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I dedicate this message to Fellowservant, and all those on Talk Jesus who are suffering chronic, debilitating, and continuous pain. I weep for you, and pray for you!
God is so loving and merciful and compassionate, and is so timely in the messages He designs to send to strengthen us in our times of need, my prayer is you will find this is one of those ...
Insights From a Sufferer of Chronic Pain
Pain. It might be physical. It might be emotional. It might be brief. It might seem endless. But we have all experienced it, and those of us not currently flattened by it are haunted by what it could do to us before our lives are over.
Roy White writes from his personal torture chamber. And he brings us hope. In nine years he has suffered perhaps a hundred times more pain than most of us will ever see in our entire lives. As I read, my bloated opinion of my own decades of trials shrivels up, losing its power to mock me.
Over the last few years it has seemed that whenever the Spirit of God is heavily upon me, a desire to suffer for Christ comes upon me. I don't yet know the personal implications, but I know there are treasures to be found in suffering that few western Christians could dream of.
One of the great challenges facing us Christians is to stretch our narrow minds to cover more than a fraction of God's revealed truth. We have a strong tendency to focus on one aspect of truth to the exclusion of other seemingly contradictory, but equally significant biblical truths. Consider the spiritual heroes portrayed in the faith gallery in Hebrew 11. Many of us lock on to the first half of the gallery – those who by faith received miracles – and overlook the second half, who through faith received the power to endure torment and martyrdom when God saw a better way than to grant miraculous avoidance. We nod knowingly when Paul says he knows how to be full and abound, but we scratch our heads when he says he knows how to be abased and hungry (Philippians 4:12). We claim to know all about the early church's source of power, yet blink in bewilderment when we see them rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for their Lord (Acts 5:4). We cling to the Christ who said ask and you shall receive, and hold at arm's length the Christ who said deny yourself. We rejoice in the Christ who said he came that we might have abundant life and recoil from the Christ who said take up your cross.
Many of us argue vigorously that Paul's thorn in the flesh could not possibly have been sickness, then slip over the fact that whatever it was, God refused to answer his prayer, even though Paul acknowledged that what he was suffering was from Satan and the torment was so awful that three times the mighty apostle pleaded with God to remove it. Moreover, under the Spirit's anointing he proclaimed that it was God's plan for the affliction hammering him to bless him by saving him from the quicksand of pride.
Roy White stretches us by presenting that half of spiritual truth that we shrink from. He does this not by dry Bible exposition but by digging deeply into his own spiritual adventure. Nevertheless, if your love for Christ is superficial, you won't like it. In fact, you're probably better off reading no further. Go back to my self-indulgent writings for baby Christians and pray that one day your eyes will be so opened to the beauty of Christ that you fall in love with him. Then, and only then, are you likely to appreciate what Roy shares.
In the following you are granted a sneak preview of a powerful, much-needed book. It would be much more flattering to Roy if he permitted us only to see the polished work that, God-willing, his book will become. Nevertheless, Roy has graciously yielded to my concern for the thousands of us who desperately need this book NOW.
I have abridged an early draft of Roy's book. Had I the time I would have further concentrated the nectar. If you love Jesus, however, I believe you'll be rewarded as you slide through the words.
Roy has little comprehension of the value of his writings, so please e-mail him with feedback...
Roy White's Book -> CONTINUE HERE: http://net-burst.net/pain/pain.htm
God is so loving and merciful and compassionate, and is so timely in the messages He designs to send to strengthen us in our times of need, my prayer is you will find this is one of those ...
Insights From a Sufferer of Chronic Pain
Pain. It might be physical. It might be emotional. It might be brief. It might seem endless. But we have all experienced it, and those of us not currently flattened by it are haunted by what it could do to us before our lives are over.
Roy White writes from his personal torture chamber. And he brings us hope. In nine years he has suffered perhaps a hundred times more pain than most of us will ever see in our entire lives. As I read, my bloated opinion of my own decades of trials shrivels up, losing its power to mock me.
Over the last few years it has seemed that whenever the Spirit of God is heavily upon me, a desire to suffer for Christ comes upon me. I don't yet know the personal implications, but I know there are treasures to be found in suffering that few western Christians could dream of.
One of the great challenges facing us Christians is to stretch our narrow minds to cover more than a fraction of God's revealed truth. We have a strong tendency to focus on one aspect of truth to the exclusion of other seemingly contradictory, but equally significant biblical truths. Consider the spiritual heroes portrayed in the faith gallery in Hebrew 11. Many of us lock on to the first half of the gallery – those who by faith received miracles – and overlook the second half, who through faith received the power to endure torment and martyrdom when God saw a better way than to grant miraculous avoidance. We nod knowingly when Paul says he knows how to be full and abound, but we scratch our heads when he says he knows how to be abased and hungry (Philippians 4:12). We claim to know all about the early church's source of power, yet blink in bewilderment when we see them rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for their Lord (Acts 5:4). We cling to the Christ who said ask and you shall receive, and hold at arm's length the Christ who said deny yourself. We rejoice in the Christ who said he came that we might have abundant life and recoil from the Christ who said take up your cross.
Many of us argue vigorously that Paul's thorn in the flesh could not possibly have been sickness, then slip over the fact that whatever it was, God refused to answer his prayer, even though Paul acknowledged that what he was suffering was from Satan and the torment was so awful that three times the mighty apostle pleaded with God to remove it. Moreover, under the Spirit's anointing he proclaimed that it was God's plan for the affliction hammering him to bless him by saving him from the quicksand of pride.
Roy White stretches us by presenting that half of spiritual truth that we shrink from. He does this not by dry Bible exposition but by digging deeply into his own spiritual adventure. Nevertheless, if your love for Christ is superficial, you won't like it. In fact, you're probably better off reading no further. Go back to my self-indulgent writings for baby Christians and pray that one day your eyes will be so opened to the beauty of Christ that you fall in love with him. Then, and only then, are you likely to appreciate what Roy shares.
In the following you are granted a sneak preview of a powerful, much-needed book. It would be much more flattering to Roy if he permitted us only to see the polished work that, God-willing, his book will become. Nevertheless, Roy has graciously yielded to my concern for the thousands of us who desperately need this book NOW.
I have abridged an early draft of Roy's book. Had I the time I would have further concentrated the nectar. If you love Jesus, however, I believe you'll be rewarded as you slide through the words.
Roy has little comprehension of the value of his writings, so please e-mail him with feedback...
Roy White's Book -> CONTINUE HERE: http://net-burst.net/pain/pain.htm
