BE STRENGTHENED BY OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY
BE STRENGTHENED BY OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. —Isaiah 40:29-31
The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. —Exodus 15:2
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. —Isaiah 12:2
The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. —Habakkuk 3:19
We really have no strength of our own. How sad it is when people live thinking they are living by their own strength. Whether a person is living for God or not it is He who gives them the ability to live— “For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring’ (Acts 17:28). Brother and sister rejoice that He has drawn us to Jesus so we can understand that it is our Lord God Almighty who “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25). Our God is a gracious God, a patient God, a compassionate God and blesses every person whether they acknowledge this or not. As followers of Jesus we ought to praise His Name for the ability to live and move that He gives.
That breathing you are doing right now— praise His Name for the wonder of that ability He has designed that keeps you alive. The strength He gives your heart to be beating— what a wonder that is. The joy of being able to walk or move our arms, fingers and toes is a marvel. Your brain and eyes are so complex. It is through His strength that they even work.
Brother and sister, we know our strength to live comes from Him. Let us look to Him for the strength to run “the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). He is our strength. Let us yield to His strength as His Holy Spirit guides us to live a life for Him. Yes, let us honor Him by living in His strength and acknowledging that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC617kE1maU Dear Father, I need the strength that You give to live a life that is pleasing to You. Oh, that I would not live as if strength comes from me. No, may I trust in Your strength to live and may this be so by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. So be it!