December 02, 2024
I will exult in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:18-19)
There have been many times in our lives when we have been overwhelmed by our weaknesses, whether emotional, physical, or spiritual. We think we can’t go on, and often, we don’t.
Is there a remedy? Where do we go to find strength?
A PERSONAL TESTIMONY
Years ago, I became deathly ill one Saturday and didn’t sleep the whole night. Such Saturday night problems are tough on pastors who must preach the next day. I could have found a replacement, but the message God had given me was very important for our church and needed to be delivered in our multiple services. And it was on my heart.
The following day, the illness had subsided, but a night of sleeplessness and vomiting had made me completely depleted. I was concerned that I couldn’t deliver what God had laid on my heart.
I pulled into a side room before the service and said, “Lord, I don’t think I can preach. I have no strength.”
In that moment, the precious and precise Holy Spirit whispered to my soul (as He has done so often), “Who says this is about your strength?” He reminded me that He lived in me and was all the strength I needed.
I turned in that moment from trusting in my ability to His … and went out and preached two services with power and gracious anointing from His hand … and then went home and crashed in bed at about 2 PM!
MY CURRENT NEED AND HIS SUFFICIENT STRENGTH
This profound moment was preparation for the coming years. I have had a fairly severe anemia problem for the last few years. I drain iron quickly and must take 5-hour iron infusions every two months or so. As my iron is depleted, my strength vanishes. But life goes on, and things need to be done.
I am learning the glorious truth that God’s strength can enable me for anything He asks me to do. I could give many testimonies of this. This past Sunday, as I was preaching three services, I completely lost my strength while preaching in the second service and was afraid I couldn’t finish. I lost strength in my body, my voice, and even my mind struggled. I was afraid I couldn’t do the final service, but the Lord once again reminded me that He lived in me and that His strength was limitless. I asked Him to be my strength, and once again, I had everything I needed (and more) for the final hour.
Guess who gets the glory for that?
PAUL’S TESTIMONY
Paul had some type of devastating physical problem. We don’t know what it was, but it must have been rough, for Paul was no wimp. He asked the Lord to remove it three times, but the Lord had purposes for this ailment. Notice what happened.
Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
You can muddle through your dilemma with your own resources or enlist the resources of heaven. But you must conciously turn to Him in faith. He has all you need … and more.
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