Don't Cause Yourself Pail

A philosopher once said, "Until a man gets into trouble with his own heart, chances are he will not get out of trouble with God!" In other words, pain is not natural! It is an indication that an ungodly condition exists. It is a warning that something is placing a strain on your divine connection. Pain is life's way of getting your attention. It is also God's way of letting you know that you are out of balance, out of order or both!

It is rare that pain will slam you to the ground without a warning. It starts small. If left unattended, the pain becomes a flashing neon sign in the center of your brain. This is not natural. It is natural that you may feel a few pains at the beginning of a new experience. That's just a little fear passing through. The problem is that we have come to accept gnawing, sometimes debilitating pain as a natural way of living. We almost expect it! We believe that pain is a good thing. Nothing could be further from the truth!

There are people who will tell you that it is noble to tolerate pain. "Bite the bullet!" "Grit your teeth!" Pain, they believe, is good for you. In response, you may try to find ways to deal with pain. You expect to experience pain in your life, and when it strikes, you don't complain about it. Pain is not a godly, natural experience. When it erupts in your life, you must stop doing whatever is causing it, and start doing whatever it will take to eliminate it.

Until today, you may have been making excuses for why you have pain in your life. You may have been afraid to acknowledge what causes you pain. Just for today, be devoted to identifying and eliminating the situations and the people who cause you pain. Oh, sure! The thought of doing it may be painful, but awareness is the first step toward healing! Once you become aware and acknowledge the cause, you will be headed toward a pain-free existence.

God cannot help you unless you allow God to help you! Many of us could be accused of trying to out-God God. We think we know more than God. We think we can do more than God. We actually believe that what we want and how we want it is better than the way God can bring it to us. In fact, we get so busy doing what we do the way we do it, there is no opportunity for God to get into our lives at all!

God is so merciful! God will not fight you. If God did, you would get beat up badly! Most of us could use a divine butt whipping. Instead, God sits back and waits to be invited into your life. God will let you do whatever you want to do until you realize that God can do it better.

If you want to run the show, God will let you. If you want to pull all the strings, that's up to you. If you want to insist that what you are doing is the way it should be done, even when you are not getting anywhere, go right ahead. God will let you run yourself ragged, if you choose to do so. Unfortunately, you may not always be aware that you are in God's way. You think you are demonstrating independence. You think that it is all up to you and that you must do it or it won't get done. God knows better! God knows that God cannot fail! However, God has no need to prove to you what God can do.

How do you know when you are in God's way? How do you know when you are running your program rather than allowing God's divine plan to unfold? It's very simple! If you are struggling to make things happen and they are not happening, it's you, not God, running the show.

Until today, you may have been directing your own life and attempting to produce your own blessings. Just for today, ask for direction. Open yourself to guidance. Give up your attachments to having things your way. Open yourself to God's way.