BIG ENOUGH TO BE BLESSED

Hi. Can you do me a favour? 

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that you are living at your fullest potential and walking in the complete blessing God has assigned to you.  Go on.  Come back in 45 seconds.

It’s there.  It’s real.  It’s waiting for you.  All that goodness and fullness it’s waiting for you right now.  Not for tomorrow, or when you figure out a little more, or clean up a few things.  Nope.  Now.  Yours.  You.  Now.

So the pain you’re in; what do you do with that?  How do you reconcile your hurt to the alternative reality I’m coaxing you with? 

When the prison is real but your faith is too. 
What then? 
Oh dear friend, you’re in for the ride of your life!

First thing I have to tell you is that you’re not the first person to feel this hurt.  We all hurt.  We all hurt deeply.  Your pain is great, it’s real and it makes you feel sometimes like no one understands how great it truly is.  This thought sends you crazy some nights.  But you’re not the first, and you’re not alone. 

Your hurt doesn’t negate God’s blessing.
Pain doesn’t cancel out His goodness.
Adverse circumstances are not indicative of His changed mind or shifted focus. 

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.  Does he speak and then not act?  Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19 (NIV)

He is God.
His Word doesn’t change.
Neither does His character.

He loves you.
He said you’re awesome and destined for great things.
Nothing about that has changed.

So when you’ve seen the dream, but you’re thrown in a pit, what does that mean? 

When those closest to you sell you out and hand you over to whips, what does that mean. 

When you’ve kept your integrity and held your innocence but you’re accused and sentenced for the vilest of things, what is there left to believe?

When your blessed inheritance shapes up more like a curse, I want to tell you that the dream is more real than ever before.

Just ask Joseph.  He went from his father’s tent, to a pit, to a rich man's house, to a prison cell, onto a Palace.

In the pit and in the prison Joseph showed us HOW TO be free on thE inside even if bound on the outside.

“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.” Nelson Mandela

So when the chains blister your wrists and the bars make for a sorry view, how do we stay free on the inside?

When he was shackled and robbed Joseph chose to serve. 

You stay free by operating in an opposite spirit.

You can’t be made a slave, if you serve by choice.

In harnessing a spirit opposite to your circumstance you let your inner world become larger than your outer world.

Ships don’t sink because of the water around them.
Ships sink because the water gets in them.
Don’t let what’s happening around get inside you and weigh you down.

Don’t become the thing you hate.

Serve.
Serve and love.
Love.  Always love; actively and genuinely.

Live a life that is above reproach
Chose integrity and character always
Don’t take short cuts and don’t rip people off
Be honest to the core

It sometimes costs a lot
It is usually inconvenient

But it always pays well in the long run, and more than that…  it is the call of a Christian.

Even if it were to never pay off, still resolve to do the right thing.

Be bigger on the inside.  Don’t cop out.

Trust that there is a divine purpose in the pain.

The greatest of people have learned the remarkable skill of embracing pain, embracing betrayers, embracing deep, deep hurt. 

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. … 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt."  Genesis 45:4-8 (NIV)

Pain is not bad

Pain makes us aware; it makes us wise, it teaches us how to do things more effectively next time. 

Pain grows us.
Pain skills us for the journey ahead.

Many people avoid pain and so they stop growing.

Pain steals their vision and distracts their heart causing them to shrink back and stop moving forward

A TRULY BLESSED person knows how to carry pain.

If Joseph hadn’t taken the abuse and betrayal of his brothers, the abuse of slavery, the false accusations and the imprisonment with a vision that was bigger than his pain, he would not ever have become the Prime Minister of Egypt and the saviour of that nation.

If the Apostle Paul was not willing to be imprisoned, shipwrecked, starved, falsely accused and beaten he would not have seen the gospel preached and the known world turned upside down with the message of Jesus’ love.

If Jesus was not willing embrace the pain of the cross to give up his own life, he would never have seen yours and mine restored to the Father.  I'm so grateful Jesus embraced pain.

We must resolve to believe that God is bigger than any present circumstance – good or bad.  He sees it all and knows the beginning from the end when we don’t, and so we need to know Him and trust Him at all times.

Do you know Him?
Do you trust Him?
Do you trust Him with the pain?

So back to our first thought about your potential and your blessing.  How do you simultaneously reconcile pain and faith? 

By living what you believe. 
By being bigger than your circumstances. 
By not allowing your pain to make you small.  
By pushing through it with a resolute knowing that your Jesus empathises with your pain, and is bringing you to the dream. 

Live with the end in mind.

[Inspired by "Leadership Pain", by Samuel Chand]