Have you ever noticed when pressure is applied to a wounded or painful area, it stops it? When you're in pain perhaps in your back, your stomach maybe your leg, wouldn't you grab it and apply pressure? How about a headache? Have you ever applied pressure to your temples and your headache began to slowly cease tension? Think of about someone who was bleeding out. What do paramedics usually do?
Apply pressure.
Pressure may not be as bad as you think. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. So, we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you."
Wow, right?
Paul has felt the way we felt! Not only pressured (tribulation), but perplexed (to be at a loss, to make complicated and difficult to be understood), hunted down, knocked down. I mean, I know I'm not the only one here who has at the least experienced one of these oppositions. I've used the phrases, "it's just one of those days," or "one bad thing happened then a domino effect came after." It seems like "just one of those days" tend to happen a lot and you can't run from it. I've felt this agonizing pain, and no it isn't easy to get through at times, but like Paul has said, in other words, we may face these pressuring things, but it cannot prevail.
No matter what, pressure is applied for a reason and in all seasons.
I remember when I messed up my hand one morning before going to school. I never liked getting dressed up for school. I mean, c'mon, it was high school. You were at the least trying to survive let alone dress fancy for school.
If you were one who liked to dress up, brush your hair for 30 minutes, curl your hair that would take up to 30-40 minutes, spend an hour to do make up, or anything required getting ready for more than 10 minutes, you were crazy to me! The only time I dressed up was when my group wanted to match, which we did a lot. My morning routine: shower in two minutes, get dressed in two minutes, eat for three minutes and then take the last three minutes to quickly finish homework that was meant to be done a week ago.
Don't judge me. I know I have some fellow procrastinators out there ;)
One day before school, I was extremely exhausted while walking down the stairs with slippers I would wear to school all the time. About mid-way of 13 stairs, I slipped and slid down the stairs. Luckily, my backpack saved my back from slamming and sliding down the stairs, but my hand immediately blew up like a balloon and was really red. We believe I was trying to stop myself from sliding down the stairs. I cried because, you know, I was a strong woman who knew how to take pain like a champ, so I went to school. (Incase you missed that. I was being sarcastic about me being strong. No, I cried most of that day in pain like a baby.) We had blue and gold days which meant our eight classes were split up on those days. For example, we'd have blue days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday's and gold days were on Tuesday and Thursday. Then it would switch the next week with blue days having two days and gold days with three days, and so on. Well of course the day I fell down the stairs happened to be a gold day, which involved having to go to my fourth period class, Raquet sports. Basically, we'd practiced and played any sport that had a net mid center of the gym. Well, this day we happened to play volleyball. By the way, my dominant hand is my right hand which is also the hand I messed up that morning. I happened to be the lucky one who got serve first for my team. My serves were pitiful and embarrassing considering my hand was the size of Mickey Mouse's white gloved paws. Coach Howard, the teacher of this class, questioned my serves and said I could do better than that. I didn't tell anyone, other than my mom, because I wanted to prove I was strong and to be like everyone else who was succeeding better than me that day.
It was a rough day.
To make a long story short. I was in excruciating pain. I went to the doctors and specialists, and no one could figure out what was wrong with my hand. At church, my mom would ask me for months to go to the altar and pray for healing on my hand. I said no, God wouldn't want to heal or hear from me. I wasn't realizing I was unconsciously not wanting to go to the altar because God was poking at the sin in my life. For a while I was hearing my name twice during altar call. It was a whisper, so soft, but moving. I didn't think anything of it. I thought it was my cousin a few times messing with me, but it wasn't her. It wasn't my family or anyone sitting around me. The pastor of our youth, at the time came back from camp with the youth group. He said on August 19th, 2022, "You hear God calling your name and you know you need to come down." And yes, this was during altar call. I started tearing up and wanted to cry. I had no idea what was happening to me. When we went to stand up and people were going down to the altar, I turned to my mom and asked if she would go with me. Her face expressed shock and then a nod. As we walked down the aisle, I kept my head down, not wanting anyone to look at me because I had tears silently falling. I walked straight to the maroon carpeted altar, fell to my knees and immediately sobbed.
I couldn't stop. I couldn't control it. I couldn't even say the sinner's prayer. I just....cried. It was as if I cried my repentance to God.
I didn't know exactly what I was crying about but I felt something in my heart. This tug. A pull I couldn't pull away from. A deep indescribable feeling. When I got up from the altar I felt relief, I felt changed, I felt lighter. I didn't feel that pressure of needing to please friends or anyone of the world anymore!
Three days later, on Wednesday night at church, one of our pastors who is known for praying for people and seeing healing miracles happen, not saying no other pastor can, but he is known for this gift of healing by the Holy Spirit. Well, that night our founding father pastor of the church specifically called for healing during the altar call. My mom looked at me, and I said let's go.
I was nervous, scared and didn't know what to expect, but I felt the same draw, that tug to go down. We were praying at the altar with other fellow members of the church and pastors. The pastor I mentioned about praying for miraculous healings was passing us until my mom stopped him. She explained the situation and he said let's pray.
If you don't believe in miracles then I suggest you pray for God to open your eyes, to help you believe, because I'm telling you, God is a miracle worker! When he laid both his hands around my cast and began praying, I immediately felt warmth and tingling in my hand. My eyes stayed closed, yet my mom's eyes were open, I'm assuming wanting to see a miracle happen. My mom said she saw the swelling go down before her eyes. When he was done praying, he asked me, "How does it feel?" I'm expecting to still feel pain and see swelling, but I didn't. I told him I could move my hand without pain! He said take off the cast! (It was this odd black velcro cast. Before this cast, I had a half hard cast on that didn't help anything either.)
We took off the cast, and there was a little to no swelling and I could move my hand! Oh, praise God! All glory to God! Thank you Jesus! My pastor pointed my hand out to the congregation and said God still does miracles! Hallelujah!
Yes, He does.
So back to my point after that wonderful praise moment, some pressure isn't bad. I felt the pressure of pain in my hand, pressure from friends to do things that weren't pleasing to God, pressure from my coach who wanted me to keep hitting that volleyball even though I was hurting.
But you know what? Through pressure I gain strength.
2 Corinthians 12:10 says, "For when I am weak, then I am strong."
One person in the bible I think we can learn from about pressure, other than Paul, is David. From the minute he was called and anointed to be king to the point of death, David was very familiar with pressure. He felt the anxious pressure to become the next king. Assuming, he may have felt a little nervous pressure of standing in front of a giant who was defiling his God. He felt the pressure of Saul's deathly threats to him. Throughout half or more of Psalms, David fought against pressure, especially from His enemies, but all in all, when David felt extremely pressured, He cried out to God!
Look at Psalms 118:5-6 says, "Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
I love how throughout Psalms, and even this scripture alone, shows us that even though David felt the pressures of life, he knew who to run to! He even says, "what can man do to me?"
Let no one or anything pressure you to do anything that is against God! He alone is God. His presence is like a rushing of a mighty wind, like a river that has overflowed! Too powerful for pressure to stop Him and what He is doing in your life. But when pressure is applied, run to God like David did! Like I said, there is a reason.
When I say apply pressure, I'm not talking about allowing the world to pressure you. No. I'm saying not all pressure that is applied will harm you. "What was meant for evil, God will turn it for good (Gen. 50:20)." "And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them (Rm. 8:28)."
Take any pressure to God. Ask Him "Will you remove this pressure or are you going to use this pressure?" Either way, God's plans are at work right now.
Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I understand that through the pressures of life, diamonds are created. Precious jewels like wisdom, knowledge, understanding and insight are developed. Lead me by your Spirit when I face pressure. Help me not to run from it, but to allow myself to be purified in the fire. Use these pressures in my life to bring you honor and glory. I thank you Jesus for showing me how to turn pressure into purpose.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
Here are more scriptures on Pressure:
James 1:12 "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him."
Proverbs 24:10 "If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small."
1 Peter 1:6-7 "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
So sorry peeps that I didn't write a blog post last week. I was attending my churches annual International Conference. I also realized that I am posting this on Saturday, but I will be trying to get back on schedule and posting on Fridays again! Thanks for reading! I hope you receive God's Word through this blog and that it'll touch you.
See ya next week!
