DEFLATE THE PRESSURE BEFORE IT BUILDS
When a young pastor who lives by faith and a young lady who just finished serving the nation decides to get married, they must understand certain things. The first thing Irewamiri and I told ourselves was that we would save aggressively as we looked toward marriage.
The second was a simple principle: Whenever we are out of money, we would not be worried until the next supplies come to meet the needs on the ground. No matter the cost, once we had no money on the ground for it, we would also not be worried about it.
Both principles helped greatly.
Beloved, if you allow pressure to take over the steering wheel of any situation in your life, it will most likely end up a disaster. You must learn to deflate pressure.
Once David was made king, the Philistines began to press in to attack David. David did not rush out amid the pressure to attend to them. No! He rather went to seek the face of God about what to do.
Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
II Samuel 5:17, 19 NKJV
Two things help a man in the middle of the pressures of life.
The Spiritual. This involves seeking the face of the Lord for guidance and supernatural intervention. A lot of believers are always waiting for a miracle. There is no problem with waiting for a miracle. We serve a miracle-working God. He surely will always show up. But you must never neglect this second thing:
The Systematic. Build systems and honour systems that will save you from being pressured. Why must it take a miracle to pay your rent every year? What happened to setting something aside for twelve months? You had nine months notice for the birth of the baby and you are still unprepared. That is not proper.
When you have done well with the systematic, even the spiritual will look more colourful. Jesus deployed both to feed the 5000. Before they distributed the five loaves and two fishes, he asked them to sit down in groups of fifty each. Why? The disorder will always eat up abundance. Some will be satisfied while others would get nothing.
Be faithful in the systematic. Do not ignore the supernatural. That is the twin way to deflate pressure.
Kill the pressure. Do not let the pressure kill you.