When you think that you're
losing the battle...
losing the battle...
Just remember that
with Christ,
the battle is
--- already won.
with Christ,
the battle is
--- already won.
Tuesday's Trust
The Power of Weakness
The Power of Weakness
How many of us feel we are losing the battle?
I Know Very Often I Do!
This message I speak not only to you... It is a message my own heart needs to hear.
Over and over. . .
(All of my posts in fact are messages to my war-torn heart, just as I hope they are to yours...)
In a world that touts strength, what are we to make of our weakness?
In a world that says, "Move On," "Just Do It!" who are we to wait on God amidst our abject weakness?
In a culture that says, "You need to have a plan," what are we to do when all "our" plans are shot?
Ephesians 6:10-13,16-18 (NASB):
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm….
16 (I)n addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
In a world that values life and strength, what are we to make of Jesus' subjecting Himself to death, even death on a cross, and crying out at His most vulnerable moment,
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
(Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34)
Yes, if you're like me, we are broken; it feels we have no strength left.
And yet, God comes TO the broken-hearted. His very presence IS our strength.
…17The righteous cry, and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.…
~Psalm 34:17-19 NASB
And Jesus, on that merciless cross, before breathing some of His last suffocating breaths, declares,
"It is Finished!"
His mightiest work was done when His body was at its weakest.
He fought the enemy on that cross, and won for us Victory over Death.
He won for our child Victory over Death!
It was Jesus that declared,
"The person who believes in Me will live… even though s/he dies."
Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in me, even though he dies, will live."
~John 11:25 ISV
Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying."
~John 11:25 NLT
God knew how to move Heaven and earth for our child to get our child from this earth with all its seductions and traps of the enemy
into His glorious Heaven surrounded forever by her Father's Love.
Does He not know how to help us as well?
The most important battle of our lives, as parents, has been fought and won when our precious child enters into God's presence to live eternally with HIM.
When we look to Jesus and depend on HIM, and teach our children to look to Jesus and depend on HIM, it is IN HIM, not our own strength, that our salvation is won.
It is by FAITH we are saved, "NOT OF WORKS lest any man should boast."
So why are we so obsessed by "works," or the lack thereof? Apart from God, we can do nothing.
If we lean on God, cry out for His help, He can do anything through us, weakened though we may be!
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
~Ephesian 2:8-9 (NASB)
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
~Ephesian 2:8-9 (NKJV 2000)
Our weakness does not matter! What matters is our putting all of our trust in our LORD, and HE does the work No Man can do in his own strength.
So trusting HIM, EVEN in our weakness, we, like our child in her own weakness, can watch as our God fights our battles, our most important battles, FOR us.
If our Father, despite our own weakness, got our precious child to Heaven, can He not also fight any of the battles we face each day?
Our weakness is not the point; it is what we allow God's Spirit to do IN our weakness that is important.
Remember when Satan taunts you with any of your worst fears when you are at your most vulnerable, Jesus declared from His most weakened state upon the cross,
"It is finished!"
Rest in Him and His work for you.
~~~~~
"Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so,
Little ones to Him belong,
WE are weak but He is strong.
"Yes, Jesus loves me,
Yes, Jesus loves me,
Yes, Jesus loves me,
The Bible tells me so."
How many times have we sung this song?
Do we yet believe it?
God's love, His love through His Son, is almost too amazing to believe, truly believe!
But it is real.
And we really need it.
May we open our hearts to receive it!
~~~
~~~
When our little 2 1/2 year old granddaughter spent the night with us last night, she called me into "her room" with tears in her eyes, unable as she was to get to sleep. She asked me, rather implored me:
"Can you read to me about 'Jejus'?"
When she did, the LORD of the Heavens came down to minister to this tiny, little vulnerable child.
Her strength was not the issue.
His strength that poured out in His love for her was what mattered.
Her heart cried out; our LORD heard her cry.
May we too "read about 'Jejus,'" (this same Jesus who died on that cross for us because He loves us so much) looking to HIM, seeking HIM, and trusting HIM to fight our battles and pour out His healing love into our broken hearts!
This child who is a wee baby, who can barely pronounce Jesus' name, already has the love of God poured into her heart that even at age 2 1/2, she knows she can call on Him!
Out of the mouth of babes!
May we too have the courage of this precious child to cry out to Him.
As He describes His great love for us in Psalm 18 below, may He split the Heavens to come down to us!
Psalm 18:4-19 (NIV):
4The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
7The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.d
14He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
16He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
http://biblehub.com/niv/psalms/18.htm
"The Battle is already won" graphic, thanks to
Spiritually Uplifting Lauren ~Pinterest
All other graphics, thanks to
2012- Love and Loss on Facebook
NASB = New American Standard Bible
NKJV 2000 = King James 2000 Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment