Tag Archives: Strength

Strength in the Lord

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The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
(Psalm 28:7)

Here in Cherokee we continue the ongoing work of Flood Relief, now in the middle of our third week.  We are making progress, moving houses off the clean-up list, but there is still a lot to do.  The community has really come together to provide financial relief to the flood victims, and we are doing our best to meet the needs that we know about.  The need is great, but our God is greater still, and by His grace we will continue to help those in need.

Still, in the middle of helping others, I thought it might be good to take a moment to write about helping the helpers.  After three weeks of blood, sweat, and tears, our volunteers are exhausted, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  How do you nurture your own spirit when day in and day out you are nurturing others?  How do you keep your love of neighbor from drying up like the caked mud we’ve been mucking out of basements?

Here are a few thoughts to encourage the encouragers:

You are not the Savior

When you show up to help someone in need, the gratitude and kindness you receive can often be payment enough.  But it can also go to your head.  You are providing something that they cannot do for themselves, you are a much needed kindness, you are a light in a time of darkness, but you are not the Light, you are not their Savior.

The desire to help those in need is good, the longing to give in love as Christ has given to you is beautiful, but you must always remember, you cannot meet their greatest need.  You can give everything you have, but they will still need more.  You can even lay down your life, but there is only one life that was sufficient to meet the needs of a hungry and broken world.

Remind yourself of this: “The people don’t need me, they need Christ.”  Your work should ultimately show others his goodness, his strength, the sufficiency of his care and provision

You are not strong enough

Okay, so that may not sound very encouraging, but bear with me for a moment.

In whatever you do, it is good to know your limitations.  Trying to do more than you are able can lead to disaster, both for you and for those you are trying to help.  The fact of the matter is, on your own you are not strong enough to carry the load of those around you.  If you try you will be crushed under their burden.  On your own you are not wise enough to sort out all the problems of those you are trying to help.  On your own you are inadequate for the situation at hand.

But you are not on your own.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, “Such is the confidence we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent, to be ministers of a new covenant” (2 Cor 3:4-5).  He is the one who makes you adequate.  He is the one who makes you strong.

When God called Moses to deliver Israel from slavery, Moses was quick to point out his inadequacies for the job, saying, “Who am I that I should go?”  But God reminded him, “I will be with you…” (Exodus 3:11-12).

When you walk with the Lord and serve one another, the very presence of God is your strength and your shield.  His shoulders are strong enough for the burdens you carry, His wisdom is great enough for the problems you face, His arms reach to the farthest corners of the world, His hands have never failed.

Psalm 118:14  The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

Find your joy in the Lord

I think it is safe to say that if you don’t have joy in what you are doing, you won’t do it for very long.  No one willing stays at a job that makes him miserable.  When you are wading through the rubble of people’s lives, crying with them as you realize the magnitude of their loss, all joy can quickly fade.  Love in action hurts, and it can often rob you of your joy.

Don’t let it.  Keep your eyes on Christ, and remember all that He has done for you.  He sought you out when you were lost.  He love you when you were unlovable.  He was faithful to you when you rebelled against Him.  He bore the weight of God’s wrath for your sins though He was sinless.  He died the death that was meant for you, and rose from the dead to give you eternal life.  You couldn’t ask for a greater friend, a greater love, a stronger Savior.

When you consider the “breadth and length and height and depth… the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,” such a love will fill you with joy; joy overflowing into the lives of those around you.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, keep your mind on his love, his grace, his mercy; and let that be the foundation of yours.

SDG

The Found Prophecy for You

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“In accordance with the prophecies previously made about you…”
(I Timothy 1:18 (ESV))

Until recently, I don’t know that I had ever really paid much attention to the verse listed above.  It is something we normally just gloss over as we read the letter to Timothy.  Still, it has tremendous value; at least it did for Timothy.

Paul’s first letter to Timothy was written to encourage this young pastor to faithfulness in his calling, to stand against the false teaching that had crept into the community of faith, “to wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.”  Timothy had a lot going against him.  He was young – even Paul kept referring to him as “my child” – and so might have had a hard time being received with authority and respect.  He was from questionable lineage; his mother was a Jew, his father a gentile.  In a church that had been plagued with a false teaching preoccupied with myths and genealogies, Timothy’s heritage didn’t help his reception as a pastor.

So Paul writes to encourage Timothy.  In one of the most wonderful treatments on the grace of God in Jesus Christ Paul shows how, if he, who once persecuted the church in his ignorance and unfaithfulness, could now be considered worthy and faithful for the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God, then it is no stretch of the imagination that Timothy should also be entrusted with this calling.  Timothy’s age, heritage, or brokenness neither supports nor negates his calling.  Rather, his sufficiency is from God, “who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant” (2 Cor 3:6).

But there is one other thing that Timothy had going for him: he had a prophecy.  There is not account of this, no record of what was said.  We see in Acts how prophets were instrumental in calling and sending individuals in the church.  When Paul/Saul is blinded on the road to Damascus, Ananias receives a prophetic word from the Lord to share with Paul (Acts 9:10-17).  When Paul and Barnabus and others were gathered in Antioch for prayer, the Spirit of God gave them a prophetic word that Paul and Barnabus were to be set apart for the work to which God had called them (Acts 13:1-3).  Apparently, there was a prophetic word concerning Timothy (actually, more than one, since the word is plural).  It would be pure speculation to try to guess what was said, but it was received as a word of the Lord.  For Paul, this prophecy should have been the driving force behind Timothy’s ministry.  He had been called to this.  In accordance with the prophecies, Timothy would wage the good warfare, hold faith and a good conscience.  The road ahead would surely be difficult; there would be opposition and frustration.  However, considering the nature of his call, the charge with which he was entrusted, and the prophesies concerning his faithfulness, Timothy had a treasure of encouragement and strength to equip him for anything he could possibly face.

But what about you and me?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a prophecy about you, something to say, here’s how you’ll fare?  Harry Potter had one, look how he turned out.  Neo, from the Matrix, had a prophecy about him, and sometimes learning to believe the prophecy in spite of all the evidence to the contrary gave him the confidence to become what he was supposed to be.  Is there a prophecy, a promise, something out there to give us strength and encouragement for these days?  Wouldn’t it be comforting to have a word from the Lord that we could fall back on when we feel like giving up?

We do have such a promise.  The word of the Lord might not mention you by name, but it is yours nonetheless.  Consider the following verses:

  • Jer 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
  • Rom 8:11 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
  • 2 Cor. 4:1 “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.”
  • 1 John 5:4 “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.”

I could go on, but there is no end to the promises afforded to us in God’s Word.  Whatever you may face today, God’s word for you will bring peace, contentment, joy, satisfaction, hope, and encouragement.  Won’t you take it up and read?

May you be strengthened and encouraged by the time you spend before God in His Word.

SDG