Yes to the Pain

Traveling down this road of our YES to God is exciting. I’m so enjoying reading and experiencing Him. Through them I’ve had a personal dealing with my Yes. If Christ is the Divine Yes and Amen, then my every yes to Him is a yes for Him.

For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 1:20 AMP

Saying Yes to My Pain

Recently the Lord asked me to say yes to a painful situation in my life.  He just asked me to say yes to the whole thing with no caveats. No explanation by Him, no excuse, no defense by Him or me—nothing but my yes.  He owes me no explanation for anything He allows or directs. So amidst tears, I said YES!

Over the years, His grace has shown me purpose for certain pains in my life, but simple understanding of what God takes us through really doesn’t have power in itself. No, where there’s power is in my yes.

My yes is surrender and praise of Him as God!

Examples of Pain

I don’t want to be cryptic, so I will give some hypothetical examples of situations in need of a yes. Years of emotional abuse of a spouse, abandonment by a parent, hurtful scorn and mockery from siblings…all awful situations, I know.  Each one is painful, only because of resistance to our own experience. And that ‘no’ to God marks our soul in negative ways.  But what I’m seeing is that when we turn back and look at these situations, we’re given the choice whether we want to be bitter or liberated. Liberty is not found in fighting it, but in saying yes to God for it. A yes, at the very least, that He allowed these pains, or even directed them for our forming.

Yes has the power to pull out the poisonous stinger. It’s surrender to the Great I AM who makes one vessel for honor and another for dishonor.  God is so sovereign and our yielding makes His presence and reality powerfully evident.

Yes to Pain

Why in the world would I say yes to God for painful events, seasons or even a lifetime of heartache? Because that’s the only way you take possession of the benefits you paid for by living it.  God showed me that to resist a situation, I also resist the benefits I’ve earned.  Pain in our lives is not pain for pain’s sake. God is not a sadist! We are built for reward and motivated by return.  To say YES to my life is to reap all the rewards and benefits from these painful experiences. And the reward is to receive the GOOD He has planned for us.

There is a cost we’re required to pay in this life.  Our sovereign God uses difficult, even agonizing situations, to form us. To resist is to resist God Himself.  The power of yes is incredible. It’s the difference between life and death.

There is another YES required of us: Yes to ME! Yes to my story’s failure, flaws and frailty. Just YES! Did God not know the fallibility of my being? Did He not know that I wasn’t God? This isn’t a means of excuse, like, “Sure, I was an absentee father and emotionally abusive, so deal with it!” No, after I’ve repented, then I can say yes to my own story and accept it.  The difference is in the heart – pride or humility.  We all have to say yes to our story; it’s the door to enter the victory. It’s surrender to His Lordship, His sovereignty, His God-ness.

Yes to Me!

God said to me, say yes to the mockery, scorn, abandonment, and rejection—all the pains of life.  My yes put it all back in His hands to deal with as He – my God – saw fit.  It is yielding to Him and His choices.  It’s a yes to Him as Master of my destiny.  He is the Great I AM of my life. My yes offers it all back to Him, my bowing worship of Him as God.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…
Romans 8: 28,29 NASB