Quote for Blog - 030516There is one great lie that undermines the faith of millions of believers and turns hundreds of millions of non-believers away from God. The lie is that God uses pain, allows pain, or causes pain as a way to punish us for our sins. Pain sometimes causes us to come to the end of ourselves and turn to God, but God doesn’t send the pain. When we listen for help we don’t listen to the pain, we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit that leads us out of pain.

Augustine, one of the early Catholic Fathers, redefined the word “chastise.” Even though in the original language and in biblical use it meant “to child-train a child that one favors,” he went on to say that as Christians we must redefine it to mean “whip, beat or punish.”  From that time until this we read that word in the Bible and shudder with fear. Because we fear what God might do to us, we can’t believe He loves us. Since faith works by love we can’t trust Him and be afraid at the same time. If you want to learn more about what Jesus said about getting free from your pain check out my series, Freedom from Emotional Debt: Healing Your Broken Heart.

Isaiah prophesied that people hated and blasphemed God because of what their leaders taught them. That is why it is absolutely essential to change the way you see God. He can’t be the One who causes the pain and the One who heals the pain. Join me this week in Impact CyberChurch, and discover the real source of ALL YOUR PAIN, what Jesus has done about it and what you can do about it!