PAIN...PASSION

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

With yesterday being Tuesday it often means a trip to Columbus and the REFUGE (http://www.mensliveschanged.org/) with a man seeking a new purpose. Like always, there was something to be learned. And while I have sat through orientation over 30 times, there is always something a little nugget of new truth to take home. It is just whether or not I am listening. And I should be always listening; we all should.

Proverbs 18:15

An understanding mind gets much learning and the ear of the wise listens for much learning.

And yesterday my friend Tom made a little statement. Now I know I won’t have this correctly quoted, but my little paraphrase is that “often we must experience PAIN in order to find our PASSION”.

For Tom he had to endure losing almost everything dear to him before he found his passion for changing the lives of men. For me it was similar. I went to the brink of death from alcohol to find my passion for others struggling with the same.

It made me think of another statement I use quite often. “Until the pain to remain the same exceeds the pain to change, change will not come.”

We are silly creatures aren’t we? We have a GOD who loves us unconditionally; a GOD who wants to shower on us every conceivable blessing, yet often He goes ignored until we get ourselves into a mess, a jam, or a pickle. We dabble in sin and block His blessings repeatedly only to find ourselves hurting and in severe PAIN from the choices we make. We shouldn’t be surprised. The Word says we suffer for sin.

Romans 6:23

Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death…

Yet there is GOD once more to put salve on the wound, bind up the injury, reset the bone, dust us off and help us up.

Psalm 147:3

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

And for some, the pain does lead them back to the Lord and open a door to a new passion for life, yet for others the pain just stays...painful.

But we must remember, GOD doesn’t miss a trick, He doesn’t waste a second in seeking a relationship with us even when we are ignoring or disobeying Him. He will use our trials and our challenges to goad us closer to Him, to get us to lift our eyes, to seek His face, to cry out to Him in order uncover our talents and TRUE calling. He has done it with others so He will do it with us!

2 Corinthians 7:11-12

And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible.

So perhaps you are feeling some “pain” today or have been for some time. How are you responding? Are you focused on the pain or on where the pain is leading? Maybe on the other side, as it was for Tom, is the revelation of your true passion; your calling from GOD. Perhaps this suffering is GOD sending a little wake up call for you to seek His glory for your life or to inspire you to extract yourself from the sin.

Whatever the reason, seek the purpose in the pain! It might very well be a prompting from GOD to unearth a new passion in you!

James 1:2

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney