Don’t Give in to Pressure!

by Keith Butler | Uncategorized

Don’t give into pressure; don’t let decisions be made because of pressure. Never make a decision when you feel pressure, wait and consult with the Holy Ghost.

Wait till your mind gets quiet, and your spirit gets quiet and your body gets quiet. Spend more time with God.

When you get down to prayer and your mind races all over, you haven’t been there long enough. Your body and mind are not trained enough yet.

But, if you do this enough, it won’t take long and your mind will get quiet, and your body will get quiet, and all the sudden your spirit will have the ascendancy. And you’ll begin to hear from heaven.

Make a decision after you’ve consulted the Holy Ghost, and you will hit it right every time.

Don’t give in to pressure! Don’t give in to it! I’ll tell you what happens with people, they get under pressure and they forget who their enemy is.

They start saying the white folks are their enemy, or the black folks are their enemy, or brown folks are their enemy, or the red folks, or the yellow folks, or the rich folks, or the poor folks, or the Republican folks, or the Democratic folks.

They start centering upon people that they see, because of the pressure, and they make a mistake.

In Ephesians 6:12, it says we don’t fight with white folks, and we don’t fight with black folks; we don’t fight with red folks; we don’t fight with yellow folks; we don’t fight with Republican folks; we don’t fight with Democrat folks; we don’t fight with rich folks.

We don’t fight with poor folks; we don’t fight with bald folks; we don’t fight with long-haired folks; we don’t fight with women folks; we don’t fight with men folks; we don’t fight with tongue-talking folk.

We don’t fight with non tongue-talking folks; we don’t fight with nobody! Nobody! Our enemy is not flesh and blood, but who is our enemy? Principalities. Pow! Rulers of the darkness of this world and wicked spirits in the heavenlies – demons – spirits.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17).

Believe in exercising authority over the devil. When you forget who your enemy is, you’re either thinking that everybody else is the problem, but they are not your enemy. Let me show you somebody in the Word of God who forgot who their enemy was and paid the price:

And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
(Num. 12:1)

Now wait a minute. If it weren’t for Moses, they would still be slaves getting their behind kicked in Egypt. There still would be a lash on their back. They still would have to be carrying all that stuff. They still would be dying prematurely because of the bad treatment. If it weren’t for Moses, they would still be slaves.

But people have a short memory. Here is Miriam and Aaron, sort of Moses’ Senior Assistant Pastor. They started talking against Moses because Moses married a black woman!

Did you know that the first lady of Israel was a black woman? Miriam and Aaron were upset because this was an interracial marriage, so they started talking against Moses.

“You mean to tell me you believe in interracial marriage, Pastor?” I believe in marriage of two believers. Not only do I believe in it, but God believes in it.

The Bible lays out the criteria for marriage. You know the criteria that scripture says? There is a “must.” It says that you must marry only in the Lord.

Do you know that they spoke against him because he married a black woman? Now they had enemies, but she and he forgot all about the enemies and began to target Moses.

Hear what they said in verse 2:

And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
(Num. 12:2)

“Moses is not the only one that God can use. Moses is not the only one that God can speak to us through.” Now these were the same folks that, when they crossed the Red Sea, they said: “Moses, do something, Moses they’re coming to get us, Moses.” I didn’t see them stretch out a rod and say “Red Sea part!” They said, “Moses, Moses!”

This is the kind of pressure that Satan exerts. “Why don’t they marry their own kind?” Maybe Moses only wanted someone who was saved. That’s what he did.

Hollywood gives us an impression of Moses played by Charlton Heston, “Let my people go!” Moses was this massive man. You know what the Bible said about Moses? It said that Moses is the meekest man on the whole planet. Moses was the softest, quietest, most unassuming man in the whole world.

I was studying the scripture and praying, and the Lord said to me, “You’re going to be disappointed when you meet Sampson.”

It was weird for God to say.

“How come?”

He said, “You’re going to be disappointed when you meet Sampson.”

I said, “Why?”

He said, “Because he doesn’t look like you think.”

You see, in my mind, a man that beats 1,000 men with the jawbone of an ass, when you think of Sampson, you think of Noel Nick. Like line backers that got muscles all over the place. That’s what you think about, right?

You think about this big dude. “Boom! In the name of the Lord!” That’s what you think. The Lord said to me that he was an ordinary-sized guy with long hair that had never been cut. You got some skinny dude whipping 1,000 men, hair flying everywhere, whipping 1,000 men!

See, that’s what the miracle was. There ain’t no way this guy is whipping 1,000 guys all over the place, he’s just beating everybody up, there ain’t no way.

What is the source of your strength? Anointed Holy Ghost, the same Holy Ghost that anointed that man to do those exploits is the same one that’s inside you.

And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.
(Num. 12:4-5)

God said, “Come outside!” He said, “Come out of that tabernacle! “All three of them come out, and then God shows up in the cloud! And then he said “Aaron! Miriam! Come here!” And he said “Hear now my words.”

You listen to me. “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. But not my servant Moses; he’s faithful in all my house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth.”

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses.
(Num. 12:8)

Do you know what the Lord said? Well, I might call a prophet out of you and if I do call a prophet out of you, I’m gonna give him visions and dreams. Moses ain’t in the same class. Him, I show up and I speak face to face with him. I even let him see me.

Then God said: “How is it you spoke against him?” God said, “Wait a minute. This is somebody that I talk to face to face. This is somebody I used to bring you out of Egypt. This is somebody I used to deliver you.

This is somebody I used to crush Pharaoh’s army, and you got the nerve to talk against him because he married a black woman? Weren’t you afraid to do that?”

God said, “You should have been afraid to do that! You should have been afraid to do that. You should have said, he married a black woman, let me shut my mouth. Instead, they weren’t afraid to do it, and God said, “How is it?”

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
(Num 12:9)

Wooh! First the cloud shows up. “Come here!” God’s upset. You know when God’s upset, it’s like when you’re upset. I don’t know if you ever had the Lord speak to you when he was unhappy with you; I have. He don’t sound sweet. Amen.

And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.
(Num. 12: 10-11)

That’s right. Judging somebody and running your mouth at somebody because they married somebody of a different racial background is sin. It is just as much sin as if you went and robbed the First National Bank.

It is just as much sin if you were sleeping in bed with five folk. It’s just as much sin as anything else you would do. It is sin and it requires repentance.

Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.
(Num. 12:12-13)

Moses was gracious. Moses could have said, “Hey, serves you right.” Right? Amen. No. He said, “Lord, heal her now.”

You better watch where you put your mouth. You know the very person you talk about will be the very one that God will use to get you healed. Over the years, I’ve had several people come to me and say, “Pastor, I apologize for the words I said against you; God told me that you had to lay hands on me or else I wasn’t gonna get healed.”

Pressure, pressure, pressure! Satan heard what Jesus said. Jesus said a house divided against itself will collapse. He heard that. He’s been dividing ever since.

God doesn’t care that two wonderful folks married each other, and they may be of different skin pigment. God’s not looking at that. He’s looking on the inside. He sees the Holy Ghost on the inside of both of them and that’s the only thing that matters to him. And it’s about time we became that smart.

You must remember who your enemy is. Satan is your enemy. No other folks are your enemy. Praise God.

Copyright © Keith Butler Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center.

He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).

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