Push : Pastor Tony Samuels

Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.

Psalms 44:5 (NKJV)

Push: to press upon or against (a thing) with force in order to move it away. To step into what the Lord has for your life, it will require spiritual pressure on your part to break into what the Lord has for you. You must understand that there is an enemy who is always trying to work against you, to hinder and block you from what the Lord has for your life. This is why the enemy loves spiritual apathy, because it poses no threat against his assignment against your life; it never confronts or opposes him. You must understand, there are rules of engagement for the Christian. James 4:7 (KJV) says, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Submission and resisting are rules for engagement. As I submit to God now, He gives me the power to resist the enemy. Notice, it’s not up to God to resist; that’s our part.

As you read the Bible, you will begin to discover that those who obtained what God had for their lives were willing to engage in whatever it took to get what they desired. Why would we think it would be any different for us? I love the story of Hannah in the Bible. She was a woman who wanted a son, but she was barren. Because of her condition, she was mocked and scorned by her adversary. Look at what the Bible says about this 1 Samuel 1:6-7 (NKJV): And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat. Hannah found herself in a rough place, a hostile environment. It’s bad enough to be barren, but to then have someone attacking you because of it is tough. This environment would drive Hannah to a place of pain where she was not even able to eat.

Many people would have accepted this as God’s will, but Hannah did not. She made a decision that she was going to push against this, and instead of drowning in misery, she chose to push into her relationship with the Lord. Look at 1 Samuel 1:10-11 (NKJV):  And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” I am sure the last thing Hannah wanted to do was to pray, but that was the very thing she needed to do. She had to push past her feelings; she had to push past the ridicule, to give birth to one of the greatest prophets in the Bible, Samuel.

In Christianity, you have two options: you are either going to be a victim or a victor. Either we let the enemy contain us, or we break out into what the Lord has for our lives. Luke 16:16 (NKJV) says, The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. You will know if you are pushing by how you respond when God speaks. How do you respond when the word is preached? Does it motivate you to action? Does it ignite conviction?

One of the worst things that can happened to your spiritual life is when you think you have arrived. You level off into a spiritual condition that has no desire to advance into more. Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV) says, Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, 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. Paul understood that there was always more for Him in his relationship with Lord. Pressing in for Him was not an event; it was his lifestyle. This brought him through adversities and into greater encounters with the Lord Himself. Hebrews 10:38 (NKJV) says, Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. This is not the time to draw back; this is the time to push and press into what the Lord has for your life. Remember, there is always more!!!!