Pressure: Paying attention to the hand of God in my life. John 16:33. Jesus said: "These things I have spoken to you, that you might have peace. In the world, you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
Many of you read my article of this past year's battle with terminal lung cancer, now turning into recovery and prevention from reoccurrence. Maybe you thought, as I often heard, "Christina is so strong." Wrong. The only thing strong about me is my morning coffee. To say we have experienced extreme pressure in this past year is no exaggeration. But to say we saw the intervening hand of God in every instance would not be stating things too strongly either.
Jesus doesn't dissect His speech, making it more palatable for His hearers. He tells us we will have trial, trouble, and rough times. But He presents that with the gift of personal peace, and His ultimate Presence, overcoming what this life would thrust at us. The only difference between a strong believer and a weak one is; the strong one knows how weak he or she is and deliberately leans hard upon Jesus.
The weak one mourns his weakness, quits on God and fails to see Gods' pressure as His love for him or her.
You turned 16, got your driver's ed. and finally your license. Now you're behind the wheel of a potential joy ride or death threat, depending on how well you do. You turn the key in the ignition. The pressure is on. Trying to remember your training, you pull out of the driveway, wave to your worried parents, and take off slowly down the street. We've all been there. Now most of us drive like frustrated Indy 500 entrants, even around town.
Faith in God as He applies pressure during our trials is just like that. The pressure is the challenge to our faith in Him and our willingness or lack thereof to invite Him to take over. When we say "It's all yours Lord," the peace comes. We're being trained and learning from it. Later, in the aftermath, we realize the pressure was Him trying to train and refine as we struggled to "Do it ourselves." Hopefully we learned for the next time, for there will be one. But so will there be Jesus, peace, and His overcoming power in the midst, no matter what the earthly outcome appears to be. He said so. Drive on.
Like yourselves, I am not a big advocate of pressure. But without it a hot air balloon won't rise, a tea kettle won't whistle, and steel cannot be made. So....here's the next article. Have some tea, watch a balloon rise and thank God for the strength of the steel the next time you cross a bridge. God bless,
Next Time: Course Correction
(Christina Ferris of Somerset is part of Evangelical Christian Church Ministries, an organization committed to spreading the Gospel through the teaching and preaching of the Word of God. ECCM is an impartial group, caring only for the saving and nurturing of souls in Christ Jesus. She can be reached at: revcmf@comcast.net.)
Relevant Christianity: Pressure
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