In these key moments, ask yourself, “Is what I’m thinking true and godly (Phil. This is why Paul said that we must take our thoughts captive every day – sometimes every second. The enemy can also shoot fiery darts into our mind. Many of our thoughts are not good, and definitely not godly. Second Corinthians 10:4–5 reminds us that we have a rebel living within us. Pride has to be crushed with a sledgehammer, not caressed with a feather. God often has to help me with the process, and nine times out of 10, it involves emotional pain.
I don’t know about you, but I'm not good at humbling myself. Humility via pain is hard but it’s also very powerful. In doing so, we receive God’s grace rather than His resistance (James 4:6). God encourages us to humble ourselves and use gentle words to turn away wrath (Proverbs 15:1).
Listed below are ways to increase your spiritual pain threshold. The more pain you can handle, the more responsibility God may give you. The key is to allow storms to strengthen your faith and deepen your walk with God as you lean on Him. And the anvil that God uses is often other people. We can’t shape character simply by praying for it forging comes directly from conflict. Maybe this is when jokes about mother and father-in-laws began? In Genesis 26:35, when Esau was 40 years old, he took two wives who made life difficult for his parents, Isaac and Rebekah. In Genesis 25, for example, Jacob took advantage of Esau’s appetite and obtained his birthright. The Bible is filled with people being hurt by each other.
But, as we have heard before, “Ships are safest in the harbor but they are not made for the harbor.” The old adage also rings true: “To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” There is no way around it. How much easier it would be to live a quiet life void of conflict. (For more, listen to my podcast, If You’re Not Hurting - You’re Not Leading). Of the times I’ve considered quitting the pastorate, it was always because people hurt me. If you’re a leader, being hurt by others (and hurting others), can be a weekly if not daily struggle. The pain we cause each other is one of the enemy’s primary weapons. It’s also the primary reason behind most of the violence in our world. Of all the tricks of the enemy, of all the things that knock us off course, of all the things that cause division among Christians, being hurt by others is at the top of the list.
0 kommentar(er)
