Day 80: Push Yourself

1 Samuel 30:6

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Sometimes in life, there will be no one there to push us forward, there will be no one there to hold us accountable, or pick us up. It is in these moments that we must learn to strengthen ourselves in the Lord. We must learn to push ourselves, we must learn to hold ourselves accountable.

When I was a youth pastor I would always talk to some of the youth department and they would say something like, “When I want to sin, I just picture your face, or I just talk to you about it.” My response would always be, what about when I’m not there, one day I won’t be able to pick up the phone, what then? I wanted them to learn to depend on God more than me. I wanted them to be able to push themselves, and pray for themselves when no one else was there to do it for them. I did not want to be a crutch to them.

-Dyamond

As we grow in Christ we must make sure that we are dependent solely upon God, so that we do not have to run to anyone to get in contact with Him. Our pastor’s and peers are great, but sometimes we are going to be alone, sometimes they won’t pick up that phone. We have to push ourselves even when we are distressed like David, we have to pray for ourselves. I love that the Scripture says, David strengthened himself in the Lord. We don’t just find that strength on our own. We learn to go to God ourself for ourselves and get an overflow of His strength. Whenever we need it, we know that we can turn to God. No one can do for us what God can. We have the opportunity to have a relationship with God and be intimate with Him same as the next person. We just have to know that we are capable of praying for and pushing ourselves. It doesn’t make us selfish or prideful, it means that we trust and depend on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:12

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

We also have to push ourselves when we are tired when we are ready to give up, when it’s too painful when everything is telling us to quit. We have to push ourselves. If we want that blessing, if we want that life of eternity with Christ, we must push ourselves to keep going even when we think we can’t take it anymore.

It’s like working out, when we workout we are working towards those summer beach bodies, and we have to push through the pain of the workout if we ever want to get our bodies summer ready. That means we have to run an extra mile even when we’re out of breath, do twenty more crunches when our abs are burning, do a few more chin ups when our arms feel like they can't lift anymore. It hurts, we’re breathing heavy, doing whatever we can to ease the pain, but we still feel it. We even feel it a couple of days after. But we keep going to the gym, we keep running, we keep lifting, because we want that body. We have a goal in mind, and we can’t stop until we reach it.

It’s the same when we are pressing towards the goal of perfection, when we are pushing towards whatever it is God has for us. There will be some pain, there will be reasons to quit, but God is bigger. Our faith is bigger than our weakness. Our faith in God surpasses our pain. We have our eye on a greater prize, and with that in mind. WE CANNOT STOP! We have to push, we can’t quit we have to keep going. Even when those muscles are sore from yesterday’s workout, keep going.  Because when all's said and done, all the pain, the heartache, and the tears and sweat will be worth it. It’s like spiritual fitness.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Know that you have the ability to encourage yourself, you have to push yourself when no one else is around. Find your strength in the Lord and keep moving forward. Talk to God about whatever is on your heart today ask Him to strengthen you, look to God first.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day and start to your week. Share this with someone and make sure you come back tomorrow for day 81!

Day 56: Don't Give Up!

You ever think about giving up, because it would be so much easier. Things can get so hard sometimes, to the point that we would rather not deal with it. Sometimes giving up seems so much easier. Let me be the first to tell you that easy isn’t always good. Let me also be the first to tell you that you are still here, for a reason. God hasn’t given up on you so don’t give up on yourself.

2 Chronicles 15:7

But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

Galatians 6:9

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Hebrews 10:23

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

As I write this with tears running down my face, I must say that sometimes the hardest thing to do is hold on. When we don’t see anything happening, when we have been praying, and pleading, reading our bible, and doing everything we know is right. We still have to wonder, why am I still struggling. Why does it seem to get harder, why does everything seem like it’s getting worse. But it is in these moments, in the moments when we are ready to throw in the towel or give up everything. These are the moments where we take everything that we have and hold tighter. The moments  when praying is the hardest thing to do, we pray harder. This is when we truly grow in our faith and dive deeper into the Lord, because one day it will pay off. I know it’s hard, I know it sucks, I know our shirts and pillows are soaked with tears, but one day we will weep in joy, One day our work, our faithfulness, it all will be rewarded. We reap in harvest time.

There is a time between planting and harvesting, and that is called growing season. We cannot just give up in the middle of growing season or we will never see the fruit of the seeds we’ve planted. The growing season is the time where you have to water the plants for weeks and mouth before you even see a stem sprout. It’s the time where you have to cut the weeds so that plants can grow properly, We do a lot of work during growing season, but it is the consistency that keeps us going. We hold on the picture we see that one day this tiny plant will be a huge tree, it may not look like it now, but that small sprout, needed some time to grow it’s roots, so that when it grew, it would be unmoveable.

It’s the same with us, we are going through our growing season, and we will go through many of these throughout our life. It’s the time where we don’t see that God is working because everything seems to be spiraling out of control. But our faith and knowledge of His plan for our lives keep us going. By faith we know that God is working on our behalf. He is watering, he is feeding us nutrients, cutting away the weeds that get wrapped around us. He is rooted us in Him so that we will be unmovable. One day it will be harvest time. He says that we will receive the proper harvest in due time if we do not give up. We’ve come too far to turn around, we’re almost there we have to push through it. We have to know that the Holy Spirit is right there guiding us, Jesus is at the right hand of God cheering us on and interceding for us. Although the devil is betting against us, God knows that we are going to get through this. THere are so many people rooting for us, the first of them being our heavenly father.

I know it’s hard but it’s so worth the fight, everything we are going through is worth it. What makes it so bearable is that Christ is on our side. I know the fight is long, and we feel like we don’t have any swing left in us. But Jesus is in our corner, we have some fight left in us, It might take all the strength we have, but when we are running off of the strength of Christ, we can do things we never thought we could. Philippians 4:13 tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens. Nothing is exempt, no matter what it is, we find our strength in Christ and we can do it, whatever “it” may be, we can get through it. God isn’t done with us yet. Hold on, keep fighting, keep watering. The harvest is coming.

It’s okay to cry right now, but keep fighting, even if you fight with tears running down your face. Keep fighting. Give yourself three minutes to feel bad for yourself, and then you get up and you keep fighting. You have to keep pushing, whatever you do, don’t give up. You may slow down but don’t stop, keep going!!!

Psalms 126:5

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

Reflection

1. Are you going through a hard time right now?
2. Have you ever been in a place where you felt like giving up, or are you currently in that place?
3. What stopped you from giving up?
   
   

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions to guide your prayer today. Maybe you are not in a place today where you feel like giving up, and that is amazing. But take the time to pray for those who are, pray that they are strengthened in their faith and find hope in Christ.

If you are going through this right now, reread the passages above, know that Christ is rooting for you, know that God has His hand on you. Everything you are going through is worth the fight because the reward will surpass it all. I know it’s hard right now but keep going. Open your heart to God, even if you have no words, He knows what you are going through. Even if all you have to give at the moment are tears, God sees them. Know that we fight strength in His word, and through His son. Don’t give up, God’s got you.