The Best Way To Overcome Life's Pressure Situations

Gen. 39:10 - She kept putting pressure on him day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. NLT 

• Life Has Many Different Types Of Pressures

There are a lot of different types of pressures we can find ourselves facing everyday. There are pressures that come from being greedy, lazy, or fighting addictions. 

In our text above Joseph, who was a slave in Egypt, found himself facing the pressures that come from the sexual nature. He was a handsome young man and his boss' wife wanted to have a sexual relationship with him, but Joseph would not be seduced. 

If you ever find yourself facing the pressure that comes form sexual temptations you better have a plan to help you get away. 

• One Successful Way Of Handling Pressure

Joseph's way of handling the pressure he was facing was to avoid this woman and the situation.  

If there is a pressure that is being applied to you see if you can use the Joseph method and avoid the area where it is coming.  

This won't always work because some times the pressure is coming from where you work, go to school or even live.  

When people asked me how I was able to leave the partying life and become a Christian so easily I always tell them that I CHANGED MY ENVIRONMENT. 

I quit going to the bars and associating with the people who used drugs and alcohol. I started associating with other Christians.  

If it is possible a change of friends, and places you go will greatly help you overcome some types of pressure.

• Tony La Russa's Formula

Tony La Russa, who has won 3 World Series (1 with the Oakland A's and 2 with the St. Louis Cardinals), gave a locker room speech that goes something like this: Pressure comes when someone calls upon you to do a task for which you are not prepared. If you have to take an important test and haven't studied, you feel pressure grind as you trudge off to class. However, if you have cracked your books, you are disappointed when you learn the professor has cancelled the exam. 

The key to staying pressure free is being prepared for the situation that you are about to face.  

Joseph had prepared himself mentally and spiritually so that when the situation did arise he departed.  

In Joseph's case the best thing he could do was RUN AWAY from the pressure. He did exactly what the Apostle Paul would say many years later. 1 Corin. 6:18 - Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. NASU

• What Daily Pressure Situations Are You Facing?

If Tony is correct and pressures come when you are unprepared what steps do you need to implement into your life today so that you can be prepared? 

Identify what you believe are the top three things that are putting pressure on you today and then make a plan that helps you to be prepared to conquer them.

• Is God Putting Pressure On You?

Is God allowing certain pressure to be placed upon you because He wants you to grow spiritually? God knows the best way for us to grow is by overcoming these pressures.

1 Corin. 10:13 - No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. NIV 

If you will take the word "temptation" and translate it "pressure" because we know temptations bring their own type of pressure. You will be able to see that God permits pressure to come into our lives to make us stronger. 

When the pressure becomes too great He will provide a way for you to escape. 

Be prepared and overcome the pressures in life that you will face and when you do you will be glad that you stayed the course.

• The Word "Prepare"

The word "prepare" is used 40 times in the New Testament. In John 14:2 Jesus says, "…I go to prepare a place for you."  

I don’t know about you but that really sounds cool to me. If Jesus is preparing a place for me then I want to go and see what it looks like.  

He is also preparing a place for you and I hope you want to go and see it also. 

Think On These: 

You can either worry about the future or prepare for it. 

No man ever reached to excellence in any one art or profession without having passed through the slow and painful process of study and preparation.

Stay Pumped,

Gary A. Serago
Minister of God's Word

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