PoP: Pain March 18, 2023 by Lars Muller
One sentence of scripture is more valuable than 10000 of man's ideas or arguments. T Vol. 7 pg 71
Hide memory verses in your heart.
Psalm 34:1
Matthew 3:2
2 Peter 1:4
Jeremiah 33:3
Psalm 27:14
Matthew 10:22
People tend to dislike others who follow a higher standard.
Power of pain / suffering
Pain is real, but we don't need an anesthetic or pain reliever. We need hope.
God promises He will take pain away.
1 Peter 5:10
God allows pain to develop us, strengthen us, put us on a firm foundation.
Why suffering? To let us know there is something wrong.
The power of pain. It encourages us to find a remedy.
Has the pain produced a greater desire to seek God?
Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow or sadness has a refining influence on us. In the original Hebrew Pain is gain.
Jeremiah 7:19 The human heart is deceitful. It is easy to see other's sins, not so easy to see our own.
Pain sometimes cracks us open while sin pulls us down.
Isaiah 1:18
When hearts and lives are broken there is room to grow.
Jesus already paid the surgery bill.
Ezekiel 36: 28, 29
God will give us a new heart and spirit. He will do the cleansing. We cannot be or work hard enough to be good enough.
Suffering allows us to see our need.
1 Corinthians 7:10
Psalms 119:71
1 Peter 1:7
Romans 5:3
Acts 14:22
2 Corinthians 1:6
Suffering can sometimes lead to another's salvation.
Jesus wants to support and encourage us. When we see this, our understanding of God changes. We understand how much He loves us.
When we seek God, we move from Church going Christians to Living Christians.