Pressure Builds Power!

I can remember being a young boy playing in our front yard. Our small family wasn’t well off by any means, but we were fortunate. I can remember we didn’t have sprinklers in our front yard, we had a big green water hose. It had a silver nozzle on it. I can remember my brothers & I using the nozzle as a water gun to aim at each other as we played. This particular day I don’t remember how it broke but we broke the nozzle & it stopped working. My brothers left the water hose to go get more balloons, but for me (as resourceful as I am) I knew exactly how I could get an advantage and win this water war. I disconnected the broken nozzle, turned the water pressure up a bit & placed my thumb over the end. The effect this had on the water made the water shoot out with more pressure. Using this technique made the water shoot farther than they could throw their balloons. Needless to say, I won the war that day. I won because I had discovered how to correctly apply pressure. It was the pressure that gave me the advantage. What they had left broken, I had used to get a victory!

Sometimes life treats us just like my brothers treated that water hose. It uses us up until we

break, then it moves to someone else to repeat the process. Life is the ultimate taker. It takes & takes & takes until many of us become used & broken. However what God does when He comes into our lives is similar to what I did with the water hose that day. The 1st thing to note is that He doesn’t throw you away. Recognize that no matter where you are in your life God has not left you. Just because you can’t see Him doesn’t mean He is not there. Not only is He still there but He specializes in using things that others deem un-useful. One of the things I love about God is He will come in your life & create a way to make your experiences useful in spite of what life has done to you. Have you considered that God is not in your life to make it turn perfect. Maybe God is going to use the imperfect situations to show how He can make you a success in spite of the things you have experienced. Sometimes what God does is take what the world says is broken & unusable & turn it into something powerful.

This process of creating power happens only by applying more pressure. I know this is a difficult saying, but I want you to remember that God works to bring out the best in you. He is not there to be your cheerleader, He is there to BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOU! I realized that the water hose had more pressure when I was using my hand, not the nozzle. I want you to realize that God has you in His hand. If He is applying pressure in your life it’s for the same purpose. He is using pressure to generate the power He put inside of you. The pressure is designed to push you farther! The saying is true: No pain, no gain.

I sometimes get asked how do I do it? My response is that I use hurt, pain, frustration, heartbreak, loneliness, aggravation, etc. not as self-destructive fuel, but as reconstructive fuel. I draw from the angst deep within to push me through things that seem impossible to others. Today as you read I want you to reflect. Think about the many things you have endured & overcome in your life. Have you considered that God may have allowed some pressure to give you the push you needed at the time? That was God giving you fuel to press your way into your place of blessing & success.

Pressure can cause a person to break. The same pressure can cause another person to break records. Which one are you?