THE LORD IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS AND STRENGTH

TUESDAY 09 NOVEMBER 2021

Righteousness and strength that come from God are the true gift and characteristic blessing of the gospel of grace. They walk side by side, as mutually perfect gift in the same order of supernatural insight or phenomenon that positions us to walk in line with God's will.

Reference: Isaiah 45:24 New Living Translation (NLT) 'The people will declare, "The LORD is the source of all my righteousness and strength."'

As born again Christians, our righteousness and strength are from the Lord. He is the source of the righteousness of the saints. Simply put, all who walk faithfully with God have one thing in common: They confess that God alone is righteous, and that their righteousness and strength are derived from Him.

The righteousness from God makes us right and just. Therefore, a righteous person is not one who lives a devouted religious and decent life, rather He is one who has received the ability to walk in the correct path, which is doing things in the ways of God. We are unfit to please God without His righteousness and strength. And we can't find fault with God's righteousness because He is overly perfect. This is why a decent clean-living individual does not equal to a righteous person.

How then do we obtain this righteousness which is from God? As informed by the Spirit of God in the Scriptures, God's kind of righteousness is only found in Christ. In other words, it is an attribute of God which is only available in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:9 (NIV) reads, "And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith." So this righteousness is the character trait or quality of being just or right through faith in Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:22 says, "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile" (NIV). Therefore, to be in the right, which is to be justified, or to be just or righteous before God, we must receive Christ by faith and be in Christ. Anyone can be made right with God by placing their faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who they are. Romans 1:17: 'For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith"' (BSB).

However there is another truth about us in Christ, which is the strength that comes from God. Ephesians 3:16 (NLT) reads, "I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit." This strength comes from an indwelling power. That means, our strength is empowered by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to dwell within us and to guide us into all truth. The inner man is the seat of divine influence in every born again Christian. And when we are strengthened with might by the Spirit of God in the inner man, we function in harmony with the divine will.

Furthermore, the main purpose of being filled with this inner strength is to make and keep us strong, so we can actively live the supernatural life granted to us by the Spirit of God in this present world. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Isaiah 54:17; Job 23:6; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:13; Ephesians 6:10.

Guided Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, I honour you today because you are the only source of my righteousness and strength. Thank you for the gift of the precious Holy Spirit who is the strength-giving power at work in my inward man. The aptness of my spirit to function in step with the Spirit is the evidence of His power distinctly active in me. Therefore I declare that I'm full of the Holy Ghost and I walk in righteousness; I'm strong in His might and I increase in His strength which He supplies me daily for effective Christian service and a glorious life in Christ. Thankfully, it is a great privilege in Christ, to live a continuous, supernatural life in the midst of the material world in Jesus' Name, Amen!