One of the things Donna was speaking over the church in her INTRO (not even the main message) was sensing that God is expanding and increasing our capacity. She shared that this expansion and increase happens on the inside of us. She offered up a new definition of joy: being an internal experience, a delight of simply being in someone’s presence. She challenged us to intentionally rejoice in this season of patient endurance.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)
In this season of patient endurance, I find that understanding the “why” behind the suffering and pain I go through helps me endure the process and makes the pain and suffering more palatable to a certain degree.
I understand that most often God does not reveal the “why” behind the suffering and pain we go through during the process. Most of the time it is in hindsight that we see “why” we had to go through what we went through.
I believe that part of our Patient Endurance in this season is meant to expand and increase our capacity. To do what? Only God knows.
Working out has taught me many things about growth, strength and endurance. The nature of working out with weights and building muscle requires you to tear the muscle fibers in the muscles you are working out. The torn muscle fibers are then repaired by fusing new muscle fibers together in order to increase the mass and size of the muscle over time. The process produces a certain amount of pain and requires a certain amount of suffering.
Over the years, I have learned the difference between the pain of muscle growth and the pain of an injury. Perhaps the difference is more psychological than physical, but I’m sure if you ask a doctor or personal trainer about the difference, they would be able to distinguish the two based on your symptoms.
The discerning process of pain may be easier in this analogy because when you go to the gym and work out, there is an understanding that you are intentionally building muscle so you are able to recognize the effects of the process. Pain is part of the process (the pain of growth that is). When you feel that your muscles are sore and you are in pain, you know that growth is taking place.
It may help to understand this season of Patient Endurance as if we are entering a gym to workout. It may help to view this season as entering a place where we are intentionally trying to grow and mature.
The growth that we are experiencing is not in our flesh, like working on our muscles, but it is in our spirits. Donna offered us a simple tool that allows us to expand and increase our capacity. It is to rejoice and be filled with joy in the midst of patient endurance. When we rejoice we invite the Holy Spirit to consume us and expand and increase our capacity beyond our abilities. When we are filled with joy, in spite of the pain and suffering, we can delight in being in the presence of the Lord and know that He is with us. That joy that we experience internally will become our strength for the next thing that comes our way.
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Nehemiah 8:10 (ESV)
Father, I thank you for giving us your Son Jesus. With Jesus we know that we don’t need to patiently endure alone because He is with us. We thank you for your Holy Spirit that allows us to experience your presence and the joy that comes with delighting in you. We ask that you continue to strengthen our spirits. Expand and increase our capacity to do your will. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!