Pain–Part Three April 8, 2010

My last thought for this week on the subject of pain…

#3 – Pain Can Be God Testing Us

Everyone LOVES to talk about the blessings of God…but there aren’t a lot of people that want to talk about the times of testing that He sends our way.

I caused quite a stir one time at a gathering when I said, “The size of the vision God will give me is directly related to the amount of pain and discomfort that I am willing to endure.”

It’s quite ironic to me that people who claim to follow JESUS believe that He will always lead us away from (and protect us from) pain when the very path that God had for Him led Him to be crucified.

Leaders…its quite simple…if you and I are going to accomplish anything significant for His Kingdom then we’ve GOT to learn to deal with pain…

Moses did…he dealt with being lonely, with feeling overwhelmed, with a “church split,” with his own brother and sister rebelling against him…and yet God used him to lead one of the greatest movements in the history of the world.

Paul did…he was beaten, stoned (the old fashioned kind!), shipwrecked, betrayed and eventually murdered…and yet God used him to lead the greatest church planting movement known to man…and we still read his writings today.

Jesus did…we ALL know what happened to Him, how jealous, self-righteous people had Him beaten and murdered, how everyone in His inner circle abandoned Him in His greatest time of need, how He was betrayed by one of His closest friends…and yet He stayed faithful to the Father and finished the work God had assigned for Him.

Enduring great pain will often lead to tremendous progress.

Unfortunately in today’s Christian world there are too many people who run from pain rather than enduring through it…

• Three or four critics arise in a church and the pastor entertains leaving because it is the easy thing to do rather than picking up his staff and fighting the wolves.
• God calls a dude to start a church…but he refuses to do so unless he has $250,000 in the bank, five full time staff members, an excellent location and the best sound system that money can buy.
• A confrontation needs to take place…which will require a VERY uncomfortable conversation that may place a friendship on the ropes.  Rather than dealing with it a person chooses to avoid the potential of pain and merely pray that God will “get their attention.”

I could go on but I think we all get the point…the calling and anointing of God are very real…but they are given to us NOT so we can necessarily have the easiest life imaginable but rather than so we can KNOW that as WE DO WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW of DEATH that HE IS THE AUTHOR OF LIFE…that He is with us, will never leave us or forsake us…and HE who called us will finish what He started in us (Philippians 1:6).

Sure, we all think we can be considered trustworthy by God to handle any blessings He wants to throw our way…but are we trustworthy enough to handle the pain that may be associated with those blessings?

I’ll say it again…enduring pain will often lead to tremendous progress.  SO…for those who MAY be about to give up because the pain is SO intense…don’t give up on the God who has never given up on you…allow the pain to make you better, not bitter…and hold on because if He can trust you with pain then He can trust you with the provision He is about to bring your way!

Pain–Part Two April 7, 2010

Often times people think of pain within Christianity as the “judgment of God” and falsely believe that if we are doing everything right then nothing bad will happen to us.  (The only real problem with this thought is Jesus did everything right and wound up on a cross!)

BUT…pain isn’t always a bad thing; in fact, there are four things I am discovering about pain through this process…

#1 – Pain Is A Powerful Reminder

Honestly, when I first signed up for this marathon in Nashville I thought, “I am going to DOMINATE this thing.”  I had gone on a couple of really great pre-training runs and was feeling like I was unstoppable.

Then “pain” came into my life and reminded me of how human I am…reminded me that I am getting old…and reminded me that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was.

The same is true in my walk with Christ…many times He allows pain to come into our lives to remind us that we aren’t as good as we thought we were…and without HIS help, HIS anointing and HIS favor we are absolutely screwed in regards to doing something that will have significant and lasting impact.

I know from personal experience that some of the most painful experiences I’ve had in life and leadership have driven me to my knees in desperation for God…and through that pain I saw the endless possibilities of a God who is all-powerful and unstoppable!

Pain is a reminder that I am not Sovereign–He is–and that I desperately need Him!

#2 – Pain Is A Strong Signal

When pain hits it MUST be examined…the worse thing a person can do is ignore the signals that the body is so clearly sending.

When my achilles first began hurting I tried my best to pretend it wasn’t happening…until it began to hurt so bad that it caused a noticable limp.  (And then people began asking me, “Why are you limping?”  I tried to deny that I was…but other people aren’t as stupid as me!)  I finally realized that my body was screaming at me, “HEY IDIOT…you can’t continue to run like this, something has GOT to CHANGE!”)

Like I have said before–pain does not always equal punishment–in my case it was my body warning me that if something did not change then real, serious pain was heading my way!

God often uses pain to get our attention…and to ignore the pain isn’t “playing tough,” its “playing stupid.”  I once had a friend who had a car where the check engine light always came on…and so in order to ignore it he finally put black electrical tape on his dashboard over the light…I guess he figured if he didn’t address it then it was not real.

BUT I’ve discovered that ignoring pain isn’t the best way to deal with it.  Sure, there are times that we’ve got to “play hurt”–but EVERY TIME we experience something painful we should ALWAYS stop and ask, “Is Jesus trying to tell me something with this?”  Addressing the painful issue that He brings to our attention will often times prevent a full blown breakdown in the future!

Pain–Part One April 6, 2010

Well…I’m officially NOT training for a half-marathon anymore…

Back in December I decided to try to do a marathon again (my first one didn’t go so well…you can read about it here if you would like!)  AND things were going great until towards the end of January I began to have some issues with my achilles on my right foot.

What kind of issues?  Uh…it freakin’ hurt…a lot!!!

SO…I backed off and it began feeling a lot better…until I began running again.  SO…I told myself that maybe the whole marathon wasn’t such a good idea…and that I could just do the half marathon and try for a really good time.  I took a week off from running and rested my foot really good and was feeling pretty good about my decision…until…

I went for a seven mile run.  The run itself was awesome; in fact, I ran my fastest pace ever–BUT when I finished my right achilles felt like it was ON FIRE and I literally limped around for the rest of the day!

I thought that maybe it was because I had pushed it too hard…so a few days later I tried to do a lighter run…and four miles in I was begging God to allow the rapture to take place because there was serious, intense PAIN…once again in my right achilles.

SO…I finally had to face the fact that I can’t run the half marathon this month.  It’s disappointing…it’s frustrating…but my body is sending me very clear signals that what I am doing isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing!!!

I’ve learned three lessons about pain through this experience that I will be sharing tomorrow and Thursday…