Are You Under Pressure?
When Paul was speaking of the manner in which God used him and others like him he made the following statement:
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7 KJV
The phrase “earthen vessels” is literally “cracked pots.” In other words, it speaks of living a life by which you ultimately crack under the strain.
We could transliterate in saying we have this treasure in lives who have cracked under the pressure and strain of the situations they find themselves in.
This was reiterated in Acts when Paul made the following observation:
“Confirming the souls of the disciples, [and] exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Act 14:22 KJV
The term “tribulation” in this verse means “manifold (different) kinds of pressure….”
We spend our lives instinctively avoiding pressure. This is in reality, the “beast” nature of the flesh.
If you observe them, animals instinctively preserve their energies and avoid pressure or expenditure of effort by their very nature.
This is the flesh nature that God says in His Word is an enemy of His Kingdom.
Are you under pressure?
Are you under pressure? Allow it to bring you to the brokenness by which God will use you.
In the last (almost) three years, I have endured pressure beyond imagining. Kitty’s sudden and unexpected death (my spouse), the resulting diminishment of the ministry by mere virtue of grappling with the personal issues in such a way that the ministry suffered.
Thank God for the staff who kept things afloat (without whom there would be no Father’s Heart Ministry at all by this time).
Yet, pressure has its place.
Wheat is ground to flour that makes bread by PRESSURE.
Wine is produced by a winepress, which involves pressure and crushing.
This is the means by which God makes us suitable to be instruments of propagating His message of the Gospel and his anointing – (oil likewise produced in an olive PRESS!).
Pressure is sometimes unendurable, and it seems God allows this to pursue HIS agenda as a higher priority than OUR comfort.
This is why the call of God is a call to take up your cross, whose logical conclusion is BRUTAL DEATH, after which resurrection becomes a possibility.
It’s time to stop kidding yourself. Suffering, while not authored by God, is used by God for His greater glory, and since our lives are not our own, we signed up for the whole trip when we gave our lives to Christ.
The season of time since Kitty’s death has been the most brutal and painful of my life. In the midst of it God arranged things to keep me TENDER and vulnerable to the very absence and loss represented by what happened without any reasonable expectation of relief or shift into the next thing that He might have in mind.
Walking with God is a challenge, I must say, but that’s what I’m faced with, and I will continue to be faithful as much as I can regardless of the brutal, painful process that seems absolutely to have no end in sight.
Even so Lord Jesus.
Prayers appreciated.
~ Prophet Russell Walden
Prophet Russel Walden and wife Kitty were founders of Father’s Heart Ministry of Branson, Missouri. Prophet Russ travels internationally and in the USA ministering in the prophetic, bringing a new dimension to the prophetic through activation and impartation of God’s voice in your life. Russ comes from a long history in business world and full time pastoral ministry.
May the Grace and Peace of God Comfort and minister to you as you have ministered to the saints. You are needed Pastor Walden. God Bless You!!!
I have prayed for you often over these last years, and had often wondered how you were able to continue so well with your ministry. So many of us are blessed daily by your words and other contributions, you would be sorely missed. You are loved, many of us pray for you and will continue to do so.
Prophet Russ, I am praying for you. I don’t know what it is like to loose a spouse, but I know pain and brokenness. I am in tears as I pray for you and am reminded of how much a broken heart does hurt. You are such an inspiration to me, I pray the Lord holds you up and give you His grace and peace. I will keep you in my prayers.
Pastor, I am younger than you, and far less experienced in my walk with the Lord, but this one thing I know. As you go through the pounding, the crushing, and the pressure that produces the oil used for the anointing that breaks the yoke, it becomes a tangible blessing to those in tribulation around you. It has far more value than gold or riches, or words of any kind manufactured. by prideful religious men. There’s a humility in it that allows the reader to hear the voice of God. Your suffering is not in vain, and those around you are growing because of your willingness to speak. Thank you for that service to the brethren. Great is your reward in heaven. Stand tall and glory in your suffering, it won’t be long now.
Thank you for your strangling words. Father God is only one that can get us thru this time on earth. GODS WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. SIS SHEILA
Praying for you Pastor Walden. I thank God for you and for your ministry. I am so blessed by your What the Father is saying today! I lost my spouse of Sixty years, in Feb of this year. He was sick so Father in His infinite mercy called him home. The Lord strengthen you with Might by His Spirit in the Inner Man! He Loves you greatly and is using you to bless others!
I know your pain Pastor. My beloved husband of 48 years was called Home in 2021. Unexpected. Painful. Exhilarating. Precious. For sure He left us here because the legacy is not finished. I rejoice in His decision.