PUSH not push

In life it is so easy to want to push and push and push for what you believe, to convince people of your views, to drive yourself forward, to run the extra mile.

But let us never do it based on self effort or for self glory.

It is easy to fall into the trap of DIY-ing. Self help books are all over the place. The government believes in self meritocracy. The world revolves around doing and parents always ask their kids to work hard. It is like "DO OR ELSE.." The world's mantra is DO DO DO DO DO. It's question is always - what are YOU doing?

As a working mum, I find it easy to be sucked into the push and pull of the world... torn apart by its ideals and rules and regulations and views and etc etc etc (I love "The King & I"!)

Let's take a deep breath and remember some of the stuff what Jesus would like for us to keep in mind with each step we take -

• Let go and let Him take care of it
• Remember - we are in this world but NOT of this world
• Do not be afraid
• Perfect love casts off all anxiety
• To not challenge ourselves by the world's standard but by obeying the Holy Spirit's promptings and all it tries to teach us
• To not have a change of mind but a change of heart (not under law but under grace)
  
• To take on His yoke instead of the world's yoke because the former is easy but the latter burdens
• To remember that God's blessings bring with it no sorrows
• To remember that He is the same yesterday, today and forever
• To pray when we are afraid (like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane)

The last point might cause some raised eyebrows - "What? Jesus was afraid?"

Was Jesus ever afraid? Did Jesus ever worry? Yes he did. And what did he do when he had worries and how did he cope? On two occasions in the Gospel we see Jesus afraid. On each of the two occasions he prayed to his Father and in prayer he got the strength to continue and face the difficult situation. In Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion he prayed to his Father to let the cup pass him by. His prayer for that was answered in a different way to that expected (just like what happens to us in life) - His prayer was answered because he got the strength to face his passion, "Not my will, but yours be done." On another occasion, also thinking of his passion, Jesus says, "Now my soul is troubled." (John 12:27) Imagine Jesus saying "Now my soul is troubled." It is perhaps a bit of a shock but on this occasion also Jesus prayed to his Father and recovered his strength during prayer. - T.Lane

I guess it always helps me to know that Jesus came to understand our fears and anxieties as well and yet showed us the perfect example to face up to them - Pray.

Pray
Until
Something
Happens

That is the way we should PUSH not by our might, not by our strength or power but by His Spirit (mentioned in Zech 4:6)

And remember His promise to us -

My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. - 2 Cor 12:9

God is bigger than our problems and we need to learn to have a good opinion of Him and to see the truth instead of the fact.

When we see our problem as bigger, we don't release God's grace into the situation and He can't do anything if your will is to not let go so He can take care of it.

So in the face of challenges, take a deep breath and PUSH along with HIM... stop pushing with your own stubborn pride or might.

So whilst the world questions "what are we doing?" ... we should ask ourselves "What are we letting go and letting God do for us?"

Are we trusting God or trusting our efforts?

Are we having faith in God's faithfulness or having faith in our faithfulness? (Coz God is ALWAYS faithful but we are not constant like He is... Whether we depend on His faithfulness instead of our faithfulness is quite a big difference - humility and worship vs pride and ego; His will vs our will...)

The bible reminds us -

Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain who build it - Psalm 127:1

David praised God in the storms and God raised Him up out of the various trying circumstances
he experienced. He didn't see Goliath, his focus was not on Goliath's size - He saw God and he saw God bigger and mightier than one puny giant.

Let's live like we are on the winning team instead of complaining and murmuring like He hasn't already done it for us. Let's follow David's example of declaring victory not based on what he was seeing before him, but based on what he knew - that our God is an awesome God!

Christ said on the cross "IT IS FINISHED." - our problems though there are many have been won on the cross... the battle is a done deal in Christ... yet so many of us struggle to understand that and to lead victorious lives because we believe it is not finished, we still must do something to achieve that victory.

So lets PUSH - praying or praising until something happens - and even then not stopping to pray, to praise or to worship because WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS IN CHRIST JESUS! =)