THE REASON YOU MUST DEPEND ON THE LORD - PART 4

SATURDAY 31 DECEMBER 2022

One of the reasons we must depend on God is that He gives us the power or strength to live the Christian life, in full accord and harmony with His perfect will. Let's find out more!

Reference: Isaiah 58:11 New Living Translation (NLT) "The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring."

Before dwelling on or expounding the next detail in the above verse, let me just point us to the truth that the strength the Lord offers is mainly for accomplishing His great purpose on earth. The Lord restores our strength. In another way, He renews it, meaning that His strength is, or must be everything to us. The Psalmist acknowledged this in Psalm 23:3 (NLT): "He renews my strength..." This strength is the symbol of divine energy, and it rises to its higher significance as we acknowledge it more in our lives. For instance, apostle Paul acknowledged it by saying, "I can do all this through Him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13 NIV). And I once noted that divine strength is like an edifice erected within us for effective service to God.

The Greek rendering for the word, "strength", denotes power, force, virtue, might, potency. In Ephesians 1:18-19 (NIV), apostle Paul defined the power of God as mighty strength. The verse reads, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength." Notice his final utterance, "That power is the same as the mighty strength." Then in Ephesians 3:16 (NKJV), He prayer that God would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.

As born again Christians, it's always needful to be strengthened with might in our inwardness through the Spirit. Paul understood the importance. Zero wonder he mentioned it in Philippians 4:13 by saying, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." You can't function as a successful Christian or accomplish anything for the Kingdom of God, if divine strength is not operational in your inner being. To instantiate this, in Colossians 1:29 (NLT), Paul stated: "That's why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me." Divine strength is the power that worked mightily within Paul, which in turn, empowered him to accomplish daring feat or glorious exploits for Christ in his day.

In what ways can we position ourselves to renew this strength? One of the ways is to wait on the Lord, for the Bible says, "Those who wait for the Lord's help find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired" (Isaiah 40:31). If your hope and trust are firmly fixed on the Lord, He will continually renew your strength. By that strength, you shall mount up with wings as eagles; you shall run, and not be weary; you shall walk, and not faint, meaning that you will accomplish great things without failure. Therefore as you wait on the Lord by trusting in Him, by having great expectations, and by preparing in a prayerful manner - for the coming year, you will gain new strength and renew divine power. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Exodus 15:2; 1 Chronicles 16:11; Psalm 18:32-34; Isaiah 30:15.

Exuberant Declaration: The Lord is my light, my strength and my salvation; He is the stronghold of my life. His great power is the same as the mighty strength at work in me and it designs all my endeavours with colourful accomplishments. Hallelujah!