I just want to ask you a question: Do you feel like you’re stuck in an area of your life?
Perhaps you feel you’re not growing in your marriage.
Or in your career.
Or in your relationship with our kids.
Or in your fight against bad habits.
If this your situation, let me share God’s Word to you today…
The Purpose Of Pain
I
was reading a story of a guy who was only 14 years old but already 200
pounds. His parents told him to lose weight. His teachers told him to
lose weight. His friends told him to lose weight. But he never did.
Until one day, something happened.
It
was swimming class. And he was in his trunks, standing on the concrete
slab. Beside him were 7 other young boys who were as heavy as the
breakfast he ate that morning. And surrounding him were hundreds of
people all looking at his direction.
He felt so embarrassed.
Standing
on that concrete slab, half-naked in the swimming pool, he couldn’t
hide anymore the teenage flab. All of a sudden, he realized he needed to
change.
And that’s what he did.
Today, he’s not only changed his body, he changed his mind too. He’s
become a stronger, happier, more confident individual.
He thanks God for that moment of pain.
Without that pain, there would have been no breakthrough in his life.
You may be in a lot of intense pain right now.
You have a choice.
When there’s intense pain in your life, you can respond in two ways.
You can have a breakdown.
Or you can have a breakthrough.
The choice is yours.
What will it be for you?
God’s Answer May Come At Midnight
Are you waiting for a miracle? Waiting for an answered prayer? Waiting for a breakthrough?
Perhaps
you have been praying for a child that has gone wayward. You’ve wept
many tears, asking God that your child come back. But after many years,
you’re still waiting for the answer to that prayer.
Perhaps
you’ve have been hoping for financial breakthrough. So far, nothing has
been happening yet. Sometimes, you wonder if God has forgotten you.
Perhaps
you’ve been praying that you be delivered from a habitual sin. Time and
time again, you have fallen. You continue to wait for that day when
you’ll be free from your addiction. You wonder if it will ever come.
If you’re in this difficult situation right now, listen to the story of Jesus about the 10 bridesmaids. He said…
At
that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there were ten
young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the
bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and the other five were
wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any extra oil
with them, while the wise ones took containers full of oil for their
lamps. The bridegroom was late in coming, so they began to nod and fall
asleep… (Matthew 25:1-5)
In the story, the ten women fell asleep. Not just the foolish ones. But the wise ones too. Because they got tired of waiting.
Are you tired of waiting?
Are you tempted to just give up?
Some
people have given up all expectation. So that they can avoid the pain
of disappointments. Some have chosen to live in the bottom pit and be
content living there.
And then Jesus continues the story…
It was already midnight when the cry rang out, Here is the bridegroom! Come and meet him!
Friend, what you have been waiting for will come.
But
it may come at midnight. It may come late in the night. It may come
when you thought it wouldn’t come anymore. But it will come. I don’t
know how. Don’t let me explain how. But what you’re praying for—in its
most beautiful form—will be given to you.
The difference between the wise women and the foolish women were the amount of oil they brought.
And the oil represents your trust.
Will you bring extra trust in God during those times when He answers your prayer at midnight?
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
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