In combating erroneous mind states, there are two things you must do: The first is to know the Word of God for yourself. As wonderful as spiritual leaders are, they were never meant to replace your personal study of the Word of God. You cannot fight the effects of grief if you fail to take in God’s daily bread. Secondly, cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit. When you are hurting, there are places that only the Spirit of God can walk you through.
Sessions in Pain, pg. 73
“Will you eat His bread today?” is the daily question that He asks. Some will say it is too old or believe they will choke on it as they try to swallow it into their lives. Can you trust Him as a child trust eating the bread given by its father. Will you take a bite of His Daily Bread by faith?
He is faithful who promised!
Our Lord is faithful to show us the best agenda—His agenda. His remedies for our longing hearts are often very different from our own. Often an insecure person needs an example of humility and not retaliation to help them see the true way to confidence. People who walk in true humility are the most confident.
Sessions in Pain, pg. 113
Confident humility is probably one of the hardest concepts for us to grasp as beings born into a world of pride. Our insecurities keep us on a short leash, inhibiting us from serving or deferring to our fellow man. I encourage you during this Thanksgiving and Christmas season to choose to walk in Confident Humility. Serve others. Choose to be a shining example of your Savior’s humility.
He came to give. He came to serve
You may have heard the story of the old goldsmith who kept putting the unrefined gold back into the fire, over and over again. Finally someone asked him, “How long will you continue to put the gold back into the fire?” and he answered, “Until I see my own reflection.” When God keeps you in the fire, He is being good to you. He is the patient goldsmith who sits by the fire and carefully tries you until you are pure before Him, until He sees His reflection in your life
Sessions in Pain, pg. 166
We are in the capable hands of the God-smith/Goldsmith. The one who shapes us into His image, day by day and moment by moment. His loving hands are ever on the the gauge working and watching to bring us to Him in the Eternal. The God-smith is patient as He sees our beautiful and strong end in Him.
“He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places. Psalm 18:33 KJV 
Job had the right attitude when he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b). Through the agony of his losses, Job still acknowledged that God was worthy of praise. His emotions may not have lined up with this acknowledgment; but as a deliberate act of his faith, he blessed the Lord.
Sessions in Pain, pg. 190
This week’s “Word of the Week” is dedicated to Dr. Myles and Mrs. Ruth Monroe and their companions on the plane that took off from Earth last Sunday and landed them in Heaven. Dr. Myles Monroe was a great influence to this author as he obeyed his Lord in teaching hard and difficult topics to the Body of Christ. Our prayers go out to their congregation at the Bahamas Faith Ministries – may they honor their memories and Praise their Lord through the Pain.
But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head (Psalm 3:3 NKJV).
See awesome video of Myles Monroe’s Family following their loss: http://vimeo.com/111685970
Oh, beloved, trust His ways and be sensitive to the directives He is giving you. On-going pain in our lives can often cloud our judgment and keep our emotions at the forefront of our mind; therefore, we must decide to listen to His voice and work to keep our feelings in check. We must forge forward in the belief that we serve a God of justice. He cannot be corrupted; He is Holy and He is faithful who promised.
Session in Pain, pg. 172
In many situations forging forward is simply doing what you should do or must do each day in the face of pain, disappointment and discouragement. It involves “staying on the wall” watching and praying and carrying out acts of obedience even when you do not see the results. You forge forward in faith knowing that there is a top to the mountain – a place where you will see God!
There will always be those who accuse the people of God, just as Satan did Job. Unfortunately for Job, his friends were counted among those who accused him. Accusers are people who have concluded within themselves that they know why you are suffering. More often than not, such persons have not experienced a true growth encounter with God. This is not because it has not been offered but because accusers often run away from their hour on the threshing floor.
Sessions in Pain, pg.123
The threshing floor is a place where wheat is crushed and beaten so that it can be useful for food. God takes us all to His threshing floor. It is a place where our commitment to Him is cultivated. Our crushing may often come at the finger of an accuser and our God may ask us to trust Him through this injustice as did His Son. We look to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls (Hebrews 12:2-3 NKJV)”.
Embrace the Threshing Floor.
November 1st
Oh, how it grieves the heart of God to see the waste of a life that was meant to have a greater purpose. He offers us so much more than this type of existence. If you are a picker, beloved, the first step out of this life is to leave the heartache at His feet and begin a life of deliberate focus on worship, prayer and God’s Word. It will be difficult at first because you have learned to live this way but continue the effort.
Sessions in Pain pg. 120
Because of the the victory that was won for us in Jesus Christ we can laugh, play and dance in the rain. We do not have to waste our lives on the sorrow of our past. We can leave our wounds at His feet and rejoice in our future for He is there! But for the JOY, for us, that was set be for Him, He endured the cross…(see Hebrews 2:2).
Dance!
There are places of intimacy that God longs to take us to in Him, but it is only attained by having greater levels of faith. Faith after death and the finality of a situation is one of the greater levels; this is faith to believe that whatever happens in this life God remains above it. He is always the Creator and the Reviver of life on this side and in eternity.
Sessions in Pain pg. 137
I love how God presses us into the greatest intimacy with Him through the greatest places of faith. Mary and Martha came to know Christ in a deeper way through the death and resurrection of their brother. He said to them, “Didn’t I tell you that you will see God’s glory if you believe?” (John 11:40). Faith after death, of a relationship, a job, a way of life, or a loved one can bring you to the place of seeing His Glory and of seeing the Eternal. It is God’s gift to the broken heart and a precious sight to behold.
The Word of God teaches us that in the lives of those that love God, no pain in life is just a random act having no purpose or meaning other than to hurt us. He always has a plan for whatever events take place in our lives. In our time of deepest agony this is a difficult pill to swallow, but it remains true through those moments when our faith is weakest. I encourage you to look up and start again; even if everything or everyone you trusted in is gone, take His hand and start again.
Sessions in Pain pg. 76
In this fallen world that we live in sometimes it is hard to see the involvement of our good and loving God. He did not choose a fallen world for us, He did not choose autism for our children, and He did not choose the random acts of evil that may hit our lives. But what He will do is remain with us through these acts and cause them to work together for our good as we choose to love Him and trust Him. God gave humanity the gift of free will and sometimes that translates into suffering and acts of evil; but He remains the Lord of the Eternal that holds us in this life and into the next.
In Him there are no Random Acts.
Absolute surrender is what God demands from us. Anything less is unacceptable to Him. Nothing is to stand between His heart and ours. Children, spouse, parents, even the one thing you fear the most—all must be surrendered. Have you secretly drawn a line in the sand before God and said, “If this happens, I will walk away from You”?
Sessions in Pain pg. 42
Our Lord demands this “Absolute Surrender” because He knows that every other entity on this Earth and every other human will let you down. They don’t always mean to; it is just the nature of their humanness and the character of this fallen world. Christ wants your Absolute Surrender, your total heart, so that He can guide and protect you through this tumultuous journey called life.
Surrender!
In combating erroneous mind states, there are two things you must do: The first is to know the Word of God for yourself. As wonderful as spiritual leaders are, they were never meant to replace your personal study of the Word of God. You cannot fight the effects of grief if you fail to take in God’s daily bread. Secondly, cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit. When you are hurting, there are places that only the Spirit of God can walk you through. 
