Under Pressure
Can I have permission to speak honestly with you all for a moment…? Leadership is tough! Whether you’re leading a church, a department, a Grow group, your family, or even just yourself, the weight of that is real. Expectations placed on you from other people or things that you expect from yourself. Have you been there? I know that I have, and sometimes, it can feel like the weight of the world is sitting right on your shoulders. Perhaps you’re feeling that pressure right now as you read…
God has been reminding me recently that pressure isn’t always the enemy biting at my heel. Sometimes God uses the pressure that we face to grow us, shape us, and even show Himself through us. Here are a few things that God’s been teaching me in seasons of pressure:
1. Pressure is an indicator of what is really lying beneath the surface of our hearts.
Just as a sponge reveals what’s inside it as you wring out and squeeze it, pressure can reveal what’s going on inside of us. In 1 Samuel 13, King Saul allowed pressure to get the better of him when things weren’t going the way he expected. Then instead of waiting on God (and the prophet Samuel), he took it upon himself to ‘fix’ the situation, which ended up costing him dearly! Yet there is so much that we can learn from Daniel. He stayed calm and faithful, even when the pressure meant facing a lion’s den! He would not compromise, he did not panic… He prayed. (Daniel 6:10) God’s been reminding me in this season that pressure doesn’t make me an inadequate leader, it highlights where I need more of Him in my life.
2. Our weakness is an opportunity for God’s power to show up!
If I am going to be transparent with you, there are days that I don’t feel like a strong leader. I feel tired, overwhelmed, discouraged, and sometimes, let’s face it… under qualified. Yet I love when the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8 & 10: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed… we carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
“Hard pressed but not crushed.” Do you ever feel like this as a leader? This reminds me that God’s not looking for us to be super humans, He’s looking for us to surrender our hearts to Him. When our tank is running on empty, that’s when His Holy Spirit can really do business through us.
3. There is purpose in the pressure
Have you ever found yourself asking God, “Why is this so hard? Why now? Why me?” When I find myself here, I love the reality check that is shared in James 1:2-3 – “Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials… because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” I don’t naturally face pressure with a sense of ‘pure joy!’ Yet I am beginning to change my thinking to see the pressures that I face as preparation. God is refining me, not trying to crush me, he is preparing me to expand, ready for the adventures ahead. David didn’t become king the morning after he was anointed. He had to face lions, bears, giants, rejection, fleeing for his life and even hiding in caves. That pressure David faced, was what prepared him for the throne.
4. Jesus understands the pressure of leadership
Have you ever felt isolated in the pressure of leadership? Jesus gets it! When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before He went to the cross was under such pressure that He sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44). How did Jesus respond to this pressure? He looked to His Father, He obeyed His call and He surrendered to His will. Luke 22:42 “Father, not my will, but Yours be done.” Jesus understands what pressure feels like. He demonstrates how we can walk through it with authenticity, prayer and surrender.
5. Don’t carry pressure on your own
Have you ever, when facing pressure, wanted to just dig your heels in and try to handle it all on your own? Yet leadership was never meant to be a lonely road. Moses had his friends hold up his arms when he got tired in the battle (Exodus 17:12). Paul had friends and other leaders around him throughout his ministry, and Jesus had His disciples. When the pressures in life and leadership feel too much to bear, don’t isolate yourself. Instead let someone in. Make a call to that friend, arrange a coffee with your mentor, ask people in your world to pray. You are not alone.
Lastly, if you’re feeling the pressure in your leadership today, let me encourage you, God sees you, He is moulding you into the leader that He is calling you to be, He totally gets it and He walks with you. Isaiah 43:2 says; “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you… When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.”
God is with you, He is for you, you are not alone. Keep turning up, keep surrendering to Him. Even in the pressure, you are still His child, you are still called and you are still anointed.
You’ve got this, because God’s got you!
Ps Ana Williams