Through The Pain, The Purpose Is Given
Luke 9:22-23 Amplified Bible (AMP)
22Saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be [deliberately] disapproved and repudiated and rejected on the part of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be put to death and on the third day be raised [again]. 23And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].
My husband and I were having a conversation over the weekend about the pains of our past. We had begun this conversation based upon the fact that Jesus had suffered pain not just a common type of pain, but serious pain spawn by betrayal, rejection and unwarranted hatred, but yet it was this pain that defined His purpose and pushed Him into a deeper posture of purpose and ministry. As we began to look at the things that God was beginning to do in our lives and the ministry gifts that were beginning to define themselves, we realized that it was the pain of our Savior that birthed the initial purpose in us. It was because Jesus came and suffered, bled and died, that we could even begin to have purpose. Without Jesus suffering and completing His assignment and purpose of reconciliation, purpose would be non-existent for us.
During our conversation I discovered that with every pain, it gave me another layer to the purpose that God had given the life that He had entrusted me with. As I looked at the moments of my life that were most painful, I had to smile because of the strength courage and sheer will power it took to endure and make it through these times to the present. We both began to look at how the pain of our lives have brought us into identifying true purpose and the push to become the person God designed for us to be. We often look at pain as an element that is the catalysis of setbacks and destruction, but instead it is pain that can and will define us, it will begin to reveal who we really are if we allow it to. It can be the thing that begins to cultivate the anointing on our lives and purify and refine purpose in us. It will push us to find passion that can eliminate the pain and uncover what was once hidden or what was not the obvious.
What has your pain become to you; is it a means to give you an excuse, a means to stay out of the will and obedience of God, or has it become the tool that has begun to chisel away the things that have attempted to keep our purpose hidden? Jesus came that we might have life and has it more abundantly. He came to set the captives free but He also came to begin the process of revelation of who we were created to be. Jesus suffered pain for us to have a plan and a purpose, just as with our pain, it comes to reveal the depth of our purpose and God’s plan. We are who are pain defines us to be, what is in us will truly come out when pain and adversity come. Instead of allowing it to destroy or harm, make it become the lesson learned and the purpose defined in our lives!
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