Dealing with Pain

Ever dealt with pain? I mean pain that continues with no relief.  In seeing people dealing with their pain I think how easy it is today to take a pill. There are many who must get their relief  in the pharmacy with a prescription or in one over the counter. I thought today of days early on in my life when a game of basketball with friends at school brought me to grief on the floor when my foot got entangled with my sister's foot in making a shot.

Yes, for years I went to chiropractors and doctors alike. There were times the pain brought me down from my regular routine to bed time for days and weeks at a time. The pain would come and go. Finally I decided, I needed another's help. So applying God's word has helped me so much. He has given me wisdom to know which nutrients I need to keep peace in my muscles. One thing I have seen in the many years, that when one suffers with pain from any source, one can be stopped in their tracks. Literally anyone with a confrontation of pain, heartache, and death can stop someone cold. They will freeze up, unable to cope with the situation that faces them.

I love to walk and hike some distances. But we had not been able to do that till we found relief in the Word. Early on, we would hike the long canyons in Colorado. Another was a hike out of a reservoir area we were hunting one year for elk. I would not want to do that again in mid October. But praise the Lord for His goodness to those who do their own thing!

But the subject of pain can bring tears, and remembrances of hard times of doing nothing in life. Pain can separate a person from other people. Nothing from our past can add to our future. Taking baggage with us from the past only brings the past to this present moment. Dwelling on hurts and disappointments only brings despair. 

Ecclesiastes 1:12-16....I discovered that the lot of man, which God has dealt to him, is not a happy one. It is all foolishness, chasing the wind. What is wrong cannot be righted; it is water over the dam; and there is no use thinking of what might have been. 

16 I said to myself, "Look, I am better educated than any of the kings before me in Jerusalem. I have greater wisdom and knowledge." So I worked hard to be wise instead of foolish --but now I realize that even this was like chasing the wind. For the more my wisdom, the more my grief; to increase knowledge only increases distress.     TLB

In the Living Bible this verse is paraphrased, “What is wrong cannot be righted; it is water over the dam and there is no use thinking of what might have been.”

Only God can restore. He can change that which needs to change and a lot of the time it starts with each of us. As my daughter always says, “it’s a heart issue, Mom!”

We can be encouraged that whatever is dealt to us may be as bitter lemon, but God can make lemonade out of it and see us prosper in the future.

In the scripture above, the increase in  knowledge is that of the world. People think the more head knowledge they have the more happy and prosperous they will be, but it is the wisdom of God that leads us to life in abundance, a more set for a course of glorifying Him and not us. Learning something that helps us become more equipped in the course of life as a nurse, a doctor, and/ or lawyer always take some education. But to keep getting an education in something you cannot get a job in is futile.

In life there is always going to be disappointments, discouragements, and pain, but how we address them and move on determines our success in moving forward in life. Applying God's Word to that source of pain helps tremendously. In applying that life-giving word, we are taking God's pill for the situation.

 Psalm 38:6-8...6 I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly;

I go mourning all the day long. 

7 For my loins are full of inflammation,

And there is no soundness in my flesh. 

8 I am feeble and severely broken;

I groan because of the turmoil of my heart. NKJV

Turmoil in the heart is a serious thing.  Being consumed about an illness, a family in chaos, illness of family member miles away, over a child's rebellion at home and in school, or just feeling abandoned in times of pain, can cause turmoil. It can cause us to stop. Have you or anyone around you ever mention, "I do not like this ride anymore and I want to get off? Or "just stop this planet please, I would like to try another?" I have!

Weariness can drag a person down when they continually mourn the thing for which they meditate on in regard to loss and or pain. They might see disappointment as to a job loss, or a ministry. They might see a family breaking apart by the most unusual circumstances, and not know what to do to stop it. Although the person above in Psalm 38 was most likely dealing with some sickness or disease within their body, he surely meditated on hearing the verdict of the illness.  He was groaning in his heart because of the magnitude of the circumstance.

Psalm 38:17-20.....17 For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me. 
18 For I will declare my iniquity;
I will be in anguish over my sin. 
19 But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;
And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied. 
20 Those also who render evil for good,
They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.  NKJV

David was mentioning his sorrow, his pain was continually before him. He points to sin that he had to declare to God. Even though he felt his enemies were strong and even those who hated him had multiplied, he courted the truth that God would help him since he followed after good. 
In experiencing pain, we can feel as weak as the weakest elderly person alive today, with no resistance available. But where we are weak God makes us strong.


We are to cast our care upon God for He cares for us!

Psalm 55:22........2 Cast your burden on the LORD,

And He shall sustain you;  He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.  NKJV

1 Peter 5:6-10....6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.   NKJV

Father, I pray for all who need peace today, that they would be settled in YOUR peace and plan. Today, I pray for all those who are dealing with pain in their hearts, that they would rise up knowing Jesus took this to the cross. As the Great Sacrifice, He came to give us hope in our final outcome. Jesus came to make sure that we would be perfected, established, strengthened and settled, understanding that life is to be lived in unity with You our Father. We pray this in His name, that today, men and women everywhere would be those with eyes open to see the adversary for what he is and that he is a liar. YOU Lord came to give us life and life more abundant. 

Jesus told us in Matthew 10:39 ......39 "If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will save it. TLB

We know that we must surrender everything to God. He instructs us of total self-sacrifice in devotion to God's will. We are told to deny self to gain the spiritual life.  For if we do not completely and wholeheartedly relinquish our life for the higher life in God, we will lose both.  Today, we seek to pray in self-examination asking if we have truly relinquished everything to You our Father. We desire to abandon our former life of pain and heartache. We know this, that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but He has given us His power, His love and His sound mind. Father, for wherever we are not settled in this word, help us to be strengthened as YOU give us Your Word in prayer time, that secret place in meditating Your truth. Help us to say NO to pain and live the life YOU planned for each of us. We thank You we are not alone in pain of the body or the mind but You are an ever-present help in trouble. Amen!

 You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV 

No Appetite, No Presence of God

Proverbs 16:20......20 He who heeds the word wisely will find good,
And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he. NKJV

Proverbs 19:8.........8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;

He who keeps understanding will find good. NKJV

Ever met someone, or worked with someone who had this statement of "I am not happy." Then the "someone" will state why they think they are not happy. It is either due to their job, their spouse, their children, the parent's that raised them or where they live.

But being happy has nothing to do with the other people in our lives or where we live, but has everything to do with our heart issues. We can always go look for "greener grass" but take the some 'ole heart issues with us.

Yes, many chase the proverbial, "greener grass" thing, sometimes by ending up divorced, separated from their offspring, changing jobs and finding more trouble than they believed they could ever possibly get into in their entire life.

We are told in 1 Peter to have one mind, compassion for one another, to be tenderhearted and courteous...........

1 Peter 3:8-12.....8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; 9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For 

"He who would love life 

And see good days,

Let him refrain his tongue from evil,

And his lips from speaking deceit.  

11 Let him turn away from evil and do good;

Let him seek peace and pursue it.  

12 For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,

And His ears are open to their prayers;

But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil."  NKJV

Imagine the world having one mind. Imagine a world where everyone had compassion for their neighbor and not trying to outdo that neighbor. And you know what I mean! Yeah, let's get that new car, move into that new home, but the old car is barely two years old and the old house is not even ten years old yet.

Yes, it is heart issues and what we think is "happy". It is all that "stuff" from the past that clutters and adds chaos to our thinking.

Imagine people who are tender-hearted toward one another, who will bless you no matter what! He who would love life and see good days is to refrain his tongue from speaking evil of anyone.

No lying here!  No conjuring up a lie to tell someone. You know like when you were in school and the "kid" said, "the dog ate his homework." My dog did not like eating paper. She preferred biscuits and gravy, thank you very much!

But honestly, being happy to me lines up with those beatitudes from the book of Matthew 5:3-12. Every believer should have these as the evidence they are saved and look out for others ........

Matthew 5:3-12..........3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted. 

5 Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth. 

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled. 

7 Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy. 

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God. 

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God. 

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. NKJV

ENCOUNTERS:These are encounters with God. They are those God-kind of things that cause us to look different, sound different and to act different than other people act in similar situations!

Nope, not making God to my image, I am the one who will fear the Lord! I will keep my focus on a  "Big God" and not little me! Whatever the chaos that may be taking on the world, our feet should be established knowing God is bigger and is greater than any major earthquake, bird flu virus, measles, mumps and rubella.

 OUR God wants us to operate in His wisdom and not bury our heads in some sand dune somewhere and "pretend".  (well, let's pretend this is not real)

It is our duty to mourn after God and to lament. For truly we are seeing today what sin does to a nation! We should not be looking for the way out, to run away from that which troubles our world, our nation, and community. Ours is to represent a great God and mourn. When others are looking for a way out, we should be looking for the "doorway in" to helping those who do not know Jesus. The only "happy" found here is looking to God who is our sufficiency. He has given us some very solid promises of what He wants for us if we are willing to go after them.

Today, it seems easy for some to lie, to cast the blame, and gather those who would slander and harm another, but our comfort, peace and life eternal is from the God who expressed His love to us through His Son..............

Hungering for God .......to be saturated with His Word, His Presence, and His glory. Is it not time to see all that come to pass for us?

I always hear people say, "well, you don't have to read the Bible everyday" and I am appalled.

I always think of the fireplace and those pieces of coal that were placed there hours ago and lit to heat a room. I know that when you take one of those lumps of fire-hot coals out, they will burn bright for a few minutes but in less than about 15 minutes they start to turn cold. But inserting the piece of coal back into the fire will cause it to burn brightly again.  So when we insert ourselves into His Word and His way of doing, we become saturated with Who He is.

Then we walk out into the world for a job that may be less than what we expected, a visit to a hospital to see someone who might need prayer and an encouraging word. We can walk out from the Word of God and prayer to call someone to let them know we are thinking about them. We could find something good to say to our children and grand-children or for someone else's grand-children. We become those peacemakers who choose not to lie, not be addicted to lying but on the contrary to make peace. Yes, it is an on-going study to find that place to stay in His peace. Not by my works but truly serving my family and others through a peace that came through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 23:5-6............
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over. 
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever. NKJV

A hungering for God is coming to the table that He has prepared for us to dine at!  He has prepared it for us, and do we sit at that table or hunger after the table set by the world. Do we hunger for "more fun", "more things for me", "more everything for me" or are we hungering to see the dead raised, the cancer victim carry cancer no more, to see a child healed of leukemia or senior citizen healed of alzheimer's.  For these are all names under the feet of Jesus and if we fill up with Him, then who or what can stand against?

I think of this family who live close by out here in the gorge. I am always reminded of their generous spirit to help foster small children. Most of those small ones come from broken homes and from parents who abuse some kind of substance. Some of these little ones were babies and I saw this couple take these "little ones" into their home to be loved and comforted in their pain. To me, their sacrifice has been to bring peace into these "little ones " lives. Can we do as much?

Closing: we choose to be happy because of the God Who gave so much. We choose this "green grass" here and know God has a life of happiness for us when we follow His lead and dine at His table!

I pray that people everywhere will make Jesus the Shepherd of their lives.

Father, today I think of all those who follow that pigskin and this is their big day today. In watching all that activity and ball throwing, I pray for people not to be taken in by all the ads they see and hear on  T.V. Today I pray for those to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and not follow the voice of the stranger. Lord, when we commit our ways to You, YOU cause our thoughts to become agreeable to YOUR will and our plans will be established and succeed. I pray for all who have opportunity to read this to Know without a DOUBT, that they are of more value than any football game that lasts for four hours. I pray that they would find the table prepared by a good God and has called us to His kingdom of God for such a time as this.

Lord, for those who hunger, saturate them with Your Word and and lead them in paths of righteousness for Your name's sake. It is You that Restores Us! Restore us Lord, and make us into the man and woman You destined us to be and may it be to Your glory. We give You thanks for the good things You have for us and we do not have to chase after them or even after money. You are the Provider Who provides for our every need. Keep watch over Your children Lord and I will watch and pray for them as well. May they rise up IN YOU and SEE THEIR ENEMIES SCATTERED IN JESUS' NAME. Amen.

You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV