Many of us today seem to be under a lot of pressure. Financial pressure, health pressure, relationship pressure and many other forms of pressure. What if I were to tell you that these pressures can form Christ in you? Would you be interested in something like that? If you study some of the people who followed Jesus, this is the very thing that happened to them.
If you took a piece of an orange, put it in your hand and squeezed it, you would get orange juice coming out. That would also happen if you used a lemon, you would get lemon juice. Interesting that this will happen with most fruits. Why is it that when a Christian gets squeezed, everything but Christ comes out. Matthew 12:33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Let’s look at some of these people. First one i want to look at is Stephen. Stephen had something that the religious people didn’t have, Holy Spirit and power. These religious people couldn’t outwit him so they dragged him into the Sanhedrin. When He claimed that he saw Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, they took him out and stoned him. Now that is pressure. His life is on the line, but he didn’t respond like we do today. He prayed for their forgiveness who were killing him, just like Jesus did. Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. I used Stephen as an example because people tend to think that things happened to the apostles, but not to anyone else.
The next one I will look at is Paul. He gets bit but a poisonous snake, he shake it off and doesn’t think anything about it. People who saw what had happened expected Paul to fall over dead, but God lived in Paul. This poison didn’t effect him. Acts 28:1 Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. 2 And the natives[a] showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. 3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” 5 But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
Every time situations come into our lives gives us the opportunity to grow in Christ. Or the situation will retreat us back into the old dead man and he comes out. We are the Stewarts of our own hearts. Let us rejoice and be glad when difficulties happens. James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Be Blessed my friends