Wednesday Service | Prayers God Wants To Answer Part 5: Keep me from pain! | Jordan Brawner

1 Chronicles 4:10 (ESV)

¹⁰ Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.

3 Truths the Bible teaches us about pain

• There is of pain in our world!

Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 (NIRV)

²² What do people get for all their hard work on earth? What do they get for all their worries? ²³ As long as they live, their work is nothing but pain and sorrow. Even at night their minds can’t rest. That doesn’t have any meaning either.

• When it comes to our sorrow: God , God , and God is !

Psalm 34:18 (NIV)

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

• When it comes to suffering: God has an !

Revelation 21:3-5 (NIV)

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

(1) We can turn our pain into gain… when we and not away from him!

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (LB)

⁸ I think you ought to know, dear brothers, about the hard time we went through in Asia. We were really crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through it. ⁹ We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even raise the dead. ¹⁰ And he did help us and saved us from a terrible death; yes, and we expect him to do it again and again.

(2) We can turn our pain into gain… when we God has things in store than what our past may suggest!

Joshua 14:6-14 (NIV)

⁶ Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. ⁷ I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, ⁸ but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.⁹ So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’

¹⁰ “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! ¹¹ I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.¹² Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”

¹³ Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. ¹⁴ So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.

(3) We can turn our pain into gain… when we allow it to make us more like !

Hebrews 5:8 (NIRV)

Jesus was God’s Son. But by suffering he learned what it means to obey.

• The greatest witness to Jesus being the true messiah is how he handled !

Philippians 1:29 (NLT)

For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.

(4) We can turn our pain into gain… when we grow in !

Proverbs 24:16 (NIRV)

¹⁶ Even if godly people fall down seven times, they always get up.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (ESV)

⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

(5) We can turn our pain into gain… when we allow it to make us better at others!

2 Corinthians 1:3-6 (NLT)

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. ⁵ For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. ⁶ Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.

• My most will come out of my greatest pain!

Philippians 1:12 (NLT)

¹² And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.

• My greatest witness doesn’t come from my success but my weakness

2 Corinthians 6:4 (NLT)

⁴ In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.