What pressures are assailing you? Has wear and tear due to trials been causing distinct emotional fatigue and cracks? Difficulties due to your finances, marital issues, kids, covid19, ministry dead ends, etc...?
Maybe you have been wondering, ‘How can this be happening to me?’ Why me? More sleep, exercise, right diet do profit. However, things maybe outside our immediate control.
We must understand God allows pressure tests. They bring us to a higher place. Importantly, we must learn to walk crack-free by applying our authority in the new man in Christ.
A crack-free life is a witness for Christ.
We take note that the disciples were astonished by Jesus’ witness. He was undaunted by storm-pressures in Mark chapter 4.
In 2 Kings chapters 6 & 7 we read about Israel under siege. A severe famine resulted. The situation became so dire some people even resorted to cannibalism to survive. But Elisha saw possibility despite pressure. No cracks appeared due to any fatigue unlike others.
Importantly, what pressures appear to be wearing you down now?
God’s divine blueprint for advancing crack-free
God was testing his king and cracks were appearing everywhere. What’s the lesson?
The king saw the dire situation, watching helplessly as women ate each other’s sons! He hid his sack cloth under his robe. He didn’t cry out to God publicly. He wasn’t sincere. He bottled things up.
He blamed Elisha the prophet for everything and wanted to kill him. He became full of evil suspicions and mistrust. He felt abandoned by God and became fatalistic. The king said in 2 Kings, chapter 6, verse 33, “The disaster is from the Lord, why wait for the Lord any longer.”
This says a lot about his heart. Cracks appeared. Extreme pressures revealed his extreme self-reliance. He was blind to the fact he needed God more than ever. The purpose of the test was God-reliance to showcase God’s glory.
Practically, how can we apply God’s divine blueprint to pass our pressure test?
1. Stop feeding our emotional dump master.
We need to air out ‘garbage feelings’ wisely. This is so we don’t lose all our friends or overwhelm our spouse! Talk to God sincerely about what is going on to find grace. Seek him about what he wants us to learn. Break the downward spiral by finding hope in God afresh. No matter how you feel, he’s on your side!
2. Careful not to blame shift.
No matter how hard, and despite others being at fault, don’t blame shift! What is our contribution? By blaming others, we negate our own repentance. If we turn to God, his superior peace can arrest the storm. We are tested like the disciples of Jesus. The disciples blamed Jesus as their boat began to sink, saying “Don’t you care?” He said, “You calm the storm!”
3. God never sees a dead end, only a highway leading forward.
The kingdom of God is not limited. “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.” One meaning of shalom or peace is wholeness. God’s healing and divine order helps us go from the cracks to crack free.
I have seen people delivered from extreme panic attacks and mental torment. They took practical steps forward as they warred according to the prophetic words on their life. (See 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 18). When they minister in God’s presence today, freedom and deliverance break out powerfully!
We can learn from Elisha who releases the superior authority from heaven.
Pressures? Press into God’s secret counsel
The word of the Lord came to Elisha, “By this time tomorrow, the famine will lift.” Wow, no more famine, the economy can get better by the morning. Elisha tapped into kingdom authority. The faithless king’s hand would “see it but not partake in it.”
Elisha’s prophecy was bang on. What was his secret?
Elisha knew God’s heart is not for our defeat and devastation. He sought God and knew the father’s secret counsel. He prophesied it and the famine lifted!
Similarly, Jesus knew the father’s will to ‘cross over the lake.’ He was authorised to trump the storm with heaven’s peace. A legion of demons was no match.
What is your special assignment today?
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. The glory of kings is to search it out.” Where does God want you, what is his assignment? The secret things of the kingdom of God belong to his children. Every child loves playing hide and seek!
As we declare God’s words of the kingdom his peace will carry us forward. And it opens the door to God’s unexpected intervention. Interestingly, in this story in 2 Kings chapter 7, the lepers arise as a game-changer. They realised that if they stayed where they are they would die. They took a risk and went to enemy camp.
Pressures give way to prospects
The lepers discovered God had won the battle for them all. This is a type of the new covenant. God has already won our battle too. We too must learn to take back what the enemy has taken.
The lepers gathered the plunder and determined to spread the good news of God’s victory! Align to the great commission (Matthew Chapter 28) to share the gospel of the kingdom to have authority. And as we ‘wait’ on God we will receive fresh power for our assignment. Doors will open up despite Covid hindrances or anything else.
And be blessed. Where has the pressure test has revealed the deepest cracks in your life? That is where in the new man we are going to minister the greatest victories in other’s lives to calm their storm.