Matthew 6:22–23

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

The devil cannot defeat you BUT if he can deceive you, he can get you to defeat yourself.

John 8:32

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

The 4 P's Of Pain…

James 1:1-3

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

1. Pain Is A Promise

John 16:33

In this world you will have trouble,

Various - poikilos = polka-dot.

Meet - peripiptō = to encounter unexpectedly.

God is not the source of your pain

1 Corinthians 14:33

God is not the author of confusion.

1 John 1:5

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Sometimes the greatest grace isn't what God provides but what He permits, because what He permits presses you into His presence.

2. Pain Can Serve A Purpose.

James 1:3

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Pain isn't pleasant, but it can be productive.

Without Jesus, suffering is just suffering

Steadfastness = to remain under."

The soul that would know strength must accept the strain. God never entrusts great power to those who will not remain under His pressure. The saints are not made strong by miracles of deliverance, but by the slow furnace of endurance. - A. W. Tozer

God never wastes what you walk through.

Romans 8:28

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

John 14:15

If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

John 14:23

Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey me.

1 John 5:3

We show our love for God by obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow.

3. The Prescription for Pain

James 1:2

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

The prescription for the pain is joy.

Joy is a permanent fixture that comes to us via our new identity in Christ.

Joy is an unshakable inner contentment and satisfaction that is anchored in knowing that God is at work for our good regardless of what's going on around us.

If you want to tap into the joy of the Lord,you have to be a person of His presence.

Psalm 16:11

You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy.

Be a person of the Word.

Be a person of prayer.

Be a person in a Christ-centered community.

Be a person who practices stillness.

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God.

Be a person who worships.

Nehemiah 8:10

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

4. The Person in the Pain

You are not alone in your pain.

Hebrews 4:15

We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

The cross wasn't just where your sins were forgiven, it's where your suffering was redeemed.

Isaiah 53:3

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

acquainted = intimate knowing

The wounds of our Redeemer are the jewels of His risen body. He might have banished every trace of His agony, yet He willeth to wear them for evermore. They are the memorials of His victory, the tokens of His unchanging love. When we behold those hands once pierced, we shall not weep for the pain, but adore for the mercy. The prints of the nails shall preach throughout eternity that love is stronger than death. - Charles Spurgeon

Jesus rose from the dead, He didn't erase His scars because they were no longer symbols of pain, they were trophies of grace.

God Cares

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

saves = to liberate, to deliver, to make victorious.

crushed = pulverized... ground down to dust.

Try to exclude the possibility of suffering and you exclude life itself. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world, but it is also His sculptor's tool, shaping a soul that would otherwise remain rough and unformed. Pain, if accepted, can become the very soil in which joy takes root. The Christian does not suffer aimlessly; he suffers toward something, toward redemption, toward depth, toward God Himself. In the end, the question is not whether pain will visit us, but whether we will allow it to mean something. - C. S. Lewis