The Push-up!

It’s time to strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees. It’s time to make level the path for our feet. We need to learn how to do push-ups!

True Story Ahead

Her arms quivered as she began to push her body from the prostrate position. Determined not to have her face planted in the floor like a mask in the making, she thrust as much energy as she could muster heaving the weight on her back that was holding her down. “Getting stronger sucks!” she uttered as she plopped back to the floor.

Tasting the ground beneath her, she realized her lack of strength prevailed once again.

“You can do this,” her coach said.

“I don’t know if I can. It’s so hard,” came her pained reply.

“Are you kidding? I know you. You have what it takes to push yourself up. Now come on. Place your hands firmly on the floor next to your shoulders. Get your toes ground into the floor. You have to stabilize your body. Tighten your abs like you’re preparing to take a punch in the gut,” he coached firmly.

The thought of enduring another hit to her gut stirred her soul. A shot of justified anger surged through her gut and traveled right up into her brain heartening her from discouragement to determination.

It didn’t matter how much pressure from the weight placed on her back tried to keep her down, she was now determined. Bending her elbows and raising her head from the floor just enough to prop her forehead for support, she uttered again, “Getting stronger hurts.”

With an authoritative, yet gentle tone, as one who knows, Coach simply validated, “Yes, it does.”

Bracing her core, she engaged not just her arms, but her glutes, hamstrings, back, and abs for the upward motion of this total body function: the push-up!

The Woman and the Coach

The woman in the story above was me. The floor I lay prostrate on was my bedroom floor. I’ve tasted the carpet many times over the years. No lie!

My Coach? God Himself!

I’ve had similar conversations with God many times over the years as I’ve been weighed down during trials and tests in my life. My enemy, the devil, continues to punch me in the gut knocking the breath out of me. Sometimes, I think he and his evil pests strap 45 lb. cast iron weights on my back trying to weaken me and knock me off balance so they can push me down. Then they sit on me and mock me to keep me from doing my God-given purpose.

BUT I know how to do push-ups now. My Coach taught me well. I’ve been doing push-ups for years, so I’ve gotten much stronger. I like to think my inner being now looks like one of those muscle-bound bodybuilders.

Lack of Strength

Life has a way of knocking us down and trying to keep us downcast and discouraged.

Circumstances in our lives can weigh us down and flatten us trapping us in this prostate position so that we’re convinced we have no power to change anything.

We can become fainthearted. This timidity tries to control our souls. Then our mind, will, and emotions begin to believe we don’t have strength to endure. We’re prostrate with lack of strength.

God knows when we’re laying prostrate weakened by the trials and tests of our life, it’s time for some push-ups.

Then our Coach starts coaching.

Many times the first thing Coach God says is, “For the Spirit I gave you does not make you timid, but gives you power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV).

Then He says, “You have what it takes to push yourself up. Now come on. Place your hands firmly on the floor next to your shoulders. Get your toes ground into the floor. You have to stabilize your body. Tighten your abs like you’re preparing to take a punch in the gut!”

Dare to be Disciplined

Discipline and determination strengthens us. It truly is mind over matter.

Like a disciplined athlete, we need to be disciplined in our exercise with God. We absolutely have to spend time with God. We have to get to know Him. We have to study His Word. We have to memorize what He says so that we can refute the devil’s lies and stand our ground. We have to pray. We absolutely have to be determined to be disciplined in our exercise with God.

If you are presently going through a trial or test of any kind, and you’re feeling weak, like you don’t have any power at all to endure, here’s what you need to do:

• Place your hands firmly on God’s Word
• Focus your eyes on His Word
• Push God’s Word into your soul
• Claim God’s promises

He has given us power so that we can have the upward motion of pushing up, standing up, and standing firm against the devil and the hardships of this life.