1.    THE FIRST PURPOSE OF PAIN:

GOD USES PAIN TO GET OUR ATTENTION

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” Lamentations 3:40 (NIV)

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

“Come near to God and he will come near to you.” James 4:8a (NIV)

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”. Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

1.    THE SECOND PURPOSE OF PAIN:

GOD USES PAIN TO PREPARE US TO SERVE OTHERS

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”  2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV)

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) 

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV)