The Test of Pressure
Wade E Taylor

Those who are fully committed to the Lord - who actively seek to follow Him, often find themselves entangled in on-going difficulties.  Finally, a release comes, only to find that other pressures take their place.

But there is a reason for these hindrances.  Therefore, we should view hindrances as servants, placed to accomplish their purpose in our lives.  Only as we do not allow them to hinder us, and rise above, or overcome them, will we be able to “press toward the mark” for the prize, and become the overcomers that the Lord desires.

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”  Revelation 19:7-8 NASB

We may question how we can make ourselves ready.  This is accomplished as we respond appropriately to the circumstances, testings, and disciplines of obedience that we face, and recognize them as the means to prepare us.  Those who have fully submitted their lives to the Lord, and who seek His highest, are potentially His Bride.  Paul said,

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:13-14

Just as a young lady who is to be married anticipates her wedding day and prepares herself, so also, the Bride of our Lord Jesus Christ is to prepare for this day.  She is to “clothe herself” in fine linen, clean and white.  This speaks of the “righteous acts of the saints” in which she actively faces and overcomes the problems and pressures of life.

It is the overcomer who will sit with Jesus in His Throne, as His wife.

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and have sat down with My Father in His throne.”  Revelation 3:21

This process begins when we understand that the purpose of these pressures is to press us into the “image” of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Only then will we be able to rightly respond to them.  A permanent press in our slacks requires both heat and pressure.

“And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble you, to prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”  Deuteronomy 8:2

The Lord knows whether we will press through to receive this prize of sitting with Him in His Throne.  But His knowing this is not enough.  He will take us through diverse experiences, where we ourselves make the decision.  Therefore, He permits us to hunger spiritually - seemingly without satisfaction, while our problems linger without an apparent solution.

If we only experienced blessing, and an uncluttered pathway, we would relax and think we had arrived.  There would be little inner change or spiritual progress, as we would be resting in the provision, rather than seeking the Lord.  Sometimes the Lord places us under a ministry that is less than we would wish.  He may even cause a really able minister to appear to be dumb concerning our problems.  Thus, we will be forced to seek the Lord.

For example, I approached Walter Beuttler concerning a very troublesome problem.  I became confused, because although he had an outstanding walk with the Lord, he had no help for me.  Later, as I sought the Lord under extreme pressure, the Word began to expose my true need, rather than to give me what I wanted; a pat on the back, and a rebuke for the other party involved.

“And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger, and then He fed you with manna which you did not know ...”  Deuteronomy 8:3a

Only then could I truly recognize my dependence on the Lord Himself.

“And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to children, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives”  Hebrews 12:5-6

I am chastened when I do something that I should not be doing, and as a concerned Father, the Lord deals with me.  I am spiritually spanked and corrected.  I rejoice when this happens because the Word says, “Whom the Lord loves, He corrects.”

The Lord is hindered in chastening us when we have not surrendered to Him the right to our lives, and have unconditionally made Him our Lord.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam gave up his dependence on the Lord.  He chose to become independent by eating from the tree of (self) knowledge.  Later, an animal was slain and Adam was covered with its skin.  He was forgiven, but he had eaten, and the “right to choose for himself” was within him.

Although we are forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we still have within us the right to our own lives, as (being born of Adam) we “ate” of the tree of self knowledge.  Only we can relinquish this.  When I saw this, I carefully gave back to the Lord the right to my own life.  He was my Savior, now He has become my Lord.  Now I can place myself under His headship and ask Him to chasten me.

As I rightly respond to the process of being corrected, I grow spiritually and enter into my spiritual identity as a mature son.  Now I am ready to be scourged, for the Word tells us that “Every son the Lord receives, He scourges” (Hebrews 12:5-6).

Being scourged has nothing to do with any wrong doing.  Rather it is an indication that we are doing everything right.  Scourging has to do with the reduction of our independence.  It reaches into the very depth of our being and crucifies our self-life, our right to our own ways.  It removes our propensity towards all self-sufficiency.

A spirited horse has to be broken before it can be ridden.  This is done, not because the horse has done something wrong, but so it can become productive.  Likewise, scourging has to do with our becoming a yielded vessel in the hand of the Lord.

John W Follette once said that there are few who minister out of a broken spirit.  This is because there are few who are willing to go through the process of being reduced through scourging.

We may feel that we do not deserve the problems we find in our pathway, and this is true.  But they are there because the Lord is seeking to make us far more useful to Him in the outworking of His purposes.

Only then can the Lord trust us with His glory, and the end-time authority which is about to be released.