The Path To Freedom – Lesson 8

Tonight we are wrapping up this series on The Path to  Freedom – with our final lesson # 8 – Recycling My Pain

Let’s do a Summary of Recovery, this time linking each step to The Beatitudes:

·        Reality:  Realize I’m not God.  I realize that without Him I’m powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.

Link:   Matthew 5:3  ³ ‍Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

·        Hope:  Earnestly believe that God exists and that I matter to Him and that He has the power to help me recover.

Link:   Matthew 5:4 ⁴ ‍Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

·        Control:  Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

Link:   Matthew 5:5 ‍ ⁵ ‍Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

·        Examine:  Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.

Link:   Matthew 5:8  ⁸ ‍Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

·        Submit:  Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.

Link:   Matthew 5:6  ⁶ ‍Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.‍

·        Evaluate all my relationships.  Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me, and make amends for harm I have done to others:

Link:   Matthew 5:7  ⁷ ‍Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

·        Reserve   daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and gain the power  to do it.

·        Yield myself to God and be used to bring the good news to others by both my example and my words.

I.  Let’s talk about Why God allowed my pain.

A.  He has given me a free will.

Deut. 11:²⁶ ‍Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;‍ ²⁷ ‍A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:‍ ²⁸ ‍And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.‍

B.  God has also allowed my pain to get my attention.

Proverbs 20:³⁰ ‍The blueness of a wound cleanseth‍ⁱ‍ away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

The Good News Bible says it this way:  “Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways.”

2 Cor. 7:9:    ⁹ ‍Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after‍^a‍ a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

So we see that it is the positive end result that God is after.

C.  God allowed my pain to teach me to depend upon Him.

⁸ ‍For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:‍ ⁹ ‍But we had the sentence‍^b‍ of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: ‍ ¹⁰ ‍Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;‍

Psalm 119: ⁷¹‍It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.‍

D.  God allowed my pain to give me ministry to others

2 Cor. 1:³ ‍Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;‍ ⁴ ‍Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.  Verse 7 says:  ⁷ ‍And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.‍

Genesis 50: 19 ¹⁹ ‍And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?‍ ²⁰ ‍But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

II.  How do I use my pain to help others?

I Peter 3: 15:  ¹⁵ ‍But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear‍^c‍: ‍ ¹⁶ ‍Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.‍

Gal 6: 1:  ¹ ‍Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ‍ ² ‍Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.‍ ³ ‍For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Here are some helpful suggestions as we wrap this up:

·        Be Humble

·        Be Real

·        Don’t Lecture

Acts 20:  ²⁴ ‍But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.‍

B.  Here are 4 good Action Steps

·        Commit your life to God like never before

·        Write your story out:  journal

·        Commit to your church and the ministry.

·        Ask God for someone to share your story with.

There is no story like your story!