“‘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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
What is pressure?
- the use of persuasion, influence, or intimidation to make someone do something.
- the feeling of stressful urgency caused by the necessity of doing or achieving something, especially with limited time.
We can all add our stories here and say moments of where we have felt the most pressure by others, the world, and most of all ourselves. We act all surprised when we feel anxious, stressed, and trying to do all things, and be all things to all people, and then you see things falling apart and you say, “there’s too much pressure.”
Let’s go the word of God.
“Let your reasonableness (gentleness) be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:5-9
What does this verse have to do with grace under pressure. Everything. sometimes I think we forget why God left us His word. He left us His word for the good times, for the hard times, for the confusing times, for the decisions times, for the times of grieving, times of breaks, times of not sure how to move forward; we have everything we need to be able to live in such a way that our character shows grace and gentleness no matter the circumstance. That our character says unfazed despite being wronged, accused, assumed of, and still is loving, gentle and gracious towards to other party. Y’all in our own strength we cannot be that person. How many times have you tried to not let our emotions real, but some part of us says, you are allowed to give them the cold shoulder, not speak to them, or just run away. In the midst of the pressure of the world telling us to not turn the other cheek but to hit back, we are called to be the opposite, counter cultural, gracious instead of vicious. Why should we let our reasonableness be known to everyone, that they may see and know God because the Lord is at hand. He is on route. This verse is calling us out of our hurts, fears, the knowing pressures of this world to be all that, and to step out on mission to make heaven crowded.
Second reason or third of why this verse has everything to do with grace under pressure because in the midst of all we experience He calls us to show the upmost trust and dependence on Him. He calls us to not be anxious about anything but pray about everything. Is prayer our go to when anxiety is screaming to us? Are we coming to the Lord with thanksgiving and supplication? We know when we are when everything in us is unfazed and all we do is show the opposite of what we should be acting as.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
How am I and how are you being a light here in this dark world that will only get darker as Jesus arrival comes sooner?
You don’t have to fear asking the Lord? He desires us to come to him and tell him where we truly are because it is in those moments where our relationship with him goes deeper, and as we grow deeper in relationship with Him, we keep communing with Him are roots grow deeper, our trust in him strengthens, our identity in him is more secure that nothing and no one can do can make us flinch into insecurity, fear or anxiety, trying to prove ourselves worthy. There’s no way to glorify God when we are doing the opposite of what he calls us to walk in.
His peace. His peace. His peace. “Which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Surpasses: exceed; be greater than. above, to pass.
There is nothing and no one that can outdo the peace God has for us to experience. When we do experience His peace there is nothing that can keep us from believing and trusting him. As soon as we look down and around and not up to him we will feel all the things and in that weakness we will follow our feelings and have regrettable decisions. We can steer clear from the by just fixing our gaze on Him, the author and finisher of our Faith, the one who created and formed us and has a plan and purpose for us and has given us gifts to walk in to be a megaphone wherever He leads us.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5:16,22-26
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Isaiah 26:3-4
the last few verses in Philippians 4:5-9 says, to think about anything that is praise worthy, which we all know is Christ alone, the moment we stop thinking about Christ is the moment where peace slips away, but thanks be to God that we are able to quickly recognize by the Holy Spirit if we listen, that His grace and peace are right next to us we just have to stretch out our hand too Jesus and know that he will give to those who believe by faith.
So to end, our verse of the day, “‘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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Thanks be to God, that we have His grace. We don’t have to live stressful, anxious, pressured lives. It isn’t much fun or life giving to live in a tension of trying to be all things and do all things to be seen in a way that exalts you. We’ve seen the stories of people that just have given up their lives because they tried to do everything, be everything and go everywhere and have everything and it still didn’t bring them the perfect peace they were searching for.
Run toward His Grace. Walk in the rhythm of grace He has for you, not for someone else because you are not someone else, you are who God formed you to be for His glory.
His power can rest on you. Can you imagine what that feels like? I think about this last verse, ‘By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:2-3) When we rest in his power in us, leading us to walk with Him and be on mission to make disciples of all, there is no trying to exalt ourselves because we know it is not about us, and to be and do and go wherever he sends us with the resources he gives us that he may be the most glorified! THAT IS IT. We complicate this life with Christ. When we trust Him and allow Him to leads there is nothing to be confused, stressed or pressured about we can sit with him and go in His rest to ignite all the spaces with His love.
“Grace sustains when strength fades.”
look it up Isaiah 40:31
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