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Great Pressure

by Brandon Burton on 15 July 05

2 Cor 1:8-9  “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia.  We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (NIV)

Here is the legendary apostle Paul telling us that he experienced a pressure so great that he despaired even of life.  It appears that the pressures of life and service to God took its’ toll upon Paul.  The super-spiritual apostle Paul who was used of God to give us much of the New Testament declares to us that he even felt the sentence of death.  Do you find yourself feeling that pressures of life and perhaps even the pressures of trying to be faithful to God are leaving you with feelings of despair?  Do you look at your life and wonder how you will be the person that you are meant to be?  Do you sometimes feel hopelessness in your attempts to live up to what you think you should be?   Do you feel overwhelmed with your children?  Do you experience despair wondering how your marriage will ever be restored while it seems so hopeless?  Have the financial pressures of you life taken you to the point that you have started to believe that there is no hope or way out of your situation?  Have you reached a point where you have begun to accept that there is not anything you can do to overcome the pressures of life?

Christ is telling you that you have been living through these experiences that you might rely on God.  It is God who is able to overcome the situations that seem hopeless.  God who raises the dead is certainly capable of raising your dead marriage.  God who raises the dead, is certainly able to be a father to you and your children.  God who raises the dead, is certainly able to complete work He has begun in you.  God who raises the dead, will certainly keep His promises for you life.  God who raises the dead is certainly able to provide for you in your financial situation even though it may seem hopeless.  He is calling you to rely on Him.  I want to encourage you that “this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”  Please be encouraged that God is a God who makes a way when there seems to be no way.   I offer encouragement that you can experience the sweet comfort of Christ beyond what words can even describe.  I invite you to hear what God is speaking to you through His Words in the same chapter in verse 3 & 4:

“Praise be to the God and Father our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”  (2 Cor 1:3-4  NIV)  

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