Pressing in When You are Tired
The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. He comes in any way he can and he knows no bounds and operates in no rules. He strikes when people are unsuspecting and because they know not; he in his stealth, yet limited ways destroys lives. Pressing in when you are tired can be extremely challenging; although when you understand warfare and the enemy tactics it will put you on the offense to taking down the enemy so you walk in the victory that you already have; just have yet to experience.
Now there is nothing wrong with being or getting tired as it happens and is normal; especially with the hustle and bustle of today’s every rapidly moving society. The thin though is understand how and when to know when to stop and rest; and when the enemy is interfering with you to keep you off your game.
As it’s commonly known, Christians in the western world pray on average 5 minutes per day and pastors 30. This is a huge clue as to why so many are living defeated! When the enemy spends more time petitioning God than Christians that should be a wake up call to say the least! There should be no reason for Christians to be broke, unhealthy; or rejected. None whatsoever!
So it brings cause for question: what really is going on? How do I press in when I am tired; and why am I even tired in the first place? Well; let’s examine:
1- You are tired because the enemy keeps you tired. The enemy loves it when God’s people are not productive. It’s hard to advance the Kingdom when you are too tired to move. It’s easy for him to win the battle and continue to beat you down. Do you often feel guilty when you want to take a nap or a day off; or if you sleep longer than your boss thinks you should. Of course there will always be more to do; but guess what? You are not the Savior! When you recognize all the tactics the enemy uses to steal your joy, keep you pursuing unnecessary and unfruitful endeavors, how he uses other people to steal your time; it will oh so obvious what has happened.
2- You are eating all the enemies delights and not God’s. Eve was deceived by what she saw in Genesis 3:6: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” What is pleasing doesn’t mean healthy whatsoever. Companies and advertisers have blurred the lines and many unsuspecting consumers are filled with what is pleasing to the eye yet killing them. It’s time to wake up and see that what is man made manufactured not from God is probably not what will sustain you.
God created wonderful food for us to eat so it begs the question: why are we as a nation so unhealthy, so obese, so sick? Studies continue to reveal that America is the sickest nation in the world with the most advanced health care yet in reality if we ate better we would not need be tired all the time, sick; and have children with obedience issues. It’s really beyond time to start paying attention to what we are feasting our eyes upon so to not be deceived by that which is not of Him.
3- You have fallen prey to the ways of the world. Oh yes the ways of the world really are depleting. The world offers nothing but bad credit and heartache. Look at America now; suffering of a big belly ache. The world will keep you busy chasing everything except for the relationship with God. By the end of the night are you just too tired to read the Bible, have too much a not so much headache that you don’t have intimate moments with your husband, and have just a few more thousand emails to check? Sure the enemy knows this. Is he preying on your vanity, your approval addiction or addiction of any kind; your need to be needed and all the other things that really won’t suffice when the rubber hits the road? The ways of the world will leave you more than tired if you aren’t aware and on the offense in overcoming.
4- You are not offensively praying; or praying at all. It’s sick and sad that Christians pray so little yet expect so much. See; the only prayers not answered really are those that you don’t bother to pray. And no outsourcing your prayer life to those strangers on facebook is no the answer either. No. It’s really an insult to the Lord and only reveals you care so little about your relationship with Him; or even Him at all. So the best way to get on track and press in when you are tired is to pray. When do you pray? When you feel like and when you don’t. Otherwise; you won’t get anywhere- or rather anywhere you probably want. How could you? The enemy is already 5 steps ahead of you making sure you are and stay tired. You must press in and get going. Remember that whatever you are not willing to protect you won’t keep. Ask any divorced person about that and listen quietly and carefully.
So the question is: how do I press in? What do I do?
1- Recognize where the enemy is keeping you tired. You probably can identify them- you just have to stop long enough to pay attention and then do something about it. And then of course stop making excuses.
2- Cancel those assignments in the name of Jesus; against your mind, your sleep, your health, your finances, your peace, your spouse, your children, your boss, your company, your friends, your joy, your time with Him and any and everywhere else that the Lord reveals. See; if you don’t take authority in the name of Jesus you are giving the enemy legal ground- to destroy you. Period. And he delights in nothing more than the destruction of the Lord’s children.
3- Pray for strength and energy to get through the day and night. God created the ‘day’ and the ‘night’ as written in Genesis 1:5: “God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning–the first day.” As a result of this separation of you pray for strength, energy and faith for the day; what about the night? Because these are consumables we need refilling for both times.
When you truly grasp the reality that the enemy means you no good and that while yes there is a time to sleep an a time for all things; pressing in when tired requires strategy. If you don’t have one you will succumb to the ploys of the enemy which he just loves. Think about this: tired people get into more vehicle accidents, have more stress, make more wrong decisions, engage in more conflict, eat more unhealthy and the list goes on and all to the detriment of the person.
It’s time now to have a plan to taking the territory from the enemy that is for God’s Kingdom and know how to press in so that you are living on the strategic offense for Him instead of sleeping on the job while the enemy destroys and laughs all the way doing it. You have more to live for and more to do and now is the time to press in!
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