What do you do when your clothes are full of wrinkles? You press them with an iron. The steady pressure of the iron, along with some heat, turns those wrinkled clothes into attractive outfits. But without the pressing, they stay wrinkled.
Let's take a look at the word press. It means "to exert pressure on something." Sometimes we need to apply a push to something, or squeeze something, to make things happen. Lemons have to be "pressed" to make lemonade. A certain amount of "press" is needed to print a newspapater. Pressing can be good.
Let's apply this to your spiritual life...
God has a plan for you - a destiny He sees from beginning to end. Jeremiah 29:11 says, 'For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' (NIV)
God's plans are always good, but sometimes we are our own worst enemy... We let things trip us up, sidetrack us, and hold us back from God's best. And oftentimes, our emotions are the culprit. We allow anger, resentment, guilt, shame, jealousy and other toxic emotions to keep God's best out of reach.
If you want to grow and progress as a Christian, you need to be willing to press in and confront negative emotions like anger and resentment. Then, you need to press on past it and keep growing or you will never have victory in your life. Let's take a closer look.
PRESSING PAST THE PAIN OF FEELINGS
I've been teaching a lot lately on emotions because God has given me some great insights on this subject. I sued to be one of the many who allowed their emotions to control them. That is definitely not the best way to live your life. Yes, feelings are real. They serve a purpose. But they don't need to be in control.
You need to press past your feelings.
How do you do that? Here's a good place to start: Stop blaming everyone else and take responsibility and ownership of your own feelings and attitudes.
I still marvel at how God has changed my attitudes and my desires and how He's broken a lot of the selfishness off of my life. It was painful and difficult. But I'm glad I pressed in to my relationship with Him and press on through the pain.
If I had chosen instead to not press in to God's strength and press on past those selfish attitudes, I would not be where I am today. You have to pay a price to reach God's perfect will for your life. Do you want God's best? Then make a decision to press past your negative feelings.
As you move toward victory, you will likely come to a place of pain. When you do, you'll either run back where you came from or you'll PRESS THROUGH that pain and find the victory!
PRESSING PAST GUILT AND SHAME
These two feelings can prevent you from reaching the kind of life Christ died for you to have... but only if you don't press on through them with the help of Christ. Here's how to get started...
Before I overcame guilt and shame, learned the nature of it and learned how to stand against it on a daily basis, I could not find happiness. See, you cannot enjoy your life if deep down on the inside you're ashamed of who you are.
Because of the abuse I went through I had a root of shame deep on inside of me. This shame produced horrific guilt in my life every time I did not perform perfectly. It seemed I could not do anything for God that amounted to anything. I lived like this until I really learned who I am in Christ.
I don't want to talk today about what you did, or what happened in your past; I want to talk about who you are in Christ. The Bible tells us that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (see 2 Corinthians 5:17) When we are born again, God puts His Spirit in us. He gives us a brand- new heart, a brand - new beginning, and we have to see ourselves in the light of who God says we are, not who the world says we are.
Truth is greater than feelings, but oftentimes we believe our feelings more than we believe the Word. "But I feel..." I'm not saying we're supposed to feel glad when we make mistakes; We should be sorry for our mistakes; we should repent. We might even have a short season of grieving over what we've done wrong, but we're not supposed to hate ourselves, reject ourselves, feel guilty for days and weeks on end and feel ashamed. We're supposed to receive the forgiveness that God offers us and we're supposed to press on.
PRESSING PAST ANGER AND UNFORGIVENESS
Do you ever get mad? Of course, we all do. But if you're not careful, you can let anger and unforgiveness create problems in your life. Anger not dealt with properly leads to unforgiveness. And unforgiveness leads to bitterness and resentment - which leads to unfulfilled dreams.
The Bible is very explicit about the fact that when we get mad, we are not to stay angry and it fully explains the need for every believer to keep their heart completely cleansed of offense and unforgiveness.
You would be amazed how many people sincerely love God and are desperately looking for a miracle in their life, yet , they are angry at someone. And it may not be something that recently happened - it may be something that happened a long time ago.
Sound familiar? Are you telling yourself, I've tried to get over it and I just can't. Yes, you can. God does not tell us to do things that are impossible for us to do. If the Lord said: "Forgive", then we can forgive. If He said: "Don't be offended," then there is a way for us to press on and not be offended.
God has given us His power, or grace, to be good to people - even to people who aren't being good to us. God has given us the power to pray for our enemies. He has given us the ability to NOT be mad at people who have hurt us and attacked us. God has given us the ability to be able to say: God forgive them because they don't know what they're doing. And you know what? That is the truth. So many times people don't know what they're doing. They're just reacting out of their own hurt and pain. Remembering this will help you press on past anger and unforgiveness..
PRESS IN TO A NEW BEGINNING
No matter which negative emotion you face - anger, unforgiveness, guilt, shame - ask God to help you press past it.
Only people who press turn out to be the ones who do anything for God. Paul said,... I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me (Philippians 3:12 NIV). Anyone who wants victory has to press past their feelings. Not just once or twice or every once in awhile, but everyday. If you don't you'll just stay stuck where you are.
The fact is, every controlling emotion you press through is a victory in your life. Think about it - before you press in to those controlling emotions, they're still in front of you, blocking God's best. But once you press in and press on past them, you can look at them in the rearview mirror and laugh at them.
Go for it! Ask God to help you press in and press on past those controlling emotions and propel you toward His best future for you!
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from 'Enjoying Everyday Life', a Joyce Meyer Ministries (JMM) magazine December / January 2011 issue
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