Praising Through the Pain

I did a stupid thing yesterday!  At my age, I tried to pick up a television from the floor injuring my back.   A visit to the chiropractor has brought little relief – very little relief.  As I driving to the church thinking about our time of worship this Sunday morning – and thinking about my pain, I had an "aha" moment!  Many times throughout life we have to praise God, even as we go through the pain.

I am sure as Jesus hung on the cross every fiber of His body screamed out in pain.  But, He never uttered a bitter or complaining word.  It's the perfect picture of honoring God through our pain.

I am not sure what kind of pain you carry this day.  Maybe you are facing the pain of losing a loved one; maybe the pain of a spouse walking out on you; maybe physical pain; or the scars of a painful past.  Whatever it may be, Jesus understands.  He carried that pain as He too bore pain – our pain.

We know Jesus is our Healer.  Today, as I sit here in my pain, I trust Him for healing.  But, until I receive it, I am going to praise Him through the pain.  Let me encourage you to trust and praise Him through your pain.  He cares for you.  In fact, He cared so much that He has already carried that pain to the cross, and now He hears your cries to be set free from that pain.  So until you fully experience His healing, praise Him through the pain.

Where's The Fire?

Jeremiah described his passion.  No wait, he was its passion.  Whichever.  It was consuming him.  Escape it must.  He said, "I have a fire shut up in my bones; I am weary of holding it in – indeed I cannot."

 

A raging inferno was ablaze inside of him.  Like a drowning man seeking the surface, this fire was seeking an escape.  Crying out for oxygen, it demanded to be released.  Sheer will-power could contain it no longer – not for even a second longer.   Burn it must – even burn it's hottest.

 

Where's the fire in believers these days?  It seems we have settled for "the show" at church.  We've bought into the performance.  We have entertained ourselves with the charisma of eloquent preachers.  BUT where's the fire?  Not just on the platform, but within our hearts?

 

Why does it seem like most Christians barely survive from week to week before they run out of spiritual gas?  I'll tell you why, because there is no fire in their bellies - nothing that gives them a reason to burn brightly.

 

Where did we sacrifice it?  When did the fire leave us?

 

It left us when we felt it no longer necessary to find ourselves face down at an altar crying out to God for fire.  It departed from us when we felt it more important to get to the restaurant after a service than to spend precious moments wailing before God asking for fresh fire; for a new touch of His Spirit; for souls; saying "God, I can't live like this anymore.  I need you to come and renew me, fill me, anoint me; use me.  God, I am not willing to go another day without your fire consuming me."  That's when we lost it.

 

If you want it back, back up to the middle of the last paragraph and make it your prayer.  Pray it until fire fills your insides to the point where you can contain it no longer.  Then go set your family, church, city, and your work-place ablaze.