Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Only God's Strength

Want to feel strong?  Want to feel self-confident?  Want to handle things on your own?  If so, stay away from Jesus.  Jesus will expose your weaknesses, your sin, and your inability to do lasting good.  In fact, God often commands people to strip off their own strength in order to experience His blessing.

One place where we learn this is assigned as the gospel reading for Sep. 5 (see below).  We also see that in the story of Gideon and his army in Judges 7.  It's a key Bible lesson--we cannot and should not try to do anything significant without letting God take our own strength away so we rely completely on Him.

If you are experiencing weakness or fear, and if what you're dealing with is related to your relationship with the Lord, this is no time to try to get stronger on your own.  Instead, it's time to release everything to the Lord, emptying yourself so he can fill you with His strength alone.  And that strength is the most "real" thing in all the world.
Luke 14:25-33
25 Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, 26 "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, "This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
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