It's ok to cry

We seem to have raised a generation of Christians who think that faith and pain do not mix. Church services are full of people with masks. The suits and the skirts; the perfume and the layers... all these tend to hide away the reality that most feel on a daily basis. Worse still, if you cry or express displeasure, you are not a peson of faith. This is not entirely true!

Sometimes weeping endures throughout the night, not just a few minutes in the night. Sometimes life hurts really bad. Faith is not the denial of pain, but the understanding that there is hope - concrete, tangible hope - beyond the pain. Jesus cannot be the resurrection and the life if there is no death and burial (and let no one tell me that death is not painful!).

I have been sharing with the church and with friends that we are in a season of fulfilment, and in these times, we need to know some principles that will help us live out our prophecies. I will share the first principle here:

Acknowlede your pain, but refuse to die!

You may be pressed on every side, but you are still here. The pressing is not fun; don't act like it is. If you need to cry, cry; but refuse to die. Do not give up. Do not quit before your breakthrough manifests. Do not 'curse God and die' either. When people hide their pain from people around them, they tend to 'curse God' in their hearts. Be transparent before God and man. Your faith will not grow weak because of your sincerity; in fact it will grow stronger.

Let out the cry of David: "I will not die but live to declare the works of the Lord!" Even when it hurts, God is still good, all the time!

Father, sometimes I cannot see how You will see me through my ordeals, but I am strengthened by the picture you have shown me of what lies on the other side. If there is an "other side", then I am not destined to die in the valley. O Lord, take me by the hand and lead me through. Amen.