God wants us to be strong. He wants us to be bold, courageous, and competent in the things that He's called us to do. He wants us to live life empowered by Him! And yesterday, the Lord spoke to me...and He told me to be strong:
"Be strong in everything you do, and give thanks to Me always..."
Simple stuff, yet what an effect it had on me. This wasn't an in-depth word, but it impacted me deeply. What encouragement; what direction! God knows how to hit you where it hurts--in a good way!
First, Some Backdrop...
To tell you the truth, I have not felt that strong recently. I wake up tired and go to bed tired. I walk around tired, at least more often than I'd like to. I'm in bad shape, compared to what what I was like as a cyclist years ago. Satan tries to get a doubt in...he tries to tell me I have chronic fatigue or some immune problems. What a lie! Nonetheless, I feel it, and the Lord has not yet allowed me to stay in perfect health.
And enough about me.... Vanessa has been tired for eight months. She's been very tired, with some sort of virus. God hasn't healed her. I've prayed for her, we've prayed for her, other healing evangelists have prayed for her. It doesn't make a difference. You can't escape God's will! And God's will for her, right now, is to be a 'Job'. *
See, even with her illness, God is pleased. Even with her fatigue, God is using her. Many people she's prayed for in the last 8 months time have been healed. Some have even been healed of chronic fatigue. God is pleased, and our trials don't stop His power from flowing through us. God is pleased, and He's given us these treasures in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7)!
What God Meant in What He Said
Anyways, when God said "be strong", He meant spiritually strong, yes--but He also meant it physically. The two are related! In this case, the spiritual comes first. We have our minds renewed. And then we are transformed (Romans 12:2), even transformed in our physical bodies, because the joy of the Lord leads to strength (Nehemiah 8:10)!
No matter how weak we are, if we turn to Him, we will find reserves of strength. We will find all surpassing power. We will find justification and empowerment to carry out His will. With God, we can't stay weak for very long! We may be tired for a day, we may be tired for a week, we may be tired for a year. But deliverance will come. We need to stay zealous, then--God's will is for us to come through! God's will is to subject us to no more than 'momentary affliction' (2 Corinthians 4:17). We need to know that God will not test us beyond what we can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). We need to hold onto our hope--the hope He's given us.
"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 12:9-10
*I know that this is a controversial topic...we'll make a blog post on it soon!
First, Some Backdrop...
To tell you the truth, I have not felt that strong recently. I wake up tired and go to bed tired. I walk around tired, at least more often than I'd like to. I'm in bad shape, compared to what what I was like as a cyclist years ago. Satan tries to get a doubt in...he tries to tell me I have chronic fatigue or some immune problems. What a lie! Nonetheless, I feel it, and the Lord has not yet allowed me to stay in perfect health.
And enough about me.... Vanessa has been tired for eight months. She's been very tired, with some sort of virus. God hasn't healed her. I've prayed for her, we've prayed for her, other healing evangelists have prayed for her. It doesn't make a difference. You can't escape God's will! And God's will for her, right now, is to be a 'Job'. *
See, even with her illness, God is pleased. Even with her fatigue, God is using her. Many people she's prayed for in the last 8 months time have been healed. Some have even been healed of chronic fatigue. God is pleased, and our trials don't stop His power from flowing through us. God is pleased, and He's given us these treasures in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7)!
What God Meant in What He Said
Anyways, when God said "be strong", He meant spiritually strong, yes--but He also meant it physically. The two are related! In this case, the spiritual comes first. We have our minds renewed. And then we are transformed (Romans 12:2), even transformed in our physical bodies, because the joy of the Lord leads to strength (Nehemiah 8:10)!
No matter how weak we are, if we turn to Him, we will find reserves of strength. We will find all surpassing power. We will find justification and empowerment to carry out His will. With God, we can't stay weak for very long! We may be tired for a day, we may be tired for a week, we may be tired for a year. But deliverance will come. We need to stay zealous, then--God's will is for us to come through! God's will is to subject us to no more than 'momentary affliction' (2 Corinthians 4:17). We need to know that God will not test us beyond what we can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). We need to hold onto our hope--the hope He's given us.
"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 12:9-10
*I know that this is a controversial topic...we'll make a blog post on it soon!
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