Cet enseignement est donné par un protestant et pour des protestants. Il doit donc être reçu avec certaines précautions et adapté. On sera attentif en particulier à la place des sacrements, de l’Église, et à ne pas avoir une utilisation instrumentale de la Parole de Dieu.
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Don’t waste your pain!
You can use it for yourself, but also for others.
Ø Redemptive suffering
Ø What Jesus did. His pain was not wasted (x3): used it for your benefit.
Ø God wants you to use what you have suffered for your benefit, but also for others’.
2 Corinthians 1, 4-6 Pick up you Bible, read it (the whole chapter). This is redemptive suffering.
You’re going to be hurt many times in your life. How do you know you are healed? (x2) When you start using it for others (x2). Your greatest ministry will come out of your deepest hurt. (x2) Because you can help people whom you understand (10 examples: unemployment, sex,…).
“Write down: I am a product of my past, but I am not a prisoner of my past.” (x2 explaining) You can use it to be a better person.
Four ways to use your pain to help heal others, so that it isn’t wasted.
1- Share how pain got my attention. Pain is a warning. Lewis: “God whispers in our pleasure but he shouts to us in our pain, pain is God megaphone.” God uses pain to get our attention. See Job 36, 15b. Pain is an alarm, a wake-up call. “You need change in your life!” Simple example (hole in a shoe). Biblical example: the prodigal son. Pain got his attention. We rarely change unless pain gets our attention. We ignore problems until we have no choice. Have you ever experienced this? Has the pit ever dried up? Sometimes God has to dry up the pit, otherwise you remain stuck there. Sometimes God uses pain. 2 Co 7, 9. Sharing this will help people see God is trying to get their attention.
How you share your pain to others will determine if it’s helpful or not. You have to be authentic, humble, honest. Best example: Paul. He shared from the heart. You want to help friends? You have to be authentic. How?
(1) Be open about my feelings. 2 Co 6, 11b.
(2) Be humble about my faults. Ga 6, 5. Why do you pretend to be perfect?
(3) Be frank about my failures. 1 Tm 1, 15b.
(4) Be honest about my frustrations. Ro 7, 18-19. Have you ever said that to anybody?
(5) Be candid about my fears. (“Write this down” all the time) 2 Co 12, 20. Have you admitted your fears? Paul is pretty blunt!
This is how you share how pain got your attention.
2- Share what I have learnt from pain. (“Write this dow n”) Look to lessons you can pass on. Job 36, 15. Wow! God teaches (“circle that word”). Go home and think about it. How did God use distress to open my heart? What is God trying to open my eyes to? Pr20,30. Wise learn by experience, wiser learn by the experience of others. We don’t have time to make all the mistakes! So we can learn from others… if we are humble enough. There are different kind of pain, but always 3 things God wants us to learn from it (“Write this down and what you have learnt”).
(1) I learned to depend more on God. 2 Co 1, 8b-10. Paul is crushed “Have you ever felt crushed?” (idem with every verb) We don’t know God is all we need until God is all we got. God wants to teach you about himself. About his love – when you feel unloved. About his forgiveness – when you feel unforgiven. About his wisdom – when you feel dumb!
(2) I learned to trust and obey God’s Word. Easy to do when everything is right, when I like to do it. Ps 117, 67. If life is a school, pain is the corrective. Ps 119, 71. David speaking. Put this verse on little cards, write them, memorize them.
(3) I learnt through pain that I need others. Ga 6, 2. When you are in pain, I pray for you. When I am in pain, you pray for me. Now listen carefully: God wants to teach you about yourself through others people. That’s why other people may reveal a weakness, a blind spot. Don’t ask “why” but “what”: “what do you want me to learn?”
3- Share how God is bringing good out of my pain. Ph 1, 12. Wrote this in a dark, smelly underground dungeon prison! Then one of the greatest promises of the Scripture: Rm 8, 28. Doesn’t say: everything in life is good. It’s not. Everything has a happy ending. It’s not. Does say: we know God has a great design. God makes everything work together. Our lives are not the result of faith. You are not an accident. The pain in your life is not the result of bad luck. We make mistakes… but God doesn’t. In all things, God works. What is included in “all”? All! All mistakes also! Divorce, bankrupt, miscarriage… In all things God works. And he doesn’t work separately. Not everything is good, but God makes something good out of it all. God uses it for good. Have a look at the genealogy of Jesus. Almost all the women cited had a painful life. (Rick details) God lets our mistakes and pains, but use them. Think of your biggest mistake. Can God use that? Yes. For you? Yes. For others? Yes. If you are willing to be honest and talk about it. Think of the biggest disappointment of your life. Idem. Think of your biggest embarrassment. God can use it if you let him! That’s redemptive suffering: don’t waste your hurt. See story of Joseph in Genesis.
4- Share how Jesus gave me hope in my pain. We need more than solutions: we need hope. People around you need hope. You need to be hope dispensers. Classic: 2 Co 1. Paul outlines all the pain he’s been through. Conclusion: v.8-10. People hurting say: “My life is out of control”. “I can’t seem to change.” So: “I am hopeless”. Sometimes life kicks hope out of you. Maybe that’s how you feel right now! Maybe you feel trapped: in a hopeless job, marriage, financial crises, health problem. God said: you will go through tough times but I will be with you. Maybe you are going through tough times right now. You were never meant to go through this alone. God is there. People who have been through the same are here to help you. And you can help others if you are humble enough to share. Be ready to share your hope. People don’t need to hear about your success, but about your failures. Are you willing to share about your feelings, are you humble enough to share your pain and failures? If you do so, you will be amazed by how God uses you to bring hope.
Be ready to share your pain to help others.
1- How has God been trying to get your attention?
2- Are your learning anything from your mistakes?
3- Do you trust God to bring good out of bad (do you trust His power or yours)?
4- Will you allow God to use your mistakes and even your sins to help others?
Ends with a prayer.
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