05
Aug '20
WHEN HELL GETS THE GLORY
05
Aug '20
“Looking saved,” without being healed gives hell the glory. Dancing in church without scoring in life might impress the church people but it gives hell the glory. Promoting faith that cares more about how high we jump as opposed to how healthy we are or how we walk when we come down, gives hell the glory. Anything that causes our faith to not represent our Truth, hell gets the glory.
Pastor Pete Scazzero once said, “A true surrender of our will to God’s will is a learned and struggled-for obedience.” We don’t glorify God by glorying in pretentiousness, pretending as if saved means solved or acting like salvation means we fell from heaven – we all came up from hell, and we’re all fighting or struggling to go higher in faith every day (Philippians 2:12).
I have never met a perfect Christian and I’m not looking for one. What we should see are Christians humbly working, and growing through adversity, tests, and trials that produce greatness. Christ died for our imperfection, not to confirm we don’t need God (Romans 4:25). If we don’t have anything else in common, we have this: We will all always need God.
Denial and pretentiousness give hell the glory, denies our story, and prevents us from being transparent with each other. Iron sharpens iron when it’s transparent, not when it’s wearing a mask – A testimony cannot have blood in it if we were not cut for it (Revelation 12:11).
Christ said to the Apostle Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). Peter’s sifting positioned him to help his brothers, not his belief alone (James 2:19). Just like Peter, belief does not grow us, what we grow through grows us.
We cannot strengthen each other if we’re not strong enough to admit that our strength comes from being sifted, not from being perfect. We cannot disciple people if we’re too busy trying to be too holy to be any earthly good (Romans 7:23-25).
An authentic relationship with God is between the natural and the Supernatural, the weak and the Strong, the Holy, and the unclean. We should be reminded of our condition whenever we are in the presence of God unless we’re deceived by our own ego – “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
Our greatest challenge is not being saved, it’s embracing the meaning and the purpose of worship. Catch this: 1 John 1:8 said, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” If we didn’t know, now we know: If we claim to be without sin we cannot worship God in spirit and in truth – because the truth is not in us.
Nobody comes right out and says they’re perfect in God’s sight but it’s in our lack of humility, compassion, and judgment of others. It’s in our inability or refusal to sit with those who Christ called us to. It’s in our denial and lack of sympathy for human conditions that cause us and others to struggle, that cause us to need God (Galatians 6:1).
Nothing is more powerful than our ability to fellowship with one another (Matthew 18:20), but we cannot fellowship or help each other, in or out of the church, if we cannot be real with each other. Are you comfortable letting God use your truth, your healing, and the compassion that comes from your forgiveness to lift others up? Our greatest sacrifice, highest honor is to be used by God to help others.
As Christians, we are safe places for people to grow, for people to be sifted and for cutting to take place that produces the blood of our testimony. When we love God, we are acknowledging that we’re all in it together, God is the potter and we’re the clay, we need the blood of each other’s testimony to survive, we are no better than and, our story gives God the glory. God is lifted up when we show up perfectly imperfect.
Share and be blessed.
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22
Jul '20
It’s An Inside Job
22
Jul '20
Haven’t you noticed that the biggest fights come from what you cannot control, what you cannot work out, or what you cannot change — on your own. When God is working on the inside, the outside is impossible to change, impossible to fix, and impossible to control.
The power, the wisdom, the favor we desire and should expect, is a result of God’s ability to mold and shape our faith through adversity, challenges, and weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:10). When God is working on the inside, He’s preparing us to produce His fruit on the outside: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you” (John 15:16).
Obedience is not just about doing what’s right, obedience is about the position. When God is positioning our thoughts, emotions, or growing us out of our comfort zone, life shows up to make blind spots visible and to make us uncomfortable being comfortable where God is trying to grow us from. God desires to give us the desires of our heart but our heart has to desire what is in God’s will, what is in God’s plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11), and that our faith is mature enough to handle.
The breakup, the letdown, the struggle, the argument, the disappointment, the difficult choice, the hurt that cripples us, the relationship that nearly breaks us, the career that stalls, the job that quits us, the faith in wrong things all present a fight that will cause us to go deeper in Christ or go crazy in emotions.
Haven’t you noticed the more it hurts, the harder it is to pray? The more afraid we are, the angrier we are, and the more disbelieving we are, the more distracted we are? The bible says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35). Are you separated from God by the problem, is your obedience to the truth subject to what’s happening? Can you trust God, own your peace through confidence in what God said even when all hell is breaking loose…when you’re in the fiery furnace or the lion’s den?
When God is working on the inside, the outside will tell us why. Did you give up on your life because a season ended? Did you trust the enemy and doubt God because the situation looked impossible, because doing what comes next was uncomfortable or because emotions overrode the wisdom of God (Proverbs 4:7)? God is saying, “A storm is a Situation That Overrides a Righteous Mind.” The only thing that can and will bring us back into position to be blessed is obedience to our truth — lining up our thoughts with the wisdom of God, our hope in Christ, and God’s plans for our life (Psalm 23:4, 2 Corinthians 10:5).
If God is working on the inside, He’s not working on what’s going on outside. He’s not trying to fix them, He’s working on you. He’s not working on that job, that turndown, that failure or that rejection, that closed door or that wrong, God is working on the inside to keep what happens on the outside from destroying us. We have this assurance, “God works all things together for the good…” (Romans 8:28).
God wants your obedience to His word. No matter how bad it hurts right now, no matter what emotions say, God desires our heart to tremble at the truth and not the situation: Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word” (Isaiah 66:2).
You’re not being punished, you’re being prepared. This is God’s power move. God is proving that you were stronger than you thought you were. He’s drawing you closer to unstoppable, fearless faith. He’s building up your confidence, He’s making your path straight and He’s reminding you that, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” This is your setup for your divine come up. Get in position, get in the truth, God is getting ready to turn your fire into your fruit.
Share and be blessed.
Pastor Patrick
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15
Jul '20
When Storms Come
15
Jul '20
If you’re like most of us, a storm can seem like all hell is breaking loose. Winds of confusion can beat up against our faith, and problems can look like rivers overflowing the banks of our hope. A storm can come from any direction and can occur at any time.
The one thing we know about storms is that everybody will go through them (Matthew 5:45). Every storm has clarity in it, a blessing in it, and destiny power in it. The biggest problem we have in a storm is getting over the initial reaction. We don’t have to pretend like we’re not hurt or that the storm feels good — hurt hurts real people and to hurt is human (2 Corinthians 4:17).
When a storm comes into our life, a storm is almost always necessary. Storms bring clarity. The disciples went through a storm with Jesus (Matthew 8:23-27), just like we will. They were with Jesus when the storm came, just like we are. They were frightened by the storm, they got in their feelings and their feelings overrode their trust in Jesus. Sound familiar?
While the disciples were stressing, Jesus was sleeping (Matthew 8:24). Can you imagine what God is thinking about the storms that come up against us? Are you able to see the storm as God sees it? God sees, “No weapon formed against you will prosper.”
When the disciples woke Jesus to tell Him about the storm, Jesus said, “O you of little faith” (Matthew 8:26). Here’s where the clarity comes in. Jesus was not telling the disciples that they had a little amount of faith, He was telling them that they were not even using a small amount of the faith they have (Romans 12:3). Every storm will give us clarity about the level of faith that we’re on; the level of faith we’re on decides how “Furious” the storm looks.
There’s a blessing in the storm. To get the blessing out of the storm, to see the mess turned into a miracle, we have to move past the initial shock, awe and hurt to remember that the storm is not the threat, a lack of faith is the threat. The bible says, “Be it, according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29). Faith does not mean the absence of a storm, faith gives us power in and over the storm (Matthew 17:20, Hebrews 11:6).
Your storm is pushing you into your destiny. A storm says, “It’s time to move, it’s time to go higher, it’s time to let go, it’s time to trust on a destiny level. When destiny is growing us out of our comfort zone, it gets uncomfortable. What is God growing you out of? What were you afraid of before the storm? What was holding your confidence back, your peace back, your love back, before the storm? The storm becomes a blessing when we understand its purpose.
This is not just a storm, this is a divine wind, this is a supernatural force that is pushing you to trust God on a whole new level. When Jesus rebuked the storm it immediately calmed. Jesus was not only speaking to the storm, but He was also speaking to the emotions of the disciples. Before we can have peace on the outside, we have to calm the storm on the inside — through faith and confidence in Jesus.
Get your blessing out of the storm. Your destiny is too important not to!
Share and be blessed.
Pastor Patrick
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17
May '18
DAILY DEVOTIONAL: THEY WERE SENT TO IRRITATE YOU
17
May '18
Sometimes the person that gets up under your skin is your beauty agent. Nobody can irritate you like they can irritate you but have you noticed that you always grow from their irritation?
Every time they irritate you, you get better. They are on assignment and most of the time they don’t even know it. They are your sandpaper to smooth off your rough edges. They don’t go along with everything you say, they don’t agree with your every opinion, they challenge what they don’t understand and they don’t care if you don’t like it.
Come on, you know when you have to cut somebody off you will. You have, and you don’t have a problem doing it again except when it comes to them, you can’t. You cannot get rid of them because you need them. We all need somebody who challenges us to think better, the care better, to grow better but that person, despite their benefit to us, will feel like an irritant until we appreciate their purpose.
Put This In Your Spirit: A pearl is beautiful when you see it in the store but did you know that a pearl gets its beauty from irritation? Natural Pearls form when an irritant works its way into an oyster, mussel, or clam. As a defense mechanism, they release a fluid to coat the irritant. Layer upon layer of this coating, called ‘nacre’, is deposited until a beautiful pearl is formed.
If you are blessed enough, your irritant is also your mate. If you get this, you might understand why the person you love to life is the same person who can irritate you the most. You don’t know you love somebody to the moon and back until you have to love them even when you don’t like them. If you have a healthy irritant for a mate, thank God for them and let them do their work — irritation comes when irritation is necessary.
Your healthy irritant, whether they are your soul mate or your ride or die, is God’s gift to you. You know they’re a healthy irritant because you know they don’t tell you anything wrong, they don’t tell your business, they don’t go along with your mess and they hold you accountable. They don’t make you feel small, they lift you up, and you know they always want what’s best for you.
Put This In Your Spirit: The bible says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). In other words, no pain, no gain.
Everybody does not have the will or the tolerance to handle their irritant. But trust this, for every person you know who does not have a healthy irritant in their life to do the Lords disciplining, you know they go through more repeated cycles of hell than most. Your irritant is your divine beauty agent sent to help you to think, shine and to be your best.
We glow better when we know better. Thank God for your irritant!
Share and be blessed.
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16
May '18
DAILY DEVOTIONAL: LET THEM!
16
May '18
Too often we let someone’s idle or inappropriate threats control our life — especially loved one’s. Fear of them leaving, fear of them not talking to us, or fear of them period gives them power that no man or woman should ever have.
We put our faith under unnecessary stress and pressure when we try to accommodate indecent proposals. A friend to your weakness is an enemy to your greatness.
Let them! Let them do what they threaten to do. This might seem harsh or insensitive but the truth is, people who want to stay in your life by threatening to make your life unstable, don’t deserve to be in your life. Let them go, let their mouth cash that check. A threatening spirit is after control and tolerance gives it power.
Put This In Your Spirit: The bible said, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (1 Timothy 1:7). When fear controls us, it reduces us to slaves of the person threatening us — and they become our god. Can you imagine a bully being a god? No, they need to get right or be removed from your life. God said, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).
Remember, the bible says, “…Not of fear but of power, love and self-discipline.” We have to examine ourselves, our emotions and our truth when we tolerate an emotional bully (2 Corinthians 13:5). When an emotional bully is tolerated, you’re giving up your power, love and self-discipline or control. Nobody is worth that and the only time that somebody is believed to be worth that is when we have lost our self-worth.
Tell somebody, even if you have to cry, go with out, sacrifice or give up what you thought you needed, take your power and self-respect back. Your soul is unable to serve God and you cannot respect you from the prison of fear. Let them do what they say they’re going to do. Maybe God is calling you into a deeper level of faith by letting them go. Maybe God is making a way for your escape by letting them do what they say (1 Corinthians 10:13). Tolerating the intolerable is not because we love them, it’s because we don’t love ourselves.
Sometimes you have to let people do what they threaten to do so that you and they can find out that God did not attach a single one of His promises to them And if they leave, don’t call anymore, don’t help again or don’t speak to you again ever in life, that makes them a non-factor in God’s plans for your life. God does not put anything we need for our destiny in our history or give us a bully for a blessing.
Love hard, give from the heart and always demand respect for your anointed abundance (Matthew 7:6). It is not unloving to let someone do what they threaten to do. It’s unloving to let someone write negative checks with their mouth without consequences (Proverbs 13:20). Give people notice — God did not give you the spirit of fear.
Love you and people will either love you back the right way or leave you for the right reasons.
Share and be blessed.
Follow Pastor Patrick
Together we can reach more and do more! Through the financial support of friends and partners, FAITHHILL is on a mission to impact, teach and transform lives in community and around the world. Thank you for believing in God’s vision.
To read previous blogs or to sign up to be notified by email of new blog posts by Pastor Patrick, Click Here.
Join us at the HILL, FAITHHILL Church, every Sunday for a life changing message for your destiny! Click Here for information about us.
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10
Apr '18
DAILY DEVOTIONAL: A TIME TO KILL
10
Apr '18
It might feel like pain but this is your season of separation. Every tree is a seed that refused to stay the same, refused to stay under ground and refused to give up.
God is moving you out of what was into to what will be. Old things are passing away, and behold, all things are becoming like new! When it’s time to kill, God is saying, “Kill what’s killing your hope, kill what’s killing your potential, kill what’s killing your focus, kill what’s killing your fearless faith.
When it’s time to kill, God will use His fire to reveal the impurities, the familiar spirits that have crept in and have taken you out of position to win.
God says, “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). The enemy is not attacking you, God is purifying you beloved. Did you know that when God is purifying us, He holds us in His hands and uses just enough heat to separate us from our impurities but not enough heat to hurt us?
Put This In Your Spirit: “A woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in our hot spots.
Then she asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, How do you know when the silver is fully refined? He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy–when I see my image in it.”
Are you seeing what God is revealing? Do you see the impurities, the familiar spirits, the strongholds, the forces that have been holding you back? Can you feel the separation from wrong people, from emotional ties, from fears, from doubts, from caring about what people think about you? What is the Holy Spirit telling you needs to be sacrificed? What needs to be surrendered and who needs to be shook in order for God to get the glory for your story?
As God reveals it, release it. They were a season, not a lifetime. You can keep them in your prayers but you can no longer keep them in your life. You’re going to have to unfriend and unfollow some people in real life. Talent got you this far but it’s going to take sacrifice and humility to get you to the next level. What mama did, what happened in childhood, what daddy didn’t do is over — you’re being separated from that so you can take your adulthood back.
Put This In Your Spirit: To make a God transition in any area of life, you have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Remember, if God’s fire reveals it, you were comfortable with what you were supposed to be uncomfortable with.
You’re coming out of this. This is the breakout before your breakthrough. Suddenly, when God is finished, doors that you couldn’t open are going to be opened to you. Struggles and storms are going to cease. Your famine is going to turn into favor. Your faithfulness in this season is going to cause prayers to be answered, fights to be won and faith seeds to produce a supernatural harvest.
This is your time. Kill it. Celebrate your victory in advance! You’re about to be lighter, you’re about to lose to win, you’re about to go from stressed to blessed.
Share and be blessed.
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09
Apr '18
Relationship Devotional: The Danger Of Talking To Everybody About Your Relationship
09
Apr '18
It’s tempting to just bear your soul with folks when you’re dealing with relationship troubles or decisions. We all need somebody to talk to and when we’re in an emotionally stressful or difficult situation, we, both women and men, tend to reach out to people we know.
The problem is, everybody we know is not always somebody we should reach out to about our relationship. God works through wise counselors — neutral, objective people to help guide us in the right path. The opposite is true when we put our business in the wrong hands. Putting your relationship business in the wrong hands is like giving your alarm code to a thief.
Put This In Your Spirit: Proverbs 10:14 says, “The wise don’t tell everything they know, but the foolish talk too much and are ruined.” When you’re struggling or going through it in a relationship, there are three people that you should never put in your business: 1) A gossip, 2) A wounded person and, 3) Somebody who is happy if you lose.
Likewise, you cannot put people in your relationship business who will hold on to what you should and will let go of. You will be surprised at the number of relationships that struggle because an outside influence is holding on to something that the couple has moved on from years ago. If you’re talking to somebody who will hold a permanent grudge, dislike or negative attitude towards your mate, you’re talking to the wrong person.
When we’re hurt, we tend to gravitate, emotionally, towards whoever will make us feel good about whatever we want to feel good about. If we want to feel justified about our wrong, we tend to talk to somebody who will go along with us — even when we’re wrong. These are poisonous conversations.
It is not abnormal or crazy to want to hear what feels good when we’re not feeling good. The problem is, when you expose your relationship to poisonous people, you will poison your relationship. Keep doing it and you will destroy your relationship.
Put This In Your Spirit: When we talk to wrong people about our relationship, before long, talking can turn into an unhealthy partnership with them against our relationship. Confiding in wrong people tends to create wrong, unhealthy emotional alliances that are never healthy for your relationship — it is very dangerous. Proverbs 13:20 says, “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”
Does this mean that we shouldn’t talk to anybody? No. Talking is not the problem, who we’re talking to and the objective for talking can be the problem. Are you talking to the right person for an objective, healthy purpose? Or the wrong person to agree with half the story? Let’s say you’re dating a great person but they have a flaw that you’re trying to decide if it is or should be a deal breaker. Or let’s say you and your spouse are going through a difficult time. The last person you need to talk to is somebody who is emotionally hurt, unsupportive of your relationship, unhappy in their relationship, happy to see you single, negative or, somebody who does not believe in the power of God.
It’s not always easy to separate the good one’s from the bad one’s. At the very least, eliminate talking to someone who is obviously poisonous. Another tip is to always state your objective up front when you’re talking about your relationship with someone — “I want to fix my marriage,” or, “I am trying to look objectively at my behavior/decision,” or, “I need an objective/balanced opinion,” or, “This is not about bashing my relationship or my mate or me leaving,” etc. If you’re talking to the opposite sex, eliminate anybody who is not a friend/supporter of the relationship or who has a romantic interest (spoken or unspoken). The devil uses open doors — put a lock on obvious foolery.
Whoever you choose to share your relationship business with, just remember that you don’t want to lose a good relationship over bad advice, or turn a temporary problem into a worse or permanent problem. And you don’t want to make a decision based on somebody else’s hurt or ignorance. Word to the wise: Don’t give someone the ability to speak death over your love life when you’re trying to save it.
Seek God’s wisdom — don’t just read the bible but search the scripture for God’s wisdom about the problem you’re having. It makes no sense for us to read the bible without purpose when we’re needing a answer about a specific issue. No matter what you’re dealing with, the bible has a wisdom principle that will guide you to right thinking, right people and right answers. If you don’t believe it, leave a comment below for a topic/issue you’re dealing with for a wisdom scripture(s) that will address it specifically.
Trust God for your destiny love decisions. Always make the love of your life the first and the last conversation about your destiny together. Relationships are hard enough, don’t add gasoline to the fire.
Share and be blessed.
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17
Feb '18
The Struggle Is Real
17
Feb '18
The struggle is real. We’ve all heard that before and we know that there is nothing easy about this faith walk. You can be on the mountaintop one day and in the valley the next. Some days you got it going on and some days you got to pray to get out of the bed.
What makes the struggle really real is when we add expectation to it. Expectation for more, for better, for a shift or a breakthrough. You were fine when you didn’t want more but if you noticed, as soon as you said, “I want more,” as soon as you started to get back up, as soon as you started working on it, as soon as you started climbing out, all hell started to break loose.
People started acting crazy, stable turned unstable, comfortable turned uncomfortable, good was no longer good enough, strong was no longer strong enough, emotions started to have a mind of their own, and joy stopped getting up when you did. Don’t Panic.
You won’t struggle in Christ until you start pushing in Christ. A faith struggle can only come from a faith push. Struggle without a push is not a faith struggle, it’s just a life problem. A faith struggle is bigger than we are. A faith struggle happens when the natural starts to access the supernatural promises of God.
The enemy wants to block this delivery. The enemy wants you to forget about the price you’ve already paid and walk away from this promise. You’re pushing for supernatural and you are being supernaturally attacked — “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
The enemy is not interested in us when we aren’t interested in the supernatural, the impossible, the divine pardon, the grace escape, the Goliath victory. When you demanded more, when you made up your mind to claim your victory, when you started going after your recovery, your healing, your promotion, your dream, your breakthrough, the enemy said, “Not over his dead tricks” (1 Peter 5:8).
The struggle showed up because you rose up. You declared war. When you started going after your more the enemy started going after your mind — and now you have to get into position to fight right (Isaiah 26:3). Put this in your spirit: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Submitted to God is the position that we have to be in to resist the struggles caused by the enemy (Psalm 94:19).
When the struggle comes — mental or emotional, step back, put it down, pray and wait on the Lord. You’re entering a new level, the next level of faith that you need grace for (2 Corinthians 12:9). You’re being blessed beyond your comfort zone, above your last level of faith, and now you’re going to have to square up with truth, mind up to see and hear the enemy coming, and God up to go up: “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Remember, sometimes we have to thin out our circle, put people on a time out and remove negative people when we’re in a power struggle. When you fight the fight, a friend to your weakness is an enemy to your greatness. Keep your circle tight, your faith right, your fight right and with God, everything will turn out right.
Share and be blessed
Pastor Patrick
Join us at the Hill, every Sunday at 9:30AM and experience dynamic word for dynamic people for dynamic results.
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02
Jan '18
Hurt Hurts Real People
02
Jan '18
Have you or somebody you know been hurt or emotionally injured? If you haven’t, or you don’t know anyone who has, you’re one of the few. Many of us go through stuff, we get hit, life and people knock us down, and yes even Christians get overwhelmed.
A big part of our faith walk is learning how to deal with hurt. It is the most impactful, most difficult and one of the biggest challenges to our faith. Nobody is immune, pain does not have a respect of person and no amount of faith can prevent hurt (Matthew 5:45). This is perhaps why we just need to get this out on the table — in case there is any confusion: Hurt is called hurt because it hurts.
Despite the false claims that Christians have a magic hurt pill, the bible does not tell us that we are immune to hurt (2 Corinthians 4:17). All we have to do is go to the bible and God will show us that to hurt is human. The bible tells us that even the Holy Spirit Grieves (Ephesians 4:30), Jesus wept (John 11:33-36), Elijah, God’s world wind prophet, was so emotionally distraught that he asked God to take his life (1 Kings 19:4).
If we keep living, hurt will come down our street. We expected the right thing from the wrong person. We didn’t get what we wanted or we are seemingly being denied, hindered or blocked from what we need. They mistreated our love, our kindness or our goodness. They walked out without trying, without giving God a chance. They fired us without notice, without reason. If it wasn’t for bad breaks, it seems like you wouldn’t have any breaks at all. Life is piling up problems, breaks between the hell seem to be getting shorter. The kids are out of control, communication is breaking down with a spouse and the picture of family you hoped for seems impossible. We were not ready or prepared to lose a loved one.
What am I saying? It’s OK to have a breakdown but your destiny is too important to unpack and stay there. The beginning of healing from anything is truth. It’s not easy but following truth is the only way out of pain (Proverbs 4:7). Pain without truth is like a prison without a door.
But Pastor you just don’t understand. No, being a pastor, a minister, a volunteer or anything else does not make us immune to hurt of any kind. Gifts, ministries, talents or assignments don’t stop hurt. Humans hurt regardless of who they are or what they do. We don’t know what the Apostle Paul’s thorn was but we do know it hurt — and it hurt bad (1 Corinthians 12:7-9).
In our darkest hour, in our despair or distress, that’s when faith meets the road. That’s when, like the Apostle Paul, we meet grace. We don’t meet grace when we read about it, we meet grace when we cannot do anything about it — and we invite God to step in. Our emotions will war against our spiritual truth, and our weeping will endure for as long as emotions are winning (Romans 7:23).
Find your praise. Sometimes we have to start praising God before we feel better. Sometimes we have to stand in victory, talk like victors and expect like victors before we can see victory. Sometimes we have to commit our weakness to God and trade our weakness for His strength (Psalm 18:2). Walking out of pain is an inside job — pain does not stop because the problem is reversed, pain stops when we reverse the lies of the enemy: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
We need you to survive. We need you to recover and be restored. This is a chapter, a season, not a lifetime and we all need to see what God is going to do when you trust in Him to work all things together for your good. We need you to believe, your hope is light for us — if He did for you, He will do it for us (Revelations 12:11). Your breakthrough is going to break somebody out.
No matter what, if you don’t give up on you, your potential, your power or your promise, you win! If you let it, pain will grow you into the next version of you. Cry if you have to, seek help if you need to, pray and walk. If you keep truth in your heart, you’re going to find out that you can walk with your heart in pieces and still be in peace. Look in the mirror with the hope of Jesus in your heart and keep reminding yourself that your destiny is worth it!
Be blessed.
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