Discovery Camp 2 - Talk 3: Discover Your Path

Discovery Weekend
Expanded Outline

TALK 3: DISCOVER YOUR PAIN

I. Introduction

A. Pain is real. To live is to be in pain. “When we are cut, we bleed.”

B. Jesus Christ did not come in comfort and luxury. Instead, His glory is in living a life of pain and overcoming it.

C. “To experience joy is to acknowledge pain and to overcome it.

II. We are Called to Discover and Overcome Pain

A. What are the common sources of pain?

1. Pain we are born with.

a. Being born poor
b. Being raised in a broken or troubled family
c. Feeling ugly or feeling not good enough in anything

2. The things people do that cause a pain.

3. The things that we do – the consequences of the bad choices and decisions we make.

III. How to Deal with Pain

A. Know that pain is real and that we need to deal with it.

B. Decide to be victorious over the pain.

1. Let go. Do not hold on or hang on ort nurture the pain. Decide to heal, to forgive, and to forget the pain inflicted on us by people.

2. Decide to let go of the guilt over the pain caused by our mistakes.

3. Decide to let go on the fear over circumstances and situations over which we have no control but trust that God is in control over these things.

C. Just trust that God did not allow us to go through the pain to punish or put a burden on us, but to help us learn and grow.

1. Realize that the pain we go through can be sweet pain for us if we trust in God who is in control. That through all the pain we go through He is refining us, fine-tuning us, sharpening us, toning us so that we can be more perfect and be a better source of strength and joy for others.

2. Concretely, how do we deal with others?

IV. Activity

A. Directions:

1. Write down the three (3) events or situations in your life that have been the source of your deepest pain.

2. Write down the three (3) persons in your life who have caused you your deepest pain.

3. The persons and events that are written will not be shown to anyone. They are things that only you and only God know.

4. The pain can only go away if you offer the pain that these experiences have brought to you and if you allow God to take the pain away.


B. Prayer

1. Let’s take 10 minutes to pray and to write down our experiences. (Someone will sing, “Spirit of the Living God” and/or “Refiner’s Fire” while participants are writing and praying.)

2. Instruct the participants to hold what they have written and join the speaker in praying over their pain.

a. Pray for the release from pain. Tell them to offer their pain and to ask God to take their pain away.
b. Minister to the pain of others. Move to other brothers and sisters around you and pray over the pain.

3. Bring a large trash can to the front of the participants and put a big candle on each side of the trash can. Ask them to come forward, put the pain written on paper on fire, and throw it in the garbage bin.

4. Tell everyone to watch the smoke rise and allow God to wipe away their tears from their eyes. As the fire consumes the list of pains, tell them to see in the smoke the hand of God turning what was for so long real pain into ashes that will be blown away by the wind until nothing is left in your heart but joy.