Grace under Pressure

Have you ever used a coffee press? It is by far one of my favorite ways to make coffee. I wont go into all the details, but one that i want to focus on is the pressing part. Like all coffee is made it takes water...and coffee. The coffee grounds and the water are added together, now if they were never separated i don't know how good the coffee would be, not very good at all cause i have tried. The thing is they are not separated immediately, they have to sit together before anything can come out of it-and then when the separation takes place it takes place under pressure. Then when the process is over, you have one of the most amazing things God has ever made!

I have been studying grace lately. It is crazy to me how many different thoughts there are about it and how many misconceptions about it. My theory, along with any other Bible believer is that thoughts are worthless unless they are tied to scripture and proven through Gods word in context.

Have you experienced grace? The very fact that i was born, and am still alive is a big enough sign to me i have experienced grace along with the millions of other examples i could use. So if you are reading this, i am sure u have experienced grace by some means. Hebrews 13:25 "May Gods grace be with you ALL". So we have established we ALL have grace in our lives. Now we all have gifts, and the word says they are given through grace. Romans 12:6 "In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well" . Think about this, Gods gift to the world was Jesus Christ, and it was only by grace that Jesus endured what he went through. Ephesians 1:7 "He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins." The ultimate gift was given through Jesus(salvation), but the full benefits of the gift was not established until Jesus endured the cross. So the gift was given through grace, but the gift was not fully utilized until he endured the cross.(which took grace) I know for a fact this was not easy for Jesus, the fact that he sweated blood praying prayers like Mark 14:36 "Father, please take this cup of suffering away from me. yet i want your will to be done, not mine." This shows me that it took the strength of the father given by grace.

Do you want your gifts to be fully utilized? No matter what you have them, but i am convinced they are never gonna be completely utilized until they have undergone "Grace under Pressure". Its like the coffee press, i could eat the coffee grounds and get something out of it, some energy, maybe a awkward taste and probably not much more. But when mixed with water and put under pressure, something amazing comes out of it. If God is mixing you up right now, don't expect him to pull you out right away, expect for some pressure that's gonna happen. Its in these seasons of mixing and pressure that the greatest gifts are created, world changing gifts. God is gonna give you grace to get through it, 2 Corinthians 12:9 "my grace is all you need."

Rooftop Coffee

Have you ever been to a rooftop restaurant? I went to this really cool one in Hollywood one time, I ate a meal they charged way to much for, drank a cup of coffee out of a glass that looked like my sisters old tea party glasses and had some desert that still to this day have no idea what it was.(It was good though) To get to this place i had to take an average escalator, then go across a balcony and then go up this extravagant staircase. There was signs the whole way letting me know where i was going and eventually i got there. I believed in my heart there was a restaurant up there, my friend had told me about it, there was signs and i had even heard other people talk about it.

Have you read the story in Mark 2 about the 4 men with the paralyzed man on the mat? I was thinking about these guys relating it back to my adventure in rich people land. These guys walk to a house hoping to see this man healed and see a crowd of thousands...The first thing that probably filled there minds(because of human nature) was doubt, "oh well lets come back tomorrow" they thought. But they got passed it, the 1st huge step they took i'm convinced was getting above the crowd. They shimmed up a drain pipe, carefully walked across this mud roof and got to the place where they knew Jesus would be under them. There was a roof between them now, but these guys saw something the average Christian doesn't see, they saw an opportunity to Jesus and NOT an obstacle. They knew it would take work but they were determined that this was the way to Jesus. As christians we cant see obstacles, we have to see opportunitys to Jesus, that is how we are going to expand our faith.

These men finally had breakthrough, they could see Jesus clearly and now they just had to get onto his level. Which is sometimes so hard for us because we are always on our high horse and want to do things our way. What does Jesus do? He throws these guys a curveball, they came for healing but he forgives his sins instead. Jesus does things his way, before he can heal you physically he has to heal you spiritually. He is our REDEEMER(thank you Lord) Through all of the mockery of the pharisees he held fast, he waited it out with faith and found himself healed because of it. When we hope for healing in the natural and dont see it, we need to get past our flesh and go deeper than that, how is God trying to heal me spiritually and not try to picture how he is going to do it. He does things his way not ours!

There is so much more to this story, you would be reading for days so i will just end with this. These four men didnt have faith because they were on top of a roof, they had faith so they got on to the roof. It was there faith that got them above the crowd and into a spot of OPPORTUNITY. It doesnt mean that our opportunitys wont be hard, getting above the crowd might be hard, but that is when our faith is going to grow. Sometimes we will find ourselves in great spots and postitions, but our faith cant be only based on where we are, it has to be based on where we are going. Its your faith that is going to position you, if you let your position determine your faith, your faith is going to be determined by your circumstances.

"My Grace is sufficient"

So it has been awhile since i have written anything for you guys, for personal reasons i went 24 days without coffee or my computer. During this time i had some great time with God, along with some great headaches! As i laugh at myself.

A few verses that have stuck out to me through the whole month of January were 2 Corinthians 12:7-10(dust off that old bible and read it). This is the passage were Paul is given a thorn in his flesh. Not "given" by God, but "allowed" by God. Was this an actually thorn in his foot? probably not or he would have just pulled it out.(me trying to be funny) I have reason to believe it could be a number of things. 1. Sexual temptation-He talks about the "adulteress" first hand, and in Romans 7:18-19 he kinda goes off and asks to be delivered from the forbidden waters. 2. maybe opposition-others were always questioning his apostleship(2 cor. 12:12), didn't like his message of grace(Gal. 1:7) Maybe the thorn was others trying to break Paul? 3. Physical thorn-Have u seen when Paul writes ,"look what big letters i have written in"?(Gal. 6:11)Maybe Paul never fully recovered his eye sight when he was blinded on the road to Damascus. In Gal. 4:15 Paul says "you would have taken out your eyes and given them to me if possible". Paul traveled and wrote letters, think about what a thorn it would be to be partly blinded? There is still more but to save time we will just keep going.

So this last month i really wanted coffee, but i promised God and myself i was gonna restrain. So i prayed! "God, you know i want/need it". My head was hurting, i was tired and i couldnt think very well, then i decided to get out of bed for the first day:) I knew i didnt want it,I did, but i wasnt gonna cave to my fleshly desires. I got into this conversation with God. "you know my heart, you know why i am doing this, why wont you stop it?" And he brought me to 2 Cor. 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you"! I got this revelation, he isnt gonna get rid of our fleshly desires to experience his glory. He is gonna make us "pick up our cross and die daily" to get past our flesh and rely on his grace, which is sufficient.

Paul wrote 2/3rds of the New testement, he was the ultimate apostle, but still God didnt take away his thorn. Is it because God isnt just? Absolutely not, its because God is that good of a father. He hasnt given us a handicap, he has given us grace.

This week i want you to think about what you are struggling with. Then i want you to think about his grace. You cant do it on your own, but he has given you the strength to overcome the impossible. When your flesh starts kicking in, dont try to get rid of it, admit it, "dont claim it but name it'-Pastor Kriste Wilde. Paul states in 2 cor 12:10 "thats why i take pleasure in my weakness....For when i am weak, then i am strong". Gods strength is shown through mans admitted weakness, and his grace can only be a experienced when we are faced with the "humanly" impossible. For we know, Luke 1:37 "For nothing is impossible with God".