I had the opportunity to speak to an amazing church body in Phnom Penh. I have been with Dave’s team for most of the month (Andrea, Elaina, Rachael, Natalie, Allison, and Daniel). We have been teaching English throughout the week (mostly to the youth). Then, on Sunday one of us preaches and two others speak in the Sunday school classes. This week, it was my turn to speak!
I thought I would share in a blog what the Lord gave me to share with the church…It’s about true strength.
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Today we’re going to look at what it means to be strong. Everyone wants to be strong, right? We want to survive, to be successful, to win, and even to have physical strength. These are popular human ideas of strength. But, what does it mean to be strong in the Lord? The Word calls us to qualities like humility, honesty, and vulnerability. This sounds completely opposite from the ideas of strength that I just talked about, though… So, I have a theory that I want to you think over:
It takes more strength to admit you need help, than to keep trying on your own.
Think about it! It takes strength to do difficult things. And, sometimes the most difficult thing to do is admit that we can’t do something on our own. So, if this is true, then we can look at the idea from this perspective:
To ask the Lord for help increases our strength. To rely on our own abilities only increases our stubbornness.
So, turning to the Lord and being open and honest with Him is SO important. We can always be MORE open to God because He is never-ending. There will always be more to learn about who He is, and more of Him to experience in our lives.
There are 2 parts of being open to the Lord that I would like to focus on today. The first is Repentance. In explaining what repentance is, first I want to explain what repentance is NOT.
Repentance is NOT feeling guilty about how bad you are.
Repentance is NOT being upset because you got caught.
Repentance is NOT being mostly sorry, but really it’s not that big of a deal.
Repentance IS truly seeing the importance of our sin. It is fully seeing the way that our sin hurts ourselves, others, and the Lord, and being genuinely sorry for it.
Repentance comes from true love.
Do you know why God hates sin so much? He hates it because it separates Him from the ones He loves. In 1 John God is described as light. There is no darkness of sin in this light. When we choose sin, or fall into the enemy’s trap of sin, we have put a distance of darkness between ourselves and the Lord. Our Father loves us too much to settle for this distance. And, He loves us too much to watch us live in darkness.
This is why He sent Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins. All of the darkness of the human race was heaped on to one blameless man so that we all might find redemption, healing, life. Seems a little unfair, right? Seems lopsided and illogical?
That brings me to the second point of focus about being open with the Lord: Grace.
-Grace is a free gift from the Lord. When we receive the things we need from Him, we receive them by grace. Patience, Healing, Forgiveness, Salvation. Everything comes through the lifeline of His grace.
-Grace is complete. It is whole. Every sin, gift, and necessity is covered under the umbrella of grace.
-Grace is waiting for you. The Lord is consistent, and He is faithful.
Picture talking to the Lord on those children’s telephone sets made of two cans and a string. Grace is the string! 🙂 All you have to do is use your end of the telephone. (God’s got His covered.)
The Lord wants to be your strength. Christ did not come to condemn us, but to set us free. Free from the bondage of sin. Free from the rituals and rules of religion. Honest repentance and the humility to receive grace is the first step into this freedom. No one is perfect. We all need help all of the time. It’s a matter of turning to the Lord instead of ourselves. He can be trusted with anything.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul congratulates the church body for living in faith and loving each other well. Even still, he encourages them to allow the Lord to continue strengthening them.
Col. 1: 10-12 “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 t his glorious inheritance, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”
Right now I am relying on the Lord’s strength in my life. My team and I have been traveling for almost 9 months now. We go home in late November. I’m not really sure what life will look like when I get home. Where should I live? What job should I have? Should I go back to school? Is there a ministry I should start up? There are a lot of things up in the air for me. But, I know that God is bigger than my uncertainties. I know that He cares for me, and trust that He has a plan for me. I am doing my best to rely on His strength for the future, and trust His timing for the answers to all of my questions.
Sometimes there are big issues in life that push us toward the Lord. Maybe we go through a time with no money or food. Or, a loved one dies. Or, maybe we find ourselves completely unhappy and lonely. And, God is there for us in those times! Without a doubt, turn to Him and He will already be caring for you. But, the Lord also wants to be our strength on a daily basis. For those frustrations and daily struggles that we walk with every single day. He longs to be our strength and bring us healing through those things to.
Paul talks about his own weakness in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. In verse 7 he says that there is problem in his life that continues to plague him. He goes on to say that he asked the Lord 3 times to take it away. But, then He heard the Lord say, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength becomes full in your life in your weakness.” After this, Paul saw his struggle from a completely different perspective. He realized that his weakness was just an opportunity to have more of the Lord’s power and presence in his life. Paul says, “Now I don’t let my limitations discourage me. I just let Christ take control.” *(More or less. I paraphrased it…)*
Through our weakness we can draw closer to the Lord. And, that is the best place to be!
If you are dealing with something right now, maybe a struggle with sin or a hurtful situation, please take it to Jesus. He is right here for you, waiting for you to ask for His strength. Or maybe you have just realized that there are ways you could be trusting Jesus more in your life. That is awesome! Please, open up to Him more right now, and allow Him to be and even more important part of your life.
The Lord has such huge, amazing plans for each of us, and it is by His strength that they are accomplished.
AMEN!
