The Godly Truth About Pain

Let us talk about wickedness and how we often perceive it. Did John steal your lunch in class 6? He is wicked! Did your neighbor steal your bike? He walks in the counsel of the wicked! Did your ex-boyfriend lie about those late night texts? Did that girl eat your money and leave you lonely? When we read bible verses that talk about the wicked, it is funny how we think the wicked are any people we do not like. But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth! We read verses like “God is angry with the wicked every day” and we are tempted to pray for God to drop thunder upon them. To send angel Michael and chariots of fire at the people who hurt us. Well, God does promise to avenge, to revenge and to settle the scores and commands that we forgive. But imagine if we got everything we deserved. Like death for our sins. Before I got born again I was a wicked man. And so were many of you according to the bible (1 Cor 6:11). Genesis 6:5 even says we are born sinners; we are born with sin!!! No wonder the need to be born again. So who exactly are the wicked? The psalmist describes the wicked as having two major characteristics- arrogant and aggressive. Until we give our lives to Jesus, we are the wicked we read about.

Before I focus on the theme of this article, let me reveal something about myself. You will probably see the need for this later. Over the years I have seen instances when I have passed exams more when am depressed. I noticed some time back I can do more work and achieve more of my goals when am angry about something. My mind goes into full drive. My focus is like that of a supercomputer. And then when am happy and living like there is no tomorrow, grades would drop hard like a plane out of fuel. Many times when I was academically an overachiever was when I was a bit depressed. Even today, my mind is clearer when am angry or sad. And the strongest prayers my spirit has put out, according to me, were in the moments I was emotional. The moments I was extremely sad or just extremely happy.In these moments, whether it is praise or prayer am giving, I give thanks to God for reminding me that He is the one in control. That He is my strength. That I am nothing without Him.But the moments of pain and sadness have shaped me more than joy has. Even when I got saved, it was in tears that I prayed and got saved. Let me explain why pain or sorrow is so crucial. But read this verse first.

2 Corinthians 7: 9-11

, yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter

One night, a few months ago I was sick, in excruciating pain, and I was sure death was on the way and I begged God for hours to heal me. This was the second time in my life in around four years that I was waking up with severe abdominal pain and vomiting. I knew how the script would play out- I would vomit in pain and vomit till I started seeing angel Gabriel. Okay am exaggerating. But last time this happened I knew death was around the corner. I was blessed to get to hospital in time.

Nothing is more humbling than almost vomiting yourself to death and having to undergo fluid resuscitation in Casualty. That verse about this body not being your own but being the temple of God becomes so clear. As you pray for God to heal you, you pray as if you are praying for an object that does not belong to you. The moment you realize you cannot stop the pain or the vomiting, you start saying things like “God please heal this body that you created”. You don’t even pray like it is your body. When eventually the whole process came to a sudden halt, I gave thanks to God for the humility he gave me during those two or three hours of horror. I came out of that ordeal with the humility of Moses. I was born again at the time but realized I had begun letting pride settle into my soul. Despite having fought demons in my room and even being told something by Jesus in a dream, despite seeing heaven open and many miracles happen round me every day, I had stopped praying before I sleep and sometimes would forget to pray completely. I had started worshiping as I felt I should. I had simply started thinking I don’t have to try that hard anymore. I thought I was at my destination already and forgot that this was a journey. Pride can be as simple as thinking you can listen to secular music, drink and party,curse, fight,commit adultery and fornication and still please God. Pride had surely started settling in-like being too lazy to pray or fast or go to church because, well, you are a child of God and everything will be fine.

Many anointed people allow pride in and instead of cutting them off, God sends pain. Like David after adultery with Bathsheba, that pain can come in the form of losing a son, or something else. In the book of Psalms there is a prayer by David where he asks God to “not take away His Holy spirit from him” (Psalms 51:11). David knew he was filled with the Holy Spirit and still committed adultery and murder just like you and me know we are not to lie and yet sometimes we lie because the world tells us to “keep the haters guessing or to “move in silence like a G”. Sin is sometimes planted in our subconscious by our environment. Like men who beat their wives and still troop to church every Sunday like nothing happened, sometimes we take the scripture that is convenient for us. Like a fornicator judging the gay, or a lustful woman judging a man who calls his brother a fool. Yet they all share condemnation if they do not repent. The grief God brought to David led David to repent because “the Lord disciplines those he loves” and we now know Jesus was comfortable being called “son of David” because his less than perfect ancestor accepted discipline. Before we proceed, please inform yourself with these verses about discipline:

HEB 12:10They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
PROV 10:1717 Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.
PROV 12:11 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid
PROV 3:11 17 “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. 18 For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.
DEUT 8:5Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. 6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.
1 CORINTHIANS 9:25-27 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
PSALMS 94: 12 Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD, the one you teach from your law; 13 you grant them relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.

LET US TAKE A BREAK FOR A NOT SO FUNNY STORY. 

Last Sunday I was bargaining for a jacket somewhere in town and I caught myself lying that I had bought a similar jacket at half price. These were the lies the old me would use to bring the price down so well. And as if prompted by the Spirit that seller asked me “tukiongea ukweli mbele ya Mungu hii jacket ulinunua hivo kweli” (Speaking in front of God, would you say you have bought this jacket before at a similar price?). That question got me thinking, why would I think I am not supposed to tell the truth at Gikomba, or any other place. Why would I approach a trader and imagine that God looks away from Gikomba and I would not be accountable for what I say there. The bible says that God fills the universe and sustains it by His command. So imagine looking at lewd pictures in a remote part of Afghanistan and imagining God is not watching. That is one of the core principles of godlessness don’t you think? To believe that God takes a break sometimes.

See, I was treating Christianity like a switch, or a facet that I could turn on and off where it mattered. Thank God I repented on the spot, spoke the truth and used other honest means to bargain, and prayed for forgiveness. Pride must have made David think…” ah, God loves me, I have brought back the ark of the covenant, I danced till my clothes fell and have made fair decisions to my subjects. God will remember the good I did and forget this because I am David the anointed son of Jesse who God has used to slay Israel’s enemies and who killed Goliath. Maybe God is not even looking.” Pride can be seen in the little things we do and disobedience can really grow if God does not bring grief to stop it. Pride is even more dangerous when you are born again because we may falsely believe that because of Grace we do not have to repent.

Where exactly does pain come from? From being mistreated, abused, disappointed, separated from someone we love, death, illness. All these are possible answers. Why is Satan still allowed to roam like a lion ready to devour? His time is not yet come is one possible answer. But why is this time not yet come? Why can’t God just burn up all the wicked people? Why can’t God just snap a finger like Thanos and make the evil half of the Universe disappear given He is much much more powerful than this Marvel character? OH WAIT, WE ARE SINNERS TOO AND NEED TO REPENT EVERY DAY!!! Haha, we are not exactly blameless. It is by grace and not our deeds, by His mercy and not because of anything we do that we even access heaven. It is because the Lord is patient with the wicked and is calling out on everyone to repent that we are even alive. It is by faith and not the law, that we are considered righteous. God wants even the wicked man to change his ways, like Paul on the way to Damascus. The Lord is slow to anger and quick to forgive- and if he had a policy of throwing down lightning the very moment we sin…who would stand? And yet the average atheist believes if God existed, He would not allow suffering. He would not allow the tribulation. We would all be flying around like butterflies and would have the cure to cancer and climate change already.

Before I write down some supporting scripture, let me share something that I have experienced this past week. I have been reading many autobiographies, and even one self-help book written by “people who have made it”. Their stories were sad and painful. They grew up with mothers who would punch them till they spit out blood, and fathers who would sell cocaine and abuse their mothers openly. They were mocked as children and generally bullied till they graduated high school. But they all agree on one thing- the pain helped them become who they are today. Their background, whether it was living in a trailer or growing up poor in a small, poor town, is what made them successful especially because they were not ashamed of their story or background. They even say those “bad neighborhoods” were crucial to where they are today. A good example is Kevin Hart-he had me excited when he said that his life and career opened up when he started being honest about what was happening in his life. He would go up on stage and make up all this imaginary stories and was barely paying rent. But then he would get off stage and talk about his life to his friends, and about his marriage, and his friends would almost die laughing. That is when someone asked him why he wastes so much time making up material yet there was material around him-in his own life. His own life stories were way funnier-as if reality is funnier and stranger than fiction too. So we know him today as probably the most famous comedian who talks about his life on stage and he even has a special titled “Laugh at my pain”. He has made millions from his pain. And I was surprised how prayerful he is- he mentioned praying for doors to open and even quotes a verse from proverbs about “the sluggard being the brother to the one who destroys” as his mantra.

These people worked hard- they wake up so early and put a lot of effort everywhere- just like the book of Proverbs asks them to. They are not necessarily in the list of evangelists I would recommend as guides on the Christian walk but I did learn a lot from their lives. One of the pastors I like to listen to, Kevin Zadai, explains how he worked hard over the years in the Airline industry and made enough money to live comfortably now-he can now buy a jet by his own money because God multiplied and protected his earnings (Malachi 3: 10). He endured the pain of working 72 hours a week, and still fasting every day and praying in tongues even at work any time he got the chance. He bought food for the homeless for a long time and finally one day he fed an angel and the angel gave him insight on the stock market and he thus made a lot of money that way too. Are these examples of pain paying off?

Now let us get to a scarier topic.We have seen why God allows suffering- It is a form of discipline, and also because he allows repentance and thus will not send lightning against a thief. Like Nineveh, that rapist is given time, and the victim is given healing by God, for God is the mighty comforter and healer. But also God revenges for He says “revenge is mine”. Remember David was forgiven but did not get away with it.

God has led me to write this article because of something that will happen soon to the world. My friend Ian and I have both been given visions about alien warships attacking Kenya in the future. Other Christians have also seen the same in their own countries. So yeah, okoka!! And pray a lot.

Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. 

A lot of pain is coming into the world, if you look at the book of revelations, for instance. I can hardly name a prophet who did not talk, directly and indirectly, about the end times we are living in today. All am saying is, whatever happens to the world in the coming days, as a Christian, you are expected to be faithful. Even to death. And all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved!!! The pain will lead this world to remember God, and that is how He will save many of the lukewarm believers and even the atheists and non-believers. God will use the tribulation to lead people to repentance. So do not do the opposite and turn away.

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE COST OF GOD BRINGING PAIN AND PEOPLE REFUSING TO REPENT??? Let us see in Isaiah 23.

A Prophecy About Jerusalem

22 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision

What troubles you now,      that you have all gone up on the roofs,  2 you town so full of commotion,      you city of tumult and revelry?  Your slain were not killed by the sword,      nor did they die in battle.  3 All your leaders have fled together;      they have been captured without using the bow.  All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,      having fled while the enemy was still far away.  4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;      let me weep bitterly.  Do not try to console me      over the destruction of my people.”5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day      of tumult and trampling and terror      in the Valley of Vision,  a day of battering down walls      and of crying out to the mountains.  6 Elam takes up the quiver,      with her charioteers and horses;      Kir uncovers the shield.  7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,      and horsemen are posted at the city gates.8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,      and you looked in that day      to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.  9 You saw that the walls of the City of David      were broken through in many places;  you stored up water      in the Lower Pool.  10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem      and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.  11 You built a reservoir between the two walls      for the water of the Old Pool,  but you did not look to the One who made it,      or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,      called you on that day  to weep and to wail,      to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.  13 But see, there is joy and revelry,      slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,      eating of meat and drinking of wine!  “Let us eat and drink,” you say,      “for tomorrow we die!”14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

God bless you. Thanks for reading. Be faithful to the end and when God disciplines you, repent and encourage the world to repent. The tribulation is about god shaking the world into repentance. Hitting back and destroying sin. Let us not be like the people in Jerusalem who misread everything and did not repent when God called for it.

Luke 21:36  Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."   
Revelation 3:10  Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.   
Luke 21:34  "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.