The Connection Between Pain and Spiritual Power

Sometimes I wish we, as Jesus’s followers, could experience spiritual power without having to go through pain (kinda like getting physically fit without having to deal with the pain of a good workout). Unfortunately, that’s not the way things work. Spiritual power and suffering go together. In fact, the greatest spiritual power demonstrated on earth happened after the worst suffering any human has undergone.

Jesus, pain, and spiritual power

Authorities arrested Jesus, tortured Him with cruelty that defies comprehension, and then pressed a crown of thorns into His head. They forced Him to carry His cross, pounded nails through His wrists and feet, and hung Him on that cross to die.

Our human bent doesn’t like to linger on the story about Jesus’s pain. We’d rather skip to Easter Sunday, celebrate His resurrection victory, and enjoy festivities with friends and family. But the truth is—apart from Jesus’s suffering, there would be no resurrection to celebrate. His suffering paved the way to spiritual power unlike anyone had seen before or has seen since.

Maybe you’re suffering too

Suffering is a global theme, but I know that many of you are experiencing it closer to home. Some of you are facing the C-word, or your finances are stretched to the max and you don’t know how you’re going to pay the bills this month.

Some of you are grieving a loss, or you have kids who are struggling with issues over which you have no control. I know that some of you are sick at heart because your spouse, adult child, or sibling has been deployed to the Middle East. And others? Well, another person’s actions have upended your life, and you’re now heading a direction you would never have chosen.

None of us wake up one morning and choose the road of suffering, but pain happens, and it shouldn’t surprise us. The apostle Peter wrote,

“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12 NLT).

Jesus also forewarned His followers when He said we would have trials and sorrows in this world. (John 16:33)

No one is immune from life’s hardships. That’s the bad news. But buried in the bad news lies a nugget of good: Our suffering is not in vain, for it leads to a glorious outcome.

Suffering leads to spiritual power

Being entrenched in a difficult situation is a tough place to be. However, when Peter told Christ’s followers not to be surprised at their fiery trials, he also encouraged them with these words: 

“Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.” (1 Peter 4:13 NLT)

The prospect of experiencing wonderful joy isn’t normally on our radar when our hearts are hurting and we’re trying to cope. Neither is the concept of our pain making us partners with Christ in His suffering. What does that even mean, anyway?

When we’re partners with someone, we share a common experience. We do life together. We share similar feelings and perspectives.

So, being a partner with Christ in His suffering means we suffer as He did—for righteousness sake—not because we heaped negative consequences on ourselves after disregarding His directives.

Being a partner with Christ in His suffering means we can rest assured He knows how we feel because He has already walked that path.

It also means that, because Jesus rose victorious, we can, and will, rise victorious too. All who have placed their faith in Him for salvation will overcome death as He did. Talk about spiritual power, right? But we can also experience life-giving spiritual power in the here and now because the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is at work today in all who follow Him. (Romans 8:11)

Adjusting our perspective about pain and spiritual power

Between you and me, I want to experience spiritual power but not the pain needed to gain it. Paul’s words adjust my perspective:

“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” (Philippians 3:10-11 NLT)

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your desire to suffer with Christ and share in His death? If we were honest with one another, I suspect we’d all fall somewhere well below 5. Few, if any, would jump up and down and shout, “Pick me! Pick me!”

We’d much rather avoid pain than sign up for it. Understandably so. But when suffering comes our way—and it will—let’s ask God to help us view it as He does. Doing so is vital to experiencing spiritual power.

We might be tempted to try to outrun our pain or to question God’s motives for allowing it. Instead, let’s ask Him to use it to transform us into the image of Christ. As heat refines gold, so may it refine us 

Let’s ask God to help us view pain not as something to avoid or escape but as the portal through which we must pass to experience spiritual power. As we go, our weaknesses and fears drive us to our knees. We discover our shortcomings and limitations. We realize our dependency on God and admit our need for His help. A life familiar only with pleasure bypasses that portal, but difficulty leads us to it, and Jesus leads us through it to that place of spiritual power otherwise unattainable.

A life familiar only with pleasure bypasses the portal, but difficulty leads us to it and Jesus leads us through it to that place of spiritual power otherwise unattainable. 

Grace Fox

Let’s hold Jesus’s hand as we go. He’s our partner. He’s walked this way before us. He understands how we feel. And He knows that the best is yet to come.  

Have a blessed Easter, my friend. May recalling Christ’s death and celebrating His resurrection fill you with hope, strength, courage, peace and joy in abundance.