PRESSING in...

Philippians 3:12-13 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Hosea 6:3 Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

I have recently been reminded by the Lord of a women’s conference that I attended a few years ago. The speaker was excellent and as she spoke she used a phrase over and over again and I don’t think I would have paid much attention to it except that the Lord brought it to my attention when, just before we went to a break, she used it for the last time.  That phrase was “Press in to the Lord” or “Pressing in to the Lord”.  When we went to the break I remember just sitting there in my chair, jelled out, while the other women were getting up and milling around or talking, I was thinking about that phase “pressing in to the Lord”.

As I was meditating on it, the Lord showed me this vision.  I saw Jesus in my minds eye like he is depicted in the movies when He walked on earth, dressed in robes, and he was standing on a grassy hillside.  Then the vision filled up with people that stood between me and Jesus.  I could see him, but I couldn't get to him because of all the people that were between me and Him.  He wasn't very far from me, maybe about 150 yards or so. Then He said, “Press into me” and I started moving forward through the people towards Him.  It was actually much more difficult than I initially thought it would be!!  The people were really hard to get past and it seemed like the harder I tried the more they pushed back and prevented my progress.  Then the Lord started naming these people that had come between us… He named them “busyness”, “T.V.”, “jobs”, “money”, “children”, “spouse”, “sleeping in”, “hobbies”, “fear”, “anxiety”, “doubt”, “unbelief”, “disappointments”, “anger”, “excuses”… Wow.  I realized that what He was telling me was that I was allowing these things to come between us and that He wanted me to PRESS IN past these things so that I could get closer to Him!  

Reading Paul’s letter in Philippians, He mentions pressing on towards the goal, straining toward what is ahead, and in Hosea he says “let us press on to acknowledge Him”.  These are all “action” words and phrases, to exert effort and energy!  I just looked up the definition for “press” and this is what it says:

1. to act upon with steadily applied weight or force.

2.to move by weight or force in a certain direction or into a certain position: The crowd pressed him into a corner.

3.to compress or squeeze, as to alter in shape or size: He pressed the clay into a ball.

It is SO much easier to allow other things to distract and prevent me from spending time with the Lord.  I can come up with a bunch of excuses but the bottom line is, if my desire truly is to get closer to Christ, then I need to exert steady force and really press in past the excuses and strain toward Him every day!

“… As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

Lord, I pray that you help me to lift the spiritual weights on a daily basis and strengthen me to be able to press in to you more and more every day!  Help me Lord to not allow other things to distract and prevent our time together but enable me to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles" to strain ahead and press into you, in Jesus name I pray, amen!

"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." (Matthew 11:12)