Strength… Such a deep word that evokes strong emotions when I think about it. The name Jehovah Tsory means just that; The Lord our Strength. I love it that 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” I shall therefore joyfully boast in my sufferings, that the power of The Messiah may rest upon me”. This verse is so power packed, and it goes into detail how our daily walk with the Lord should be. As mere mortals, we cannot depend on our own strength to get us through. It will fail us every time. When we believe we can handle our life situations, we kick God off the throne, which essentially is idolatry. Idolatry is when we put something (our own strength and abilities over God’s strength and sovereignty) above God. I think if we are being very real with ourselves, myself included, we easily think that we can do thing on our own, and that we put God on the back burner in case we mess things up, which we eventually do. We need to depend primarily on Jesus and His power that flows in us because of what He did for us on the cross.
Life gets very very real, and it is so easy to instantly feel anxious and depressed, and to feel like God isn’t there with you. It is so easy to get into the mind frame that we are alone and that we are stuck to battle on things on our own. Does God even listen to us when we pray??? The answer is: ABSOLUTELY God is the Lion of Judah. He is the strength we can fall on when we’re weak. He is the one who moves mountains in our lives. I love it in Isaiah it says, “Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you”. This verse is so strong, see what I did there? haha. No but seriously, it accurately describes God’s mentality towards us. I highlight the words vengeance. To me, it shows that God loves us so much, He doesn’t want anything to happen to us to cause us to be defeated. He’s not having it. In John 14:16 it says that Jesus gave His people the Holy Spirit as a Comforter. This shows that God wants us to walk through this life with power and strength, all that He has graced us with.
We need to have the position that nothing we have is our own. Every quality we have inside is a gift given to us from our Heavenly Father above. That alone should position our hearts to the fact that we can’t have pride in our own strength. Our strength comes from God above. All throughout scripture, it brings up how God is the strength that we can lean on. Even when we fall, we can fall on Him and His strength. I just feel like someone needs to hear that. That Jesus is here with His arms open saying that you can depend on Him for strength and that you don’t have to worry about being strong in yourself, but that even if you fall, you have a solid foundation in Him to fall on.
I just want to challenge everyone, including myself, that God is our Powerful Ruler. He is our strength in every situation. God so greatly desires for us to be dependent on Him and His strength to carry us through to being more than over-comers. I will conclude with this: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight Oh Lord my Strength and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). I pray for God’s strength to rest upon us all as we seek His heart for us, and that we will be encouraged to keep the faith as we press forward.
Love y’all,
Ryan W.
