So many of us have hidden behind pain and hurt, or have covered up our struggle to impress those who seem to have it going on (on the outside).  I’ve been hurt as everybody has and the one thing that always seems to happen is that hurt helps.

 

God is more interested in our confession of weakness than our ability to confuse people with our mask.  See, we don’t meet God’s mercy, His grace until we meet hurt that cannot be danced away or shouted away — or hidden away.

 

You remember Paul’s, “Thorn in the flesh.”  Whatever his thorn was (and we don’t know), it hurt — it hurt bad. He prayed over it, He believed for his healing and he prayed some more (3 times).  But God didn’t heal Paul by removing the thorn, God healed Paul by removing his belief that divine healing only happens when God stops the pain, fixes the outward problem or gives us what we want.

 

 

I might be the only one but I cannot recall a time when the first thing out of my mouth when hell showed up was, “Thank you God for the thorn.” Like Paul, we don’t think that way — at first.  Hurt hurts real people.  I don’t imagine that the tea bag welcomes the hot water but the tea bag needs the hot water in order to produce its greatness.  Have you asked God what He’s trying to produce through your hot water?

 

Here’s the truth, God already knows what our reaction and thoughts are going to be (1 Corinthians 2:11).  God knows how to grow us because He knows us (1 Corinthians 8:3). God knows that we are not God and that His greatness shows up in our weakness — more than any other time.  Hurt brings out of us an awareness of our vulnerability, our humanity and our dependency on God (Romans 7:19-25).

 

The bible says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:7).  Catch this: The bible didn’t say that we wouldn’t have troubles, it said that troubles achieve an eternal glory — it builds up and causes our faith to become unstoppable (Romans 5:1-5).

 

Folks who claim to know God or claim to know what grace is without going through the kind of hell or hurt that seemed impossible are, “Testi-lying.”  If they have not had to stay in peace while walking in pieces, they haven’t met grace.  If hurt has not helped them to see that at their weakest moment they were stronger than they thought they were, they have not truly grown in Christ.  If God has not told them No and made them grow from it instead of fix it, they have not seen the salvation of the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:17).

 

Go ahead, “Boast in your weakness.”  In order for hurt to help us, we have to know that when hurt happens, God is about to make something supernatural happen.  When hurt happens, “The power of Christ is resting on us.”  When hurt happens, sometimes God is working on our response not just our request — James 1:2-4.  Grace shows up when hurt shows up to grow us to our next level.

 

Knowing what God is doing does not make going through pain painless.  Surround yourself with people who aren’t just saved by the blood but who are not afraid of the sight of blood.  Hurt helps but between hurt happening and grace showing up, we stumble and fall, pray and cry, doubt and believe — before joy rises back up (Psalm 30:5).  We cannot be a conqueror without a battle, a victor without a valley or have a God promise without a God process.  

 

Whatever you’re going through, God is using it to help you — This is your help.  In this season, Christ’s power is resting on you.  Embrace it, walk in it, talk to your destiny, and tell the devil that you don’t need to wear a mask to walk in power.  Heal around real people — “No weapon formed against you will prosper,” does not mean that you won’t get hit, hurt or weak.  When hurt causes our weakness, God is using His power to bring out our greatness — “His power is made perfect in our weakness.”

 

Share and be blessed.

 

Senior Pastor, FAITHHILL Church

San Leandro, CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

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