Holy Suffering: Releasing God's Spirit Within Us

The Glasses on Your Head: Finding Holiness in Surrender

Have you ever searched frantically for your glasses, only to discover they were perched on top of your head the entire time? That moment of realization—the sudden awareness that what you desperately sought was already with you—captures something profound about our spiritual journey.

We often pray as if God needs to descend from heaven to fix us, change us, or make us holy. We beg for healing, freedom from fear, clarity in confusion. Yet we forget the most revolutionary truth of Christianity: God's Spirit already dwells within us. We're not calling down divine intervention; we're releasing the divine presence that has been there all along.

The Call to Be Holy

"Be holy as I am holy." These words from Scripture can sound like an impossible demand, a standard so high we could never reach it. But this isn't a call to perform religious duties or achieve moral perfection through our own effort. This is an invitation to unite with the Spirit of God living within us—to let Christ's character, purity, forgiveness, and love flow through our surrendered hearts.

Christianity fundamentally differs from every other religion in this way. While other faiths offer paths to earn God's approval through good works—Judaism with its commandments, Buddhism with its eightfold path, Islam with its five pillars—Christianity offers relationship. We don't work toward God's approval; we live from His acceptance. We don't strive to become holy; we allow the Holy One within us to be released.

The Peter Principle: Teachability in Our Mess

Consider Peter, that impulsive, passionate disciple who experienced both flashes of greatness and moments of spectacular failure. He was the only one brave enough to step out of the boat and walk on water—then immediately began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus. He boldly declared Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God—then moments later earned the rebuke, "Get behind me, Satan!"

What made Peter extraordinary wasn't his perfection. It was his teachability. When Jesus corrected him, Peter didn't defend himself or make excuses. He listened. He learned. He changed his mind and adjusted his course. Leaders are learners, and leaders are little—always humble enough to be taught.

There's something of Peter in each of us. Pick the right topic, the right trigger point in our lives, and we all have areas where we flash between confidence and confusion, between faith and fear. The question isn't whether we'll fail or struggle. The question is whether we'll remain teachable when God corrects us through His Spirit, through Scripture, through trusted friends and mentors.

The Anger Underneath

Let's get specific. Consider anger—that protective emotion we all carry to varying degrees. Anger often has a tail. It manifests in quick judgments of others, impatience in grocery lines, road rage in traffic, or harsh self-criticism. When we find ourselves easily irritated by others' quirks or our own imperfections, anger is usually lurking beneath the surface.

Underneath anger is hurt. Anger serves as a protective mechanism, keeping others at a safe distance while guarding the wounded places in our hearts. Like a dog beaten one too many times that learns to growl and bite, we develop defensive reactions based on past pain. It's not that we're bad; we've simply learned we cannot trust the hand that comes near.

But here's the beautiful, difficult truth: we cannot love unless we suffer like Christ suffered. Jesus said anyone can love those who love them—even pagans do that. But He calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. That is suffering with Christ. That is releasing His love through us to the degree we surrender our lives to Him.

Groaning in the Spirit

So what do we do when we're aware something is wrong but can't quite name it? When confusion, fear, pride, regret, or shame bubbles up but we don't have words for it? Romans 8 offers a remarkable promise: "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."

This is holy suffering—bringing our wordless pain, our unnamed struggles, our buried anger to God and simply breathing it out. Not with eloquent prayers or theological precision, but with honest groans that say, "I don't know what this is, Lord, but You do. Do what I cannot do for myself."

Try it now. Breathe in deeply. As you exhale, let out a gentle hum or sigh. Bring to mind whatever is troubling you—that thing you can't quite articulate. Give it to God through that breath. This isn't mysticism; it's surrender. It's the Spirit of Christ within you interceding when you don't have the words.

God created you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He's not turned off by your mess or your inability to articulate it perfectly. He simply wants permission to show you, heal you, correct you, and forgive you in all you do.

Living as Foreigners in Reverent Fear

To be holy means to be set apart, different, dedicated. Scripture calls us to "live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear." This isn't cowering terror but healthy dependence—the fear that without God's work within us, we're in trouble. Like a small child fears when a parent is away, we recognize our desperate need for God's presence and power.

This fear says: "God, if You don't release Your power of freedom, forgiveness, and love within me, I'm going to go to bed angry tonight. I'm going to wake up the same broken person tomorrow. I need You to do what I cannot do for myself."

And here's the glorious promise: He will. To the degree we surrender our lives—our past, present, future, our problems, habits, character defects, attitudes, relationships, and resources—to that degree we are united with His presence.

The Good News

The good news of the kingdom isn't that you need to try harder or be better. It's that Christ is in you, and He will make you holy as you humble yourself before Him. The glasses are already on your head. The Spirit already dwells within. Your job isn't to manufacture holiness but to release the Holy One who lives in you.

What area of your life needs that release today? Where are you groaning in the spirit, too deep for words? Breathe it out to God. Let Him be God, and you be His child. In all things, He works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.