Sunday, February 07, 2010

The Joy of the Lord is My Strength - Nehemiah 8:10

Nehemiah penned these exact words long ago and we would be wise to embed these words into every crevice of our hearts. God's joy is what makes us strong when we are so spent and weak. It is He in us Who is greater than he that us in the world.

As we look upon the Lord to fill us with His strength to make it through the day, to encourage others in their own ways, to serve our families, uplift our friends, pray for relatives and give what we have to the poor, keep in mind our own strength in this life is just not enough. If you haven't already figured that out, you will soon enough.

We believe our strength can be multiplies, extended, built up and exercised without limits, but even Jesus had times He knelt before His Father in weariness to get refueled, energized and recharged Himself. Now if the Son of God had times He plugged into God's strength to continue what was called of Him, do we not think ourselves to be in need of almighty God's strength as well?

Living this life on our own, without tapping into the awesome strength provided by God and through Jesus, is like running a marathon on one leg, dehydrated to the hilt, weak and without hope. Jesus equips us to do all we are called to accomplish, He is our living water, strengthens us beyond good measure and fills us with hope when the finish line has not yet appeared.

Take a moment today to kneel before Father God, humbling ourselves at His feet as we come boldly to the throne of grace. God is able to do exceedingly more than we could ever imagine, Ephesians 3:20, if we let Him. What are you waiting for? Be strengthened today!