press on

ever felt like God didn’t show up the way you thought he would?  how many times have you been at the breaking point where you wanted to give up and quit?  when was the last time you needed to sense God’s powerful presence, but instead felt his absence?  have you found yourself secretly ticked off at God because he didn’t come through for you or for someone you love and care about?

here are my answers:  yes.  to many to count.  recently.  often.

i have a suspicion that your answers might be pretty similar to mine.  the fact is that we all find ourselves lacking the faith that will carry us through.  we all feel alone, even though we know (deep down) that God is always present.  we all have more questions than we do answers.  we all struggle to truly believe and overcome doubt.  we all want to push through the pain and press on even though we feel like throwing in the towel.  we all have days where the only thing to do is to press on.

paul was the guy that made the “press on” slogan stick - not because he came up with it, but because he lived it!  he’s the one that told us to rejoice when we run into problems and trails - he said they were good for us - that they develop strength of character - that they build up our faith (see romans 5:3-4).  his life was on the line on a weekly basis, he suffered greatly for the cause of Christ - he had to endure massive hardships and setbacks and failures.  but still he is the one that encourages us to press on.  he said, “since God has so generously let us in on what He is doing, we’ve not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times.  we’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do but we know that God knows what to do.  so we’re not giving up.  how could we?  even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace.  these hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us.  there’s far more here than meets the eye.  the things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow.  but the things we can’t see now that’s going to last forever.” 2 cor 4:1, 8-9, 16-18 (msg)

paul also said, “i think you ought to know about the trouble we went through… we were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it.”  2 cor 1:8 (nlt)

the truth in paul’s story is the exact same truth in your story - GOD IS MOST POWERFULLY PRESENT EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS HE IS MOST APPARENTLY ABSENT!  so regardless of any problem, challenge, setback, hardship you are facing right now - the only option for you is TO PRESS ON!