My foot was turning purple.

I looked around the room. The other participants were wincing and squirming as much as I was.

All of us volunteered to come to this emergency response class but judging by the distraught looks and vehement moans coming from everyone in the room, I was fairly certain folks were secretly wishing they had just stayed home to watch TV right about now.

I was beyond thrilled when the instructor told us we could remove our tourniquets. 

Yes, tourniquets.

As part of the “Stop the Bleed” class, this exercise had been necessary.  It was important to “feel” just how tight a tourniquet should be.  If we were ever in a situation where we’d need to actually apply one to help save a person’s life, we had this first-hand experience to draw from.

As the color began to return to our limbs and our class sat back in relief, the instructor said these profound words, “It’s important to know that if you ever need to do this in a real-life situation, the person will fight you. You will need to work against the person in order to save their life.”

WHOA.

As the weight of those words sunk in, I thought of Paul.

Known forever as the man who wrote more than half of the New Testament, Paul did not start off as God’s friend.  It took an eye-opening, knock-down encounter with God to stop the internal spiritual bleeding in Paul and, ultimately, save his life.

Paul had been busy ravaging the church, throwing Christ-followers in prison and even went as far as killing some. (Acts 8:1-3)

Acts 9:1 tells us that he was, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”

Until, God confronted Paul one day and asked Him, “…why are you persecuting Me? It is useless for you to fight against My will.”  (Acts 26:14 NLT)

This come-to-Jesus moment for Paul was the life-saving intervention he needed. Prior to this, Paul had been religiously running amok, squandering precious time, and resisting his ultimate purpose to love and serve God.  He had been bleeding out. 

It took this tourniquet moment from God to give him a second chance and a new life.

While we may not be exhibiting such extreme outward behavior as Paul did, we all still have wounds that require life-saving measures.

The question is, are we fighting against God or cooperating with Him? 

It’s not going to “feel good” as God begins working in an area of our life that needs intervention – it may be an unhealthy habit, addiction, or relationship.  It’s painful and our natural reaction will be to fight against Him.

Yet, just like the “Stop the Bleed” class taught me, that is counterintuitive.  We need to remember that the pain tends to increase momentarily before the healing can begin.

I don’t know about you, but I am so grateful to Jesus for the countless times He’s worked against me for my good!

He stops the bleed and gives new life – today, tomorrow, and forever.

Until next time, Grace and Glory!