From Pain to Power: Dealing with Pain Victoriously (video)
Message by Pastor Bryan Hudson
New Covenant Church, Indianapolis Indiana August 17, 2014
Notes Below (draft)
Isaiah 53:3, Jesus is acquainted with pain and griefs: He
is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not
esteem Him. 4 Surely he took up our
pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by
him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed
for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his
wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5
What is pain?
1.
The physical
feeling caused by disease, injury, or something that hurts the body
2.
Mental or
emotional suffering: sadness caused by some emotional or mental problem
3.
Someone or something
that causes trouble or makes you feel annoyed or angry
4.
Physical pain,
in its simplest form, is a warning mechanism that helps protect an organism by
influencing it to withdraw from harmful stimuli (such as fire).
Parallels of physical pain to "life-pain"
Physical suffering
associated with a bodily disorder (such as a disease or injury) and accompanied
by mental or emotional distress.
Pain avoidance can
lead to self-destructive behaviors. The most potent pain-relieving drugs are
opium and morphine also happen to be the most addictive.
We have something
called “Pain receptors.” These are found in the skin and other tissues, are
nerve fibres that react to mechanical, thermal, and chemical stimuli. Pain
impulses enter the spinal cord and are transmitted to the brain stem and
thalamus.
Life-pain receptors
are not physical. Emotional or mental pain is difficult to define. The
perception of physical pain is highly variable among individuals. Just as
people have high and low thresholds of physical pain, They also have high and
low thresholds of life-pain. Some people feel pain if someone does not say
“hello” to them. Some people, like me, would not feel pain if you called me
“stupid.” Now I certainly wouldn’t be running around with anyone who called me
stupid, but it would not stop me from doing anything I’ve been doing.
And this is the main
issue when experiencing “life-pain”: What stops you from doing what you are
supposed to do? While the physical pain mechanism wants to influence you to
withdraw or protect yourself, life-pain, such as emotional pain, should be
addressed, not avoided.
Isaiah 53:3, Jesus is acquainted with pain and griefs: He
is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not
esteem Him.
From Pastor Joel Brooks: Some of us have way too high of a tolerance for
pain. Pain is not the enemy, but evidence that one exists.
Pain is a message to
you that:
1) Something in your
life is out of place.
2) Something or
someone is in your life that shouldn't be there. 1 Peter 2:20, For what credit is it if, when you are
beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer,
if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.
3) Something in your
life is under attack
4) You are being
tempted. Hebrews 2:18 For because he
himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being
tempted.
"The problem is that
we tend to treat the pain rather than the cause, thus allowing the source of
the pain to remain in our lives way too long. Jesus bore your pains and so know
that the pain you feel (whether in your body or in your heart) is not something
you were meant to live with but simply a signal to you of an area in your life
that needs attention. Pain is telling you something needs to be adjusted,
removed, or resisted. Decide today to lower your tolerance for pain." (Joel Brooks)
James 4:7
"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you"
1 Cor. 13:4 For though He was crucified in weakness, yet
He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live
with Him by the power of God toward you. 5 Examine yourselves as to whether you
are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus
Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. 6 But I trust that you
will know that we are not disqualified.
Keys to dealing with life-pain:
- Don’t deny the
pain. Don’t hide your pain from Jesus.
- Know that most
people cannot handle your pain because they don’t have the Spirit of Christ in
this measure.
- Identify the
source (see above)
- Know that some
pain is self-inflicted (1 Peter 2:20)
- Cast your
cares on the Lord because handling your pain in the covenant that Jesus made
- Stop the pain.
Life-pain is essentially noise, so go to a quiet place. “Be still and know that God is God.” (Psalm 46:10)
- Ultimately all
pain has to register in the mind. So focus on something else. Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed
to us.
- Don’t withdraw.
Don’t stop doing what you are supposed to do.
- Repent: Change
your mind. Go in a different direction. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were
grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly
grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a
repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief
produces death.
Let Jesus carry your pain and show you how to live in peace and power everyday!
"...But we shall live with Him by the power of God..."
