Acts 14:22 …strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.

In pain, we want to lay our burdens down. In pain, there are many times when we do not want to carry on. Our eyes may fill with tears as we undergo days, weeks, months, or years of hardship without end. Yet, we must carry on, for God has made a perfect place for us. God expects us not to give up but to get ahead of our trials. Certainly, many of our trials are much larger than we are. However, God is bigger than all of our trials combined. The size of God dwarfs the size of creation infinite sizes over. In the span of time, from eons in the past to eons into the future, our many hardships today melt away into the infinite glory, grace, and love of God. Our pain today shall melt away into God's joy in the morning. Our anguish today shall be as no more in His power of love pouring over us each moment. Praise His Name. Amen.

Romans 12:12 Be Joyful In Hope, Patient In Affliction, Faithful In Prayer.

The words of the scripture inspire us and give us power to move forward. Most of the words of the scripture are easy to read and easy to think about. Our problem is the words of the scripture are not always easy to do. When we are in pain, we find being joyful in hope difficult because our pain cancels out of our joy. Our afflictions make us impatient because we want our afflictions to be gone yesterday. Our afflictions make praying difficult. Then what are we to do? What we are to do is keep traveling our path, no matter how rough and difficult our path may be. We must affirm over and over again our hope is in Christ who delivers to us a perfect eternal life after this life is over. We must affirm over and over again every dream we could ever dream in Christ will be realized either in this life or most certainly in our eternal life to come. In our afflictions we must use the force of our will and the power of God to be patient as we wait upon Him to do His mighty work within us. We must always keep in mind, our God reigns and He does deliver for us in His time, place, and will. We must be faithful in prayer, even if we must pray in pain. When we pray in pain, when we pray at times when we seem to have no connection to God, He still hears us. In our pain, God hears us just as He hears us when we are not in pain. When we struggle to pray, God opens a special door of His heart to hear us all the more.

Hebrews 13:6 So We Say With Confidence, "The Lord Is My Helper; I Will Not Be Afraid. What Can Man Do To Me?"

Not only must we deal with pain and suffering in our life, we must also deal with the sinfulness of others. Being in a weakened state because of our pain, our weakened state can make us vulnerable. Being weak and vulnerable we can grow to fear others, fear our future, and fear living in pain. When we face these kinds of fears, we must remind ourselves we are not alone. Not only are we not alone, we have a protector and helper. Knowing Christ is with us through every adversity can make all the difference in our ability to stay strong in the face of adversities of any kind. Over the course of our life, Christ will make a way for us to spiritually prosper in poverty. Christ provides us with His protective armor. Because we have Christ's protective armor, we have eternal life if we accept Him as our savior and Lord. By having Christ as our savior, we will look back and also exclaim "What can man do to me?"

Hebrews 13:5 Keep Your Lives Free From The Love Of Money And Be Content With What You Have, Because God Has Said, "Never Will I Leave You; Never Will I Forsake You."

Being content when we are in pain can seem to be impossible. Absorbing the full and complete truth about Christ being with us, no matter who, where, or what we are can also seem an incomprehensible truth. However incomprehensible the scripture may seem to be, the scripture is the truth of God. The scripture is full of God's essential rules for living a better life. God tells us over and over again He will never leave us or forsake us. The reason God wants to assure us He will never leave us or forsake us is because we are alone. Even when we live with many others, we live with only our own life, thoughts, feelings, and issues. We can share our life with others, but our life belongs only to each of us. Our life is lonely because of our inability to fully share ourselves with anyone else. However, there is an exception to our not sharing our life with anyone. Although we might not realize it, we share our life with God…fully and completely. God knows everything about us. God even knows about the parts of our life of which we are not aware. In spite of our many mistakes, God is loving, kind, and forgiving. God will forgive us of our sins and give us eternal life if we turn away from our sins and accept Christ as our Savior and Lord.

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Psalm 37:25 I Was Young And Now I Am Old, Yet I Have Never Seen The Righteous Forsaken Or Their Children Begging Bread.

There are many advantages to being righteous. When we are in pain and suffering, we are weakened and can be easily tempted away from being righteous. We must maintain our self-control and self-discipline at all costs. Being righteous in the face of pain and suffering is difficult because pain and suffering eats away at our heart and soul. We must let ourselves grow old in wisdom. We must live each minute, minute to minute, in order not to fall away into sinful darkness. We must have daily conversations with Jesus to maintain our balance in a world gone badly astray.

Psalm 37:28 They (The Lord's Faithful Ones) Will Be Protected Forever, But The Offspring Of The Wicked Will Be Cut Off; Parenthetical remark added

"It is not suffering as such that is most deeply feared but suffering that degrades." Susan Sontag (b. 1933), U.S. essayist. AIDS and Its Metaphors, ch. 4 (1989). Indeed, suffering degrades. Suffering degrades us physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. In most respects, human beings are a wicked lot. We are sinners all. All of us must pay the price of death because we are fallen sinners. We must also remember Christ weeps for us. He weeps for us when we suffer. He weeps for us when we falter. We can make sense of suffering only if we make sense about how God is not responsible for it, does not "allow" it, and is not pleased with it. In the degradation of our suffering, we can reach out to Christ. In Him and through Him we shall not just have a better time or a better day. In Christ and through Him we shall have glorious infinite tomorrows.

Isaiah 12:2 The Lord, The Lord, Is My Strength And My Song; He Has Become My Salvation."

In pain, we need a savior. When we are in pain we want a savior in the here and now to stop the pain. Pain makes us secular. Pain blinds us to any kind of tomorrow because we do not want a pain-filled tomorrow any more than we want a pain-filled today. What is the answer? We do not have a secular answer about finding an earthly savior. Even if we could find an earthly savior, the earthly savior would still be a human being. Sooner or later, our earthly savior would end up dying. Our pain demands more. Our pain demands we find not a secular savior like drugs or alcohol. Our pain making demands upon us must cause us to look outside our earth to heaven. Our salvation for our soul is Christ. The way our pain stops is in the hands of Christ when we see Him in heaven. When we think about Christ seeing us in heaven we are strengthened. We are able to sing a new song here on earth, even if sung in a feeble voice, we have a new song in our heart.

Isaiah 12:2 Surely God Is My Salvation; I Will Trust And Not Be Afraid.

Being in so much pain, how can we trust? Being in so much pain, how can we not be afraid? On a purely human level, without an all powerful God, we are doomed. However, we need not be doomed. With Christ, we have eternity where there is no doom. Because we have Christ, with His eternity soon to become our eternity, we can trust and feel no fear. Even when we face the worst of the worst in this life, we know in just a little while we will possess the best of the best in Christ's love and power in heaven above. When we do not have a cure for our pain or condition here on earth, Christ is with us in the here and now to help us until we have His cure in heaven. Our fear is human but Christ gives us His power so we will not be afraid.

Hebrews 13:6 So We Say With Confidence, "The Lord Is My Helper; I Will Not Be Afraid. What Can Man Do To Me?"

Fear, anger, love, and pain are the four basic human emotions. Enough pain suffered long enough brings fear of more pain. Pain suffered over years can create post-traumatic stress disorder. In pain, or in fear, or in anger, we need help. Perhaps we might never admit we need help. However, to admit we need help gives us a strategic advantage in gaining victory over the obstacles pain puts in our path. Each of us has a heavenly helper. Our heavenly helper is our Lord Jesus Christ. Of all the helping people in the world, Jesus is our best. Jesus will be with us forever. He will not desert us in our hour of need. He will not turn away from us when we make a mistake. He will comfort us in our pain. We need never fear what Jesus will do. In Jesus, we are secure forever. In Jesus, we have a person who will be with us forever.

2 Cor. 1:10 He Has Delivered Us From Such A Deadly Peril, And He Will Deliver Us. On Him We Have Set Our Hope That He Will Continue To Deliver Us,

If you are living in pain, your best medicine is hope for a better time in the future. When we lose hope, we lose our life. Hope is the fuel of life. We may not face a deadly peril on earth each moment, but we do face a deadly peril at some point in our life. At some point our life will end when the deadly peril becomes reality. We can say Christ has delivered us from a deadly peril because we have eternal life. We can hope for an eternal life and our hope will be rewarded. Our hope for a better day with less pain on earth will be realized when we ascend to heaven's shore. Although we may have pain here on earth, Christ loves us and He will give us all we could ever dream of having in heaven, then some.

1 Samuel 12:22 For The Sake Of His Great Name The Lord Will Not Reject His People, Because The Lord Was Pleased To Make You His Own.

Let's be honest. Let's tell the truth. Sometimes we don't feel like we are His own. Sometimes we feel rejected. We feel put upon. We feel like aliens in a foreign land. Our pain and trials can destroy us if we let them. Yet, no matter how we feel, the truth is God loves us. In our pain, God is still with us. We do not always know why God does not make the pain go away. We do not know why Satan is allowed to exist. We do know there will come a time when all things are made right. There will come a time when Satan will be banned to the innermost parts of hell never to be let out again. When the final event of our life occurs, we shall see Jesus. We shall not just see Him, but we shall rejoice with Him in His presence. We shall not suffer pain any more. Our broken hearts shall be mended. Our lives will be made totally new. Our battles every moment shall be no more. We shall have victory because we believed in Christ and we hung on and hung in until the very end. Praise His Name, Amen.

Psalm 37:28 For The Lord Loves The Just And Will Not Forsake His Faithful Ones.

In our pain, we need to hang on to the Lord. We need to hang on to what God will do for us in the future. We need to try to hang on to what the Lord is doing for us in the present moment. In pain, trials, or trouble, we can easily believe God has abandoned us. However, the truth is just the opposite. In the hours of our life when our pain is so intense there is nothing but the pain, we must hold on for just awhile longer. We must hold on because our Lord will not forsake us. There will come a day when we will be with Him. There will come a day when our pain shall be no more. There will come a day when we shall never weep again. A new life in glory awaits us. We must hang on for just awhile longer.

Proverbs 18:10 The Name Of The Lord Is A Strong Tower; The Righteous Run To It And Are Safe.

When we are in pain, we are weak. When we are in pain, the pain takes away our strength. In our weakness caused by our pain, we need a place to find strength. The greatest source of strength in the universe is the Creator of the universe. Our Savior, Christ Jesus, is the ultimate power. In Christ we can find all strength, all endurance, all compassion, all caring, and all love. Ultimately, Christ will make us a being of power…a being never to be afflicted with any kind of pain or weakness. We might find the thought of never being afflicted with any kind of pain or weakness to be unfathomable. However, our God can do what we cannot even begin to fathom. In the nothing of the beginning of creation, God created all that is. Surely, if God can create all that is from absolutely nothing, God can make a way so you will never be afflicted with any kind of pain or weakness…and He will.

Psalm 9:10 Those Who Know Your Name Will Trust In You, For You, Lord, Have Never Forsaken Those Who Seek You.

When we live in pain, we live alone. No matter how many people are around us, we are still alone because the pain cuts us off from others in our surroundings. Pain cuts us off from so much of the beauty of life. Yet, we must continue to seek the Lord. As long as we keep seeking Him, He will find us and be with us. He will not forsake us…ever! The truth is…we are not alone. We have never been alone because He has always been with us. When our eyes get blurry from our pain, the Lord is still with us to help us find our way. When we can no longer concentrate, the Lord lives in our mind to keep us focused. When the pain makes us not care anymore, He keeps our sense of humor alive. Most of all, the Lord is with us through the thick and thin. He is with us in our anger, hurt, pain, and frustration. He is with us because He loves us in ways we cannot fathom or easily understand.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, Brothers, Since We Have Confidence To Enter The Most Holy Place By The Blood Of Jesus, By A New And Living Way Opened For Us Through The Curtain, That Is, His Body...

Our plague of pain and suffering gives us a unique perspective on what is important and unimportant. If the person in pain is with a group of people and they are all excited about going to The Most Holy Place, the person in pain might say, "You go on ahead. I will catch up later." This is not to say the person in pain is against God or Christ. This is to say the person in pain does not operate in the same way as those persons who do not suffer. In our example, we must ask "Does Jesus understand the person in pain? Does Jesus care about the person in pain?" What we can say is this: Yes, Jesus does understand the person in pain. We can say yes, Jesus does care about the person in pain. While the group of people goes on ahead and the person in pain is left behind, Jesus will be with the person left behind. Jesus is not so much concerned with formalities as He is with the pain of a person in mind, body, and spirit.

Things Are Being Worked Out

The Lord is always working for you. Things are being arranged for you. God is, right now, this instant, making things and setting things up for your going to a time of greater productivity and greater essence of work. You love to work. So God is now setting things up so you can work in greater efficiency, with fewer burdens and fewer hardships. The Lord is assembling a great puzzle for you to live within, knowing your mind will be fired as you are challenged by His love.

Hebrews 10:22 Let Us Draw Near To God With A Sincere Heart In Full Assurance Of Faith, Having Our Hearts Sprinkled To Cleanse Us From A Guilty Conscience And Having Our Bodies Washed With Pure Water.

Let us be honest. Pain can drive us to do and be what we know we should not do and be. Certainly, we know we are called to be humble, holy, godly, and devout. However, our pain, always caused by Satan, will push us, shove us, or drive us to be ungodly or think in ungodly ways. When we are being pushed around by our pain, we still have the power to draw near to God. We can never fully cleanse our heart, mind, and soul by ourselves, on our own. Even when we feel guilty, even when we are guilty, in God's mercy and grace, He will fix us. God will cleanse our heart and soul. God will cleanse us in ways we do not fully understand. God will cleanse us from our unrighteousness in ways we cannot do.

Isaiah 30:18 Yet The Lord Longs To Be Gracious To You; He Rises To Show You Compassion. For The Lord Is A God Of Justice. Blessed Are All Who Wait For Him!

We want our pain to stop. In pain, we can look around and see multitudes of people who are not suffering. Seeing others who are not suffering, we can feel like we are outcasts. We can feel like we are victims. We can feel like life has done us an injustice. We serve a God of compassion. God knows our plight. He knows how much we suffer. He knows how much of a price we have paid for being in suffering all of our days. If we open our heart to Him, He will then show us the magnitude of His love. Our Lord will not let us hurt or be hurt without giving us compensation when we are with Him in heaven. In heaven, things not only even out, all the good things that ever were or ever could be become reality forever. What we must do is wait for the Lord. Yes, waiting can be difficult, sometimes seemingly impossible. However, we shall not have to wait very long for the Lord sees us and He shall rescue us in an instant.

Lament. 3:25 The Lord Is Good To Those Whose Hope Is In Him, To The One Who Seeks Him;

In pain, we hope for an end to the pain. Those who are not living in pain or who do not know about what living in pain is like, will likely misunderstand about the need for hope. When we hope for a better day and time, let us put our hope in Christ. Certainly, we may need relief in the here and now. We also must put our heart and mind to work to understand our real need for relief is not so much relief in this life from the pains and trials we bear now. Our real need for real relief is from our destiny of eternal torment if we have not accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. When we put our heart and mind to work to see Jesus in the present time, we will find Him. We may find Him in ways we may not suspect, in places we did not know much about, and in times we were not aware. Conversely, when we think we cannot go on, not even for one more day, we must look upon His suffering on the cross for us. When we kneel before Him in His hour of greatest need and torment for us on the cross, our pain and issues of the moment seem a great deal less.

Psalm 84:10 Better Is One Day In Your Courts Than A Thousand Elsewhere; I Would Rather Be A Doorkeeper In The House Of My God Than Dwell In The Tents Of The Wicked.

Even when we are in pain, we are still to be humble in righteousness. When we are humble in righteousness, good things will be added to our life…even in our pain. Our humility cancels out any thought or behavior taking us away from God. When we come close to God then He will minister to us, He will bless us, and heal us of our infirmities. In this life, we will have trouble and pain. However, when we are humble in righteousness, the Lord gives us a form of insulation to keep the pain from destroying us. Living in humility, gives us a power…not the power to overcome a person, but the power to overcome our pain, even if for just a few moments. Ironically, a day in the heavenly realms might be a thousand or ten thousand days on earth, yet we will know not about days, weeks, months, or years when we are with Him. Even now, when we are fully immersed in His love and grace, time can seem to be no more.

Psalm 26:8 I Love The House Where You Live, O Lord, The Place Where Your Glory Dwells.

Our love for God, for Christ, and for His heavenly kingdom helps us transcend every hurt and pain. Our love for Him and His dwelling in heaven gives us a way to see beyond our present life. Pain makes us blind in many ways. Our love for God opens our heart and our spiritual eyes to see the wonders no words can ever describe. As we think about the power of God's love, we can then come against the devastation of pain. We must also remember there will come a time when we share the very existence of God in the most complete of ways. Today, on this earth, our existence is defined by our reality of pain, suffering, and sin. Interspersed in our present reality on earth, we can get glimpses of God's power and love. No human has ever fully and completely seen God. However, there will come a time when our earthly reality shall pass away as we cross over to a timeless land of glory and love divine.

Psalm 73:28 But As For Me, It Is Good To Be Near God. I Have Made The Sovereign Lord My Refuge; I Will Tell Of All Your Deeds.

When we are in pain, we need a refuge. When we are in pain, we need a place or someone who will shelter us and protect us. Christ is our shelter. Christ is our great Healer. The more we try to be near Christ, the closer Christ will be near us. Our pain drives us away from Christ. In the face of our pain, we must draw upon His power in our heart, life, and soul. In the battle we wage each day, we must at the very least, go to Him and tell Him we want to be near Him but we are being driven away. This single act of humility before Him, this single act of telling Him we want to be near Him while we are under attack, brings us close to Him and brings Him close to us.

Hebrews 6:19 We Have This Hope As An Anchor For The Soul, Firm And Secure. It Enters The Inner Sanctuary Behind The Curtain, 20 Where Jesus, Who Went Before Us, Has Entered On Our Behalf. He Has Become A High Priest Forever, In The Order Of Melchizedek.

In pain, we are subjected to every kind of darkness. In pain, our soul can be adrift. In pain, we can drift away from the Lord because we believe we have no hope. In pain we can drift away because pain is a great separator…separating us from God. Even when we are adrift, we have Jesus, who is not far off. We have Jesus in whom we can trust. We have Jesus to anchor our soul. Yes, we may drift away from Him but not far away. Jesus will not let us drift so far away we lose Him if we go to Him with our pleas and petitions. In our pain, we must kneel at the foot of His cross begging and pleading for His forgiving love to be poured over us. Pain can make us say, think, and do what we know is wrong. Yet, Christ is merciful to us. As our heart breaks from our drifting away, He will dry our tears and show us we shall live with Him in eternity. Praise His Name for rescuing us night and day.

Matthew 6:20 But Store Up For Yourselves Treasures In Heaven, Where Moth And Rust Do Not Destroy, And Where Thieves Do Not Break In And Steal. 21 For Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also.

In pain, our life can seem to have no treasures at all. In pain, we struggle to just get from one point to another. In pain, we can store up many treasures in our heart that are not of God's will. What do we do? What do we do when we have stored up the wrong treasures? A place to start is to find one treasure you believe God will embrace and love. The first treasure is the love of Christ. In pain, you may find the love of Christ to be a million miles away. However, you must hang on. You must never abandon God in any circumstance. In pain, we must sometimes go through the motions until God brings us to a place where our pain is gone. In pain, we must keep our mental picture of the ideal world or paradise. Our mental picture of our ideal world is the world we will inherit without our pain, except…none of our pictures of any of our ideal worlds will even be remotely close to the wonder and awe of the ideal world God has prepared for us.

Rev. 21:4 He Will Wipe Every Tear From Their Eyes. There Will Be No More Death Or Mourning Or Crying Or Pain, For The Old Order Of Things Has Passed Away."

We long for a time of no more pain, no more hurt, no more temptation, no more evil. Especially when we are in pain, we long to be made free of our many infirmities. In pain, we want someone to take away our tears. We want someone to take away our mourning…our mourning for those who have been taken from us. We want someone to take away our mourning caused by earthly grief, disappointments, and mistakes. Our hope will not be disappointed. One day, we know not the day or the hour, Christ will reappear upon the earth and all things will be changed. The old order of things will have been no more. A new order will appear upon the earth. There will be joy and peace unending. No one will die. No one will suffer. No one will feel pain any more. Love will reign in every heart, in every home, in every land.