Over the past weeks God has been speaking into my desire for healing and my struggle with pain.
First the Lord revealed this scripture:
Therefore; since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before us endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Then through a sermon, He started breaking down the verse..
“Let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.”
When you’re struggling, when you’re hurting, and when you’re sinning that’s all you can see sometimes. I can remember when I broke my arm, I fell and all I could think about was the pain in my arm. I was holding my arm. I was staring at my arm. I was sitting in the most uncomfortable position, in wet grass, but all I could think about was the pain in my arm. I wasn’t thinking about what was happening next, I wasn’t thinking about a goal. I was ONLY thinking about the pain. When you’re hurting sometimes that’s all you see. It’s all you focus on because pain draws attention to itself.
“let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus”
I can remember laying in the grass and my uncle came over. I asked him if he could pray, because in that moment, I couldn’t. All I could think about was the pain. He prayed on my behalf, he went to the Lord on my behalf because I couldn’t. When we let other people into our struggle, they can bring light and support. Through him praying the focus started changing to, GOD can fix this. And the pain started lessening. The burden lessens because we’re all fighting, and we’re all looking toward Jesus.
“…Looking to Jesus”
Then the goals came in, we were going to go to the hospital. We were going to get a professional to look at it and tell us what was wrong. I wasn’t looking at my pain. I was looking to the one who was going to help me fix it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I was still in pain. I was still going through a struggle but it was different because I was in the hands of someone who was capable of fixing it. My trust was in the hands of doctor. We have to look to Jesus for healing and strength to get us through. We have such an advantage as Christians, because we can draw our strength from Jesus.
“…who for the joy set before us endured the cross, despising the shame,”
The Man who endured all that pain on the cross. The shame, humiliation, disappointment, fear.. HE WENT THROUGH ALL OF IT FOR THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM. He went through all of that because He was FOCUSED on God and because He knew, one day, Emily would break her arm. Emily would battle depression. Emily would be beaten down. Emily would need His strength to pull her through dark days. So He hung on that cross and He suffered.
What about you? What pain did Jesus go through for you? And where are you looking? Are you looking at the pain? Are you focused on the hurts? Because let me tell you, forgiveness and strength is whole lot easier when you’re focused on the One from who your strength flows.
