Pain My Best Friend

By Leonard Lucas Jr.

God said that he wouldnt put more on you than you could bear, so why is it unbearable? God said that his grace is sufficient for you, but where is the grace? And he said he would offer you mercy, but where is the mercy? So you find yourself depleted of grace, without mercy, and suffering from the unbearable. You are, as the apostle Paul said, Troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down. You are ready to give up.

Pain My Best Friend tells you not to give up! Author Chief Apostle Leonard Lucas Jr. addresses the pain you may be experiencing, and he encourages you to suffer through itGod has the ultimate plan for your life. Chief Apostle Lucas explains how the suffering we all must endure is for the cause of Christ and that no matter how bleak or how intense our pain, we must remain steadfast and remember that God is in control.

Enduring pain is difficult, and it is easy to allow the roots of bitterness to take a deep hold. Even though experiences or circumstances may seem unbearable, we must continue to die so that we may live. Suffer through on this journeyand you will never be alone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532023323

Leonard Lucas Jr.

Leonard Lucas, Jr. is an instrument and willing vessel of God, he boldly goes where no man would dare tread. With unconventional teaching he helps other men awaken their inner spirit so that they can stand on Gods Word and become effective Kingdom Leaders, husbands, fathers, grandfathers, and spiritual leaders.

Book preview

THE PAIN OF

ACCEPTANCE

NO ONE COULD have told me that what I was about to go through would place an enormous amount of pain and suffering in my life. I was not prepared for what I was about to face. There was a call on my life. I was twenty-five, young and naive. I was filled with excitement, joy and great anticipation. From my point of view, my future, at this time seemed as bright as the noon day sun. I knew that everyone in the house would love me, follow me, and of course, being a Pastor [their spiritual overseer (I’ll talk more on that later)], their Man of God; I would receive the honor and utmost respect due to being a Man of God. Right? Wrong!

The Holy Spirit was preparing me to walk down a path that no one could have prepared me for. I learned that He had a plan for me. A plan that would change my path and way of life, so now I had to learn the way that He would have me to go. Therefore, instead of Pastoring, as I thought, and teaching the people Thus said the Lord, I found myself in school, learning. Let me warn you, this was not a school in the natural. I found myself sitting in the Holy Spirit’s School as He taught me that I must suffer so that I might become what God wanted me to be. So now, instead of leading, I was following (not people) but the Holy Spirit. I was following the Holy Spirit’s lead, He was the Master and I was the learner. It is here that He would take me through one painful experience after another.

Isaiah described a pain that I am very familiar with. Isaiah 21:3-4 says, Therefore, are my loins filled with pain: pangs (a sudden feeling of mental or emotional distress) have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth. I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it. My heart panted, fearfulness afrighted me: the night of my pleasures hath he turned into fear unto me. As I walked down this path He had NO MERCY on me, nor did He stop when I cried; He just kept leading me. This pain was so intense and unbearable that I could hardly describe it. There were times when I thought it was physical, another time I thought it was emotional, then at another time I thought it was spiritual. Looking back I realize that I couldn’t say which one it was because, at that time it seemed as though it was all three at the same time. I know that I was in this School and I had to learn every lesson He was teaching in a short period of time, and from the looks of it, He was bent on teaching me every lesson. Once again, instead of teaching, I was the learner because now every person in my church would become a lesson and a teacher to me. This was a difficult pain that I had to suffer because this lesson dealt with the weakness that was on the inside of me. Again, I was not the teacher anymore, but a student learning from the people that God had and would set in my path. These people were sent specifically to me on an assignment that would prepare me for where I am today. As I look back and reflect on what I have endured, I can truly say, To God Be the Glory for the Great Things He Has Done.

THE PAIN OF

UNPREPAREDNESS

SO I THOUGHT I was ready!!!! How many of us have been through so many test and trials, so much turmoil and punishment, and what felt like persecution and none of us knew which way to turn? Then on the other hand, how many of us felt as Paul did in II Corinthians 4:8-12? We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

Even though I had been through a few painful experiences, I found myself continuing to die, so that I may live. Again, I was not prepared for what I was about to face in this next chapter of my life. This would be a major set-back for me for some time, but I was eager, still eager to endure what I must to become what God wanted me to be. I had spent seven years in Bible College, preparing to one day, be privileged to Pastor a body of believers. Instead I found out that they would teach me more than I could ever teach them … They taught me a lesson on church life that I never knew existed. I thought that God was punishing me for what I did not know and HE did not tell me but would send me through those rough times alone. But I was never alone, it only felt as if I was, He was leading me every step of the way.

I did not know that I needed so much help internally. I did not know that I was really not prepared for the life of the ministry He had called me to. Every member was a lesson and I was not passing the course. I was failing because I was looking through MY EYES of understanding instead of through the Eyes of the Spirit. I was following me instead of Him because I was teaching instead of learning that I was the student and the HOLY SPIRIT was the TEACHER. I had it all wrong, but Thank God that He had the right teacher teaching me, who understood the assignment and would not sway no matter how off course I got. The HOLY SPIRIT knew the way the Father had for me to go. The pain was so difficult because I was not prepared, I knew nothing about what God had assigned for me. I was trying to be what I was NOT. Like the Apostle I was going down the wrong road. I can remember a statement my aunt made about me the first time she came to the church: Poor Dooney, (she called me by my nickname) trying to be a preacher. And she was right, I was trying to be a Pastor when God, by His Spirit was making me an APOSTLE, and not just any kind of Apostle, but an Apostles of Apostles. Now I am really in trouble, who has ever heard of an Apostle let alone an Apostle of Apostles. Now I understand why I am going through so much and it’s no wonder that most of the people HE is sending me are Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastors and Teachers. I am trying to Pastor, Apostles and Prophets, which is why they thought I needed to be in their school instead of the School of The HOLY SPIRIT. Everybody was teaching me and according to them I was wrong. Wrong with everything I said and everything I did. You see just like me they were looking through the eyes of THEIR understanding, the understanding that they had at that time. And at that time NO ONE was seeing through the Eyes of