Strength

The LORD is my strength and my song; 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)

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. (Philippians 4:12-14)

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (Colossians 1:10-12 )

God will give us strength. What do we need strength from God? We are strong and independent. What does it mean to be strengthened by God? And how does it happen?

We often walk through life feeling capable, strong, healthy and ready for anything. Until we aren't. Until we are weak, unable to take another step, facing a task or a reality which is beyond us. In our weakness, we realize that we need God's strength. It is in our weakness that God is the strongest. It is in that weakness that we reach for God, and it is then that God can strengthen us. I also think that as we walk this journey with God, we realize that we are much weaker than we once realized, and that perhaps we need that strength all the time, not just in the valleys.

What does being strengthened by God mean?

Confidence -- Have you ever faced a task at church or outside of church that you thought was just beyond your abilities? A task which you thought was impossible for you? There is confidence to be gained in the idea that if God has given you (or the church) a task, then he will provide the means to get it done. There is strength in that knowledge, which enables us to pick up that which we thought was impossible to lift.

Courage -- If we let him, God will enable us to step forward in faith -- to take an unpopular stand, to say "yes" when we are afraid to say anything at all. If we let him, God will give us the courage to face our fears and anxieties, and to let them go.

Calmness -- There is a couple in our church who lost a grown daughter to lymphoma. Their daughter told them, as she neared the end of her life, that whatever happened, she would be OK. That's serenity. That's strength unimaginable.

Comfort -- There is strength to be found in comfort. I don't mean a soft chair and a blanket, but I mean the knowledge that God walks with us, in all and in everything. That's comforting, and that provides strength.

How is it that God gives us strength? Sometimes it arrives as a result of prayer -- have you ever left a conversation with God strengthened? I hope you have! Sometimes strength arrives on the wings of exhortation -- the encouragement of others. Sometimes, when we need to know that God is near, we can see Him in the support of friends and family. Strength comes from a relationship with God, and from being a member of the Body of Christ. I think that that is true of all of God's gifts.

So, today, for you, I pray that you will know the comfort, calmness, courage and confidence of God's strength. It is a strength beyond our own abilities, and it is a gift of grace.