still be reason to rejoice… you will love life and have good days!
Paul said in 2 Cor 12 that he would rather REJOICE in his infirmities, in his afflictions, in his pains, because the GRACE of Christ would rest upon him.
Jesus wants us to know that following him will not be without pain, for you can’t just have NOTHING… not after the steep steep price he paid. But understand, all that pain is doing a TRANSFORMATIONAL work in you, so you’ll have GRACE to hear God, GRACE to feel the presence of God, GRACE to speak the prophetic word of God and flow in the gifts of God.
“For if we suffer with him, then we shall reign with him.” 2 Tim 2:12
Jesus, Leland, and Reason 