Trading Your Pain

"We know how much God loves us because we have felt His love and because we believe Him when He tells us that He loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him." (1 John 4:16-17, TLB)

When you come before the Lord in prayer, part of you empties out. That part is filled with the heartaches, hurts, soreness, grief, and agonies you’ve experienced throughout your life. As you pour the pain in your heart out to God, He refills your inner being or spirit with Himself. God is love (1 John 4:16) and great healing is within Him (Psalm 103:1-5).

It’s a trade. You give God your pain, He heals you and refills your heart with His purpose. You lay down your fear, and God fills your heart with faith. You give God your sin, He gives you His sanctification. An exchange takes place.

One might compare this exchange to the scientific transfer of photosynthesis. A simple definition for photosynthesis is the conversion of light energy into chemical energy by live organisms. Nearly all life depends on this conversion, including that of plants, animals, and humans.

A leaf, for example, is light dependant. Photosynthesis begins when light hits a leaf. The leaf reacts to the light, capturing and absorbing the energy of the sun to produce more life-giving molecules, and the release of oxygen. This by-product is the fuel used by all living things. It’s the conversion of usable sunlight energy into usable chemical energy.

In like manner, men, women, and children are dependent on the conversion of their hearts by the light of Christ Jesus, God’s son, to make them whole. Just as each cell in a leaf absorbs sunlight, every fiber in your being is touched and restored by the nearness of a holy God. The by-product of that right relationship is life-giving oxygen.

"In Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28, NKJV)

Won’t you trade your pain today and allow your heart to be touched by the light of Jesus love? The impartation you’ll receive—if you empty yourself of the old to receive the new will bring great refreshing to your life today!    

"Praise the LORD, I tell myself; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He ransoms me from death and surrounds me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle's!" (Psalm 103:1-5, NLT)

© 2007, Jacqueline Overpeck. Used by permission. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the consent of the publisher.