Pressing Into Christ Through Prayer

       I am very thankful to have been encouraged by a friend to,"press into Christ." At first I was somewhat confused as to how to do that. I later learned prayer is one way in which I can press into Jesus Christ. I am prideful and it is challenging to stop what I'm doing to be still and pray. Living out 1st Thessalonians 5: 17, where the word says, "pray continually," and that is challenging at times. It takes effort on my part to stop my restless self and be still before Jesus.
      There are days in which I have chosen to harbor bitterness against loved ones. I have brushed passed people and circumstances in bitterness, allowing bitterness to make a home in my heart, and choosing my way over Christ's. I am praying that Christ would help me not to harbor bitterness in my heart. The word says, "Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share in its joy," in Proverbs 14:10. I do not want to have a bitter heart and I want to share the joy that Christ has given me.
      The above two lessons are ones that through the power of the Holy Spirit I can apply in practical ways. The Holy Spirit can totally gently nudge our arm when I need to press into Christ through prayer and ask Jesus to help me not to harbor bitterness and additionally to help me to truly forgive others.
    In what ways do you think you have been challenged or encouraged to press into Christ this past week or coming week?
      

When the Holy Spirit Gives a Heads Up

    I never imagined that eight words from a loved one could pierce my heart like a sword. The eight words were said, with the last one carrying a majority of the weight. This sentence is one that I will not repeat at any point in this post. In all honesty, in a certain sense, the message that was the sum of the eight words  came at no surprise to my shattering heart. The message that was conveyed verbally was one that the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to. The Holy Spirit had given me a heads up. Since January the Lord had been putting this loved one on my heart, specifically to be in prayer for and to be in prayer over a future conversation. The Holy Spirit also whispered a little bit about where my loved one's heart was, where their focus was several weeks before we had the conversation.
    The word says, "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace," in 1st Corinthians 14:33. God had already been preparing my heart and my spirit for what was to come and this gave me great peace.
     This is one of the most remarkable lessons and moments that I have had with God. Its amazing to reflect on the fact that He had been speaking to my heart five months prior to the difficult conversation I had with this loved one. He had put prayers in my heart that He answered five months later and that truly impacted the way that He was healed me through the aftermath of the conversation. And through these events I have been encouraged and challenged. I believe that one of the reasons that the Holy Spirit gives us a heads up is so that we can be in prayer over a person, or an event, a situation, a pain, a heart....whatever it may be. I believe with all of my heart that the Holy Spirit often gives us a heads up so that we can turn to the Father and press in through prayer.