at the end of every few months, we have debriefs as a whole squad. we get together and stay in comfortable lodging (usually hostels), have our mentors and coaches and squad leaders pour into us, we worship together, and just relax in order to be rested to go out and do the Lord’s work some more.
at our last one, i was asked by our squad leaders to teach a breakout session on pressing in. i have been asked to share my teaching on my blog so here is a rough outline of what was spoken on. enjoy and feel free to reach out and ask any questions 🙂
the funny thing about me being asked to talk on pressing in, is that in vital times of my life where God was wanting me to turn to Him and press in, i deliberately chose NOT to do that. every time that my brother was placed in a new psychiatric facility, when i found my brother after he had attempted suicide, when my dad – my best friend – unexpectedly passed away, the list goes on.
there are so many times when i should have chosen to press in, but i walked away; i turned my back on the one thing that could bring peace and healing to any situation.
pressing in is turning to God.
TURNING TO GOD. what is this? to me, it is delighting in the choice to run to God and not making it a chore; finding freedom in turning to Him.
i’m a visual person, so i needed a visual of what turning to God actually looked like. here’s what the Lord gave me:
turning to God feels like you are grabbing your soul and are actually turning it away from reaching toward earthly ways of quenching your thirsty desire. rather than reaching and striving, it feels like you are turning and resting.
for me, what this ultimately boils down to is TRUST. trusting that He will provide, that He is good, that His ways are higher, and that His promises are true.
for so long, i didn’t trust God. time and time again I felt let down by Him because my life would be wonderful, i would be content with how things were going, and then it would all come crashing down.
no matter what your crashing point is – an abuse you’ve dealt with for years, a death or illness in the family, or a simple “no” from God – being “let down”, or redirectioned, by God is never a fun path to walk down. but He is ALWAYS on the other side of it.
the turning point in my life is when i decided i had to trust God. i had no other choice. this is just how life works – ups and downs, hills and valleys – but there has to be a way to find joy and content in all of it. that way is Jesus. Jesus gives us something to praise through the good times and the hard. He is constant in these times. no matter what life is throwing at us, Jesus has still saved us and God is still good. Plain and simple. our life circumstances don’t change these truths.
Vulnerability point: this past month has been extremely difficult. i have faced days where i question God and his goodness. i began the month questioning why i was even on the race, wondering what the point of all of this is, if it is for any good after all? what’s the point in short term missions? my heart is for long term relationships, long term change and sustainability, what am i doing here?? i’ve seen and felt things in this country that have made me ask God some of the hardest WHY questions. sometimes (most of the time), God makes no sense. why would you send me all the way to Cambodia with a passion for their people and then have my ministry be emptying a pool with freaking 5 gallon buckets??? why would a loving, gracious, merciful father allow a country to brutally murder a quarter of its own population?
amongst all of the questioning and whys, the only time i found peace this month is when i would seek Him, His face, His glory, His truths.
Isaiah 55:3 says “Pay attention and come to me; listen, so that you will live.”
Isaiah 55:9-11 says “For as the heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”
actively choosing to press in to Jesus will never return void.
Isaiah 55:12-13: “You will indeed go out with joy and be peacefully guided; the mountains and the hills will break into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush, a cypress will come up, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up; this will stand as a monument for the Lord, and everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.”
a brier is a thorny bush. a myrtle is a big beautiful tree with vibrant flowers blossoming from it. these represent our futures. deciding not to press in to the Lord will produce a brier of your life: thorns, empty branches with no fruit, a hardened outside that is not easy or fun to look at. deciding to press in to the Lord and run to Him in every aspect of your life will be like a myrtle: big, beautiful, bountiful fruit blossoming in all directions and ways, fruits produced that fill every branch.
do you want your future to be represented by a thorny bush or a bountiful tree with flowers blooming off of every branch?
the thing that hit me about this was that these representations were both plants. i realized that plants go through seasons, just as humans do. what happens to plants in the winter? they look like they die, people might say that they are dying or dead. but on the inside, they are soaking up nutrients and resources in their roots in order to create a blossoming in the spring time. and when the spring comes around, there are immense fruits produced, some only explainable by the grace of God.
this month was a winter season for me. i seemed and even felt dead on the inside. i wasn’t necessarily a blooming, blossoming tree, but i was still pressing in and finding truths and fruits. i wasn’t dead on the inside, i was seeking nutrients and soaking up the Lord in order to produce even more bountiful blossoming during the spring.
by trusting God, we are saying that we trust Him to create our futures into big bountiful beautiful trees with all of His plans blossoming through every season. there will be winters, where the blossoming is less, but then there will be spring seasons where we are overflowing with fruit that only God can provide.
choose to press into God. choose to fulfill the thirst in your soul with truth and love rather than earthly desires. trust that the Lord has plans through the dry seasons, through the whys of life, and through the seasons that make no sense at all.
press in to Him. delight in running to Him. turn to Him, and rest in Him.
