103 - The Lord is My Strength

Ephesians 6:10-11 NASB

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Psalm 28:7 NASB

The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.

2 Chronicles 20:15 NASB

Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.

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We turn our eyes to Jesus who is our strength and dwells within. We set our mind on who we are through Him, what we have been given, what we have been brought into, what is in keeping with the new life we possess, truths that hold us firm in God’s hands.  These encompass us, they are God’s mighty strength for us, His armor protecting from all sides. They shield us from the lies that seek only to kill and destroy and into a spiritual reality where He is guarding and sustaining every step we take.

We pray to the Lord to grant us His strength, but maybe praying for Him to be our strength puts us more in line with continually looking to Him. This world, the things in it, what we do, and what we have, and what we experience are an ever-present force that can shift us from a heart in need of constant reliance on the Lord. When God tells us to pray without ceasing it is so that our hearts stay tethered to the fact that He is our never-ending strength and deliverer; that He alone sustains us.

There is peace and security in putting our trust into the hands of our all-seeing and all-powerful heavenly Father, whose strength never diminishes. We are freed from the constant belief, either consciously or subconsciously, that we need to hold ourselves together. We may still be clinging to this worlds viewpoint that we only have ourselves to look to and to care for us. That we are the only one we can rely on, the only one we can trust in.

Releasing ourselves from ourselves, the notion it all depends on us, a grip that can strangle the life and freedom He came to give, allows us to experience what He desires because He is the one caring for us with His mighty strength. In looking to Him we free ourselves from self-consciousness and self-centeredness to experience the blessings and plans He has for us.

God offers us strength, and the peace that comes with that strength. It is a spiritual hindrance to look to pull ourselves up rather than looking to Him. It is God who lifts us up, He is our deliverer, our shield and protector. We look to Him in all things and at all times because when we were lost and, in our sin, unholy and unrighteous, He raised us from the dead and gave us new life. Therefore, no matter what, wherever we may find ourselves, He is always there for us with a lifting hand. In His eyes we are worthy of His abiding love and strength.

When it is no longer about us but about Him as our strength, those are the days when we walk in spiritual victory. The days when we bring to Him what little we have and lay them at His feet, putting our trust in Him and believing He will sustain us. For when we are weak, then we are strong. When Jesus said, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, He implied that it is not about our greatness but God’s greatness.

When we exalt God by looking to Him through our weakness we find His true strength. We glorify God not by being perfect but by trusting in Him with all our heart; with all we think and feel, with all we will ever have or be. In releasing all, we find that what we have been given, apart from anything we have ever done, is wondrous because it comes in light of His great love for us apart from our own strivings.

We lean into our Most High God because we are His children, adopted as His beloved. He is the one with the strength, power, and wisdom, which He freely bestows on us. Yes, He has made us holy and righteous but not to see us sustain ourselves. It is God who fills us; this is God’s grace, His power in our lives.

God has chosen the weak things of this world to shame the strong. The things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before Him. God and His power are our glory in weakness. He gave us everything when we had nothing, not so that we would rely on and look to ourselves, but to fully entrust ourselves to Him as the giver of all.

Trust is the application of our belief. If we believe God is as He says He is. That He cares for us, provides for us, and sustains us with His power and we continue to focus on these things as our ultimate reality then we will begin to see ourselves progressively trusting in Him as the source of all that is good.

We step aside and allow God to be God in our lives. To bring about in us what He alone can accomplish. Did we receive Christ from anything we did? Why after receiving Christ through His grace do we look to ourselves as if it comes from us? Our Christian walk does not fluctuate on our strength. We are not in one minute and out the next. God’s gracious hand of strength in our lives is not for us a sign that it is now somehow in our hands. God has provided us with all things so that we look to Him as the provider and not ourselves.

We were crucified with Christ, but God raised us up together with Him to a new life. He gives us light where there is no light. He lifts us out of the pit of despair. He is our strength, His grace and mercy in times of need. He sets our feet on solid unshakable ground. He blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He takes us by His righteous right hand and leads us that we may not fear. He comforts us with His wisdom and understanding, lifting our eyes to what is above. God is the fulfiller of all things.