Strength

     For every task, we need the strength that is required to complete that task.  Whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual, without strength we are unable to fulfil our responsibilities and desires.  The Bible has a lot to say about walking in strength.  Isaiah tells us in chapter 40:28-31 that even the youths will faint and become weary, and the young men will fall.  But Isaiah gives us an answer for weariness.  "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  The Lord promises strength to those who wait on Him.  When we look to Him, and put our hope and trust in the Lord, we will be strengthened to do what we need to do. 
     Here's a beautiful promise found in Matt. 11:28-30, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  Coming to Jesus and bringing our heavy loads to Him brings rest and peace to our souls.  We are able to go on with our lives without the heavy loads of care and worry holding us down. 
     Jeremiah had become discouraged as he continued to preach and no one was listening.  But the Lord challenged him to rise up with more strength.  "If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?  And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?"  Jer. 12:5.  In other words, things will get worse.  The trials can become more intense.  If you are already weary in a time of peace, what will you do when you engage the enemy?  We need additional strength to go through more trials that will be coming in our lives.  We need to strengthen ourselves in the Lord now. 
     Here are a couple of Paul's prayers for strength for the church; Eph. 3:16 "...strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man..."  and Col. 1:11 "...strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience with longsuffering with joy."  Paul's prayers for the church show us that we need supernatural strength in our lives.  Paul reveals the secret to his life in Phil. 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  Paul never relied on his own strength, but found an inner strength from Christ to which he attributed all his achievements.  "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me, (I am ready for anything, and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self sufficient in Christ's sufficiency." Amplified version.
     David talked about finding God as the strength of his life.  Ps. 18:1 "I will love You, O Lord, my strength."  Vs. 2 "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation , my stronghold."  David felt so strong in God that he says in vs. 29, "For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall."  May you be infused with supernatural strength today, to rise up and do all that God has put in your heart.