Tag Archives: strength

Encouragement – Hebrews 10:19-25

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Today’s Our Daily Bread, reminds me not only that I am completely gutted I am not running the London Marathon this year, but also of how important encouragement has been to me throughout any of my marathons.  It is strange that even when you are at that dreaded mile 20 – 22, and your legs feel like folding under you, and you have hit that proverbial wall, one shout of encouragement can really fill you with a new burst of energy and determination of which you never expected!

When I ran the Nottingham Marathon 2 years ago, I was at around mile 23, my friend Lon had been biking along side me the whole way offering encouragement and plenty of water.  I was close to tears and giving in when he suddenly biked on ahead, and somehow got an entire restaurant to start shouting in unison “Go Lee”.  Partly them embarrasment, but also the inspiration from all those encouraging words spurred me on to complete my first ever marathon (and at the time I thought is should probably be my last…  2 years on and I haven’t learnt that lesson!)

Verse 24 says: Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

(NLT)

Our Christian lives are very much like a marathon.  There are temptations left right and centre drawing us to them, there are many people who do not understand what we are so passionate about and they can sometimes be cruel, or inconsiderate.  Busy lives with work, family and hobbies can pull us away from church and or time with the Lord.  There are many times that we can hit that proverbial wall!  That is why it is so important we do what we are being told here.  Encourage one another.

Just as my strength was renewed on the Nottingham Marathon, our strength, our confidence, our sense of doing the right thing, our love for the Lord, our passion for Him can be renewed within a heart beat by one kind and encouraging word.  We can build each other up using encouraging words, words of truth from the Bible as well as prayer.  Coming together as groups of believers and sharing fellowship is so important if we are to keep running the race.  Without other Christian brothers and sisters to cheer you on, there is a temptation to stop, veer off the race track, no not finish the race.   Church, fellowship, Bible Study and socialising with Christians?  An absolute MUST!

Who is God? – Psalm 146

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Who is God? A question that to which you may get many different answers. A close friend of mine things God is a guy in the clouds with a white beard who throws thunderbolts down from heaven and makes rules for us all to follow. His idea of God sounds much like the god Zeus from Greek mythology, and I seem to remember featured in the film Fantasia! Unfortunately as strange as it seems, he probably isn’t the only one who has this image of God. Many people have stereotyped God in a way that makes them feel comfortable, and perhaps they can then feel justified for not wanting a relationship with Him.

Surprisingly, even Christians can be guilty of creating an image of God for themselves of which does not truly reflect Him or His nature.  If we want to see who God is, we need to turn to His Word, for the Word is Truth.  Looking at the scriptures and statements below, we can start to see a loving Father God:

God is Love.
1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (NIV)

He is our Father.


Isaiah 64:8  Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; We are all the work of your hand. (NIV)

He is the Creator.
Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Genesis 1:1  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

He is Powerful
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (NIV)

Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (NIV)

He Loves Us

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

(NIV)

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (NIV)

The above are just a few verses that help us to understand who God is, and the only way to know Him better to to keep studying His Word, and communicating with Him in prayer.  We wouldn’t get very far in our relationships if we were not to talk to each other!  That’s why its important we work on our relationship with God and continue to want to know Him more and more each day.

The Holy Spirit – Romans 8:11-18

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Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen.  Hallelujah!  He has defeated sin and death and is sat at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us.  In the mean time it is our duty to go make disciples of ALL nations.  Our saviour didn’t expect us to do this on our own of course as human nature is weak and quick to give in!  He has poured His Holy Spirit into us so that we may have the necessary strength to witness.

On this Easter Sunday morning I am so encouraged and overjoyed as I remember that Christ rose again and ascended into heaven having completed His work on earth….  The exciting thing is, although he completed that part of Gods plan, He is still working in the lives of countless Christians around the world through the power of His Holy Spirit.  It wasn’t the plan to die on the cross, tell a few people then disappear and wait for people to react! It was His plan to unleash power to those who believe that they may grow strong in faith and wisdom, and be a shining light to the lost to guide them home.

As Christians we need to embrace the full power of the Holy Spirit!  The Holy Spirit is real and so important to the Christian life!  The Spirit is not something we should avoid talking about in church, nor is it something we should assume is a taboo subject.  We are talking about Gods OWN Holy Spirit that he has poured out to give you and me strength!  Not only did He give His life, but He is here among us and in our hearts continuing His works in our lives.

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

I remember when this finally dawned on me that I was a child of God!  My first words were WOW!  Of course wow doesn’t even do the honour justice!  Because of Jesus death and resurrection, we as believers are adopted into God’s family!  In the UK, and adopted child becomes a lawful son or daughter, and legaly inherits an equal share of their adopted parents estate.  We are His Sons and Daugthers.  Heirs to the Kingdom.  We will inherit eternal life with Him.   WOW!

With that we need to rid ourselves of things that would cause us to sin, things that would enslave us.  For we need to be living each day by the Spirit.  For just as Jesus was raised from the dead, the Spirit will raise us from the dead (the depths of Sin) and bring us new life!  Amen

Refuge and Strength – Psalm 71:1-16

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1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 (NIV)

When things go wrong who do we turn to?  In the past friends could have let us down, our work and colleagues could have let us down, even people at church.  When people attack us, again who do we turn to?  In lifes stresses and strains, who can we turn to for strength, for rest, for relaxation, for sanctuary, for protection, for comfort, for wisdom, for everything we need to move on and conquer any issue.

Our help comes from the Lord:

 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

 2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121: 1-2 (NIV)

God truly is our refuge and strength.  With Him on our side, we can meet and exceed all the demands in life.  After all he is the Creator God who made all things!  In this fast paced life, we can often forget to seek the Lords help in situations, and we can complete yet another day without stopping for a moment

and asking for His help, without focusing on Him and the Word for refuge, strength, guidance and comfort.

When the going is tough, we should seek Him in his Word (the Bible), in prayer and in Fellowship.

Dealing with Loss – Ruth 1:8-17

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16 “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.

17 Where you die I will die, and there

I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

Despite being faced with the loss of her husband, Ruth was adamant that she was going to stick with Naomi.  She didn’t give in, run away, and leave her old life behind her.  Ruth put her relationship with God, and others first looking beyond what had just transpired, and contemplating the future.

We can learn a lot from this.  When we have lost a loved one, or something in life we hold dear, we need to turn to the Lord for strength.  He will wrap his loving tender arms around us, and comfort us.  He will give us strength to cope and to begin to look toward the future.  And even to start to step out toward that future, instead of being stuck still in sadness and hopelessness.

I pray that I can emulate the strength, character and determination that Ruth displays in these verses.

Through Christ – Philippians 4:10-19

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13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Just a couple of days ago, I was researching worry.  The passage was Matthew 6:25-34 in which Jesus gets us to ask questions about why we are worrying to help us see the pointlessness of worrying.  He emphasises that point with Matthew 6:27;

27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

…you will gain no extra hours in life by worrying! The conclusion of it was to seek His Kingdom and to trust in the Lord for all our needs.

Strength is also one of our needs.  I think back to the times when I have needed strength and yet not turned to Christ.  I can remember many failures, and many times I ran away from a situation.  Equally however, I am encouraged firstly by this verse, but also secondly by memories of when I have turned to Him, and he has never let me down.  When we do give your worries and our problems to Christ, he will give us the strength to get through.

Two are always better than one, so we shouldn’t always try “going it alone”.  With the creator on our side who else can be against us

?

Trust in Him – Psalm 27

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King David’s Psalm here talks of trusting and waiting on the Lord.

In all the hard times, David is asking the Lord for protection and strength.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Verse 14 in a nutshell? Trust in the Lord. In the good times and the bad, we should trust in the Lord, focus our attention on Him, and we will will be strengthened.

In many other readings I have realised how often we can try “going it alone” in life and following our own desires, and yet when the going gets tough, we crumble, things go wrong around us. Issues seem unsolvable, things can get pretty bleak. We so often forget our loving saviour is there just waiting on us to turn to Him, and to Trust in Him.

Trust in Him and he will give you protection and strength.

Footprints – Isaiah 46:1-11

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4 Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

This reminds me of the “Footprint’s in the Sand” poem. In brief a man walks with the Lord on the beach. Looking at the footprints he notices that during the hard times in his life, there are only one set of footprints. He asks the Lord, “where where you during those times”. And the Lord answered, “I was with you, they are my footprints as I carried you!”

What an amazing Father God we have.

We often forget in the hard times in life that we can turn to our loving Father in heaven, for comfort and strength. He will litteraly carry us and support us through the tough times as well as enjoy our good times with us!

There have been 2 deaths in our family over the past couple of weeks, so times have been sad. The whole time however, God has surrounded our family with loving Christians offering help, support and comfort.

He has also provided many comforting words from the Bible to help us come to terms with recent events!

He is true to His word, and just as He is with us during these hard times, comforting and strengthening us, and just as he promised the House of Jacob all those hundreds of years ago, He WILL also do the same for you. Reach out to your Father who will carry you when you can go on no more.

Affliction – Psalm 119:65-80

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Today’s devotional picks out 2 verses that speak to our daily struggles:

Psalm 119:67,71

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.

71 It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.

Whatever the Psalmist’s affliction, instead of becoming embittered and blaming the Lord, he actually thanked the Lord for the affliction! My initial reaction was Why?

“So that I might learn your decrees”.

When an event happens in your life be it good or bad, there is always the opportunity to learn a lesson from it.

I tend to find though, that I usually learn something more from a bad situation and tend not to forget it! I don’t think we are asking the Lord to send bad times to us so we can become wise, but at the same time, we can thank him for the wisdom and thirst for him that we nurture during those times.

Our God is a God of comfort, a tower of strength, and ever present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). Through the power of his Holy Spirit, during times of difficulty, he will be there with us, comforting us, guiding us, making us stronger. And as a result of those situations, we will come to appreciate other things in life that perhaps we had not considered before, or simply took for granted.

Although I would like the rest of my life to be picture perfect and rosy, I know there will be troubled times ahead. I pray that each experience will be a learning experience, and that I will come through them with renewed and strengthened faith. In Jesus name, Amen.

My Rock and My Fortress – Psalm 31:1-8

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This Psalm is a prayer for

help.  The writer is asking God for strength, comfort and wisdom (Psalm 31:3).  Looking back at my own life, there have been so many times when I have been scared, lacked the wisdom to deal with an awkward situation or lacked the strength to see something through to the end.  Of course each time, I was “going it alone” and relying on myself to get through the day.

All it takes is a simple prayer, opening your heart to God and asking for his strength comfort and wisdom and you are no longer alone.  There is no situation in this Universe that the Lord cannot provide his Love for.

As in the latter verses, I must also remember to praise God for this time and the many other times that he has been with me through the good and the bad (Psalm 31:7-8).