The Promises of God - Day 5

Encouragement for Today: The Promises of God
God Will Give Us Strength

Psalm 29:11:  The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.
 
Sometimes life can be exhausting.  Circumstances and relationships and even the season of life that we find ourselves in can drain our energy to the point that many of us feel we have nothing left to give. The Enemy of our souls wants to keep us weak.  He wants to convince us that if we don’t have the internal strength to do and be everything our culture tells us we should do and be, then we are somehow failures. We spend endless amounts of energy pursuing goals that our culture sets but that God never did.  And we feel weak.  We lose our strength and have little to put into the circumstances and relationships and the season of life that God has actually called us to.

But church family, God didn’t intend for His people to feel weak or to be weak.  In Psalm 29, God promises to give strength to His people.  The promise of His strength is a gift we can claim every day, but especially in these uncertain times. Let’s begin looking at the promise of God’s strength by considering our weakness.

• What is making you feel weak right now?
• In general, what do you look to as a source of strength other than God? Why do you think we often turn to other people or man-made things for strength before turning to God?

Paul seems like the epitome of strength.  He endured physical and circumstantial hardships.  His conviction for the Lord was deep, and his faith was unwavering.  He fought for the Gospel everywhere he went, and yet, in 2 Corinthians 2, Paul gives us glimpse behind his steel curtain when he writes about asking God to remove some unnamed affliction from him.

• Read 2 Corinthians 2:8-10.  In verse 9, what does God tell Paul?

The Greek word dunamis translated power in some versions is translated strength in others – the meaning is interchangeable. Notice that the God doesn’t remove the thing that made Paul feel weak nor does He tell Paul to simply ignore it or push through.  Instead, in only the way our loving and perfect Heavenly Father can, He tells Paul to embrace the weakness so that Paul can display MORE of the Lord’s strength.  God didn’t intend for Paul to find strength outside of the Lord, neither does He intend us to find strength outside of Himself.  Like Paul, God wants for us to claim the strength in the midst of our weakness so that His power to restore and uphold and renew is on display.  God is willing to give us strength.  Are we willing to claim it?

• What is the difference between God’s strength and our human notions of strength? What role does submitting to God play in being able to receive strength from Him?
• How does confessing to God that we feel weak and confessing our areas of weakness open us up to receive strength from Him?
• As we are walking through God’s promises, we are learning evermore that because He cannot lie, because He is good, and because we will not be forsaken by Him, we can trust everything scripture says about what He wants for us.  That includes the source of our strength.
• Read Ephesians 6:10. Does God intend for us to rely on our own strength?

God never intended for us to draw strength from our own stock pile of personal fortitude or will power.  When we do, we don’t depend on Him.  If we could, we wouldn’t need Him.  God wants us to need Him.  He created us to need Him – for so many things, but one of those is strength.  If you are feeling weak – emotionally, physically, spiritually – believe God’s promise to give you His strength.  Psalms 29:11 says that He will give it.  Ask Him for it.  Stop trying to do on your own what the Lord wants to do for you. Claim what the Lord intends for you, today, for the circumstances of your individual life.  God cannot lie.  If He says he will strengthen you, He will. Let Him.

Be blessed, be a blessing.