My Source of Strength.....

 

Everyone's physical strength differs from person to person. Most of the time, it depends on your bodily frame, how well you take care of yourself, or it may even be determined by how often you are sick. Everyone is NOT the same, and some can't be as strong as others. But, praise the Lord, SPIRITUALLY there are no limitations to our strength-all because of Jesus! This is because He is our Source of Strength!

 

First, He is our Source of Strength for Salvation. Since we cannot save ourselves, it is fully through His strength alone. "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; HE also is become my salvation."  Isaiah 12:2. The Lord made this truth plain and simple for us to understand. He could not have said it any clearer than that! He is the strength of our salvation and is our salvation! It is as eternal as He is! Since He is eternal, so is our salvation! "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, BUT BY HIS OWN BLOOD He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us!." Hebrews 9:12. Our source of salvation is eternally strong through His precious blood that will NEVER lose its power!

 

Secondly, He is our Source of Strength for Service. Serving the Lord day after day, month and after month, and year after year can become tiring to us physically because we are human. But the source of strength for this service is the Lord Himself! "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. STRENGTHENED WITH ALL MIGHT, according to His glorious POWER, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." Colossians 1:10&11. When we are weary in body and mind, He is the inner source of our strength that  renews our spirit and keeps us going for Him!"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (bodies), that the exellency of the POWER may be OF GOD, and not of us...For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inner man is renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:7& 16.  "But they that wait upon the Lord, SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31 " ...for the joy of the Lord is your STRENGTH."  Nehemiah 8:10c. Our source of strength in service, to keep on keeping on, is the Lord Himself!

 

Lastly, He is our Source of Strength FOR Strength! We cannot live our daily lives for the Lord without His strength and help. "...The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1b. "The Lord is their strength , and he is the saving strength of his anointed." Psalm 28:8. Since He is our strength for living, we have an unending source because He is always with us. It is always available to us at anytime or moment that we need help, which is ALWAYS! " ... I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Hebrews 13:5b. Knowing that our supply of strength is never-ending, we can boldy say, " I can do ALL things through Christ which STRENGTHENETH me!" Phillipians 4:13.

 

As news reporters quote their "sources" when giving the news, I am happy to quote my "SOURCE", God's Holy word, that our ETERNAL SOURCE gives us strength for Salvation, Service and Strength to live for Him! In Christ Alone is our strength for ALL things!

 This song, "In Christ Alone" by the Booth Brothers is about Christ being our Source of Strength. I hope it is a blessing to you as it was to me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Till the Storm Passes By...

 

This Pilgrim Way has many storms and problems, 

 Man-born of woman-few of days and full of troubles.

But as God's child, we will not have to walk alone!

He tenderly loves and cares for His Own!

As I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
This way seems dark-my soul in distress!
Unsure what lies ahead in this fearful place,
Be not far from me O, Lord,
My Strength from thee,  PLEASE haste!
Feeling alone as the shadows draw nearer me,
"Peace," speaks the Master, "I will NEVER leave thee."

Onward we go-not turning aside,
Lift me up forever-In the ROCK I will hide!
Holding my hand, leading by waters still,
Comfort from the Shepherd,
Completely trusting HIS WILL!

HELPED! CALMED! STRENGTHENED!
Ready through this storm to pass_
Darkness starts to fade_
His Lamp lighting my path!

How long will this shadow hover in the sky?
Makes no difference now, since the SAVIOUR IS NIGH!....
I'll call on His Name..... 'til the storm passes by!


 

Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!!!!!

 

Yes! I went there! We've all heard this popular saying, thanks to the internet and social media. Everyone is busy these days, doing many things that are of necessity. But, what about spiritual things, Christian? As a child of God, there really is no way to separate the necessities FROM the work of the Lord. What are we SUPPOSED to be doing? And, what do we really not have time for?

 

First of all, we don't have time for SLEEPING. No, I don't mean physical sleep, as that this is how the Lord made our human bodies. We have to get rest in order to function. The Lord even told His disciples to "come ye yourselves apart into desert place, and rest a while..." Mark 6:31. What we do not have time for is spiritual SLEEP! "..knowing the time, that now it is HIGH TIME TO AWAKE OUT OF SLEEP: for our salvation is nearer than when we believed." We have been rocked to sleep, most of the time unknowingly, by the devil's rocking chair, and been unconscious toward the spiritual tasks at hand! "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids... How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." Proverbs 6: 4, 9-11. Sometimes we fall short of the job the Lord would have for us to do because we become so consumed with worldly things. As the verse said, we can become as a vagabond that travels or wanders with nothing, or a thief (armed man) that has nothing, if we don't stay vigilant in serving the Lord. We will lack substance in our spiritual lives. We can be coasting through our daily lives and not realize that we haven't accomplished anything for the Lord that day. Days become weeks, weeks become months, and months become years, and still NOTHING has been done for the Lord. "AWAKE to righteousness, and sin not; for SOME HAVE NOT the knowledge of God: I speak this to your SHAME." I Corinthians 15:34. We ALL NEED TO WAKE UP! Souls are at stake!

 

Secondly, we don't have time for SLOTHFULNESS! Romans 12:11 says, "NOT SLOTHFUL in business; fervent in spirit: SERVING THE LORD;". We are to be fervently serving the Lord, not laxidazy, or lazily. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye STEDFAST, UNMOVEABLE, ALWAYS ABOUNDING in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." I Corinthians 15:58. We should give full energy to the things of God. Did He not give His all for us? Just as Christ was always preaching, may we " do the work of an evangelist.." " Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold I say unto you, LIFT UP YOUR EYES, AND LOOK ON THE FIELDS; FOR THEY ARE WHITE ALREADY TO HARVEST." John 4:35.II Timothy 4:5. "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James 4:17

 

Lastly, we don't have time for SLACKNESS! "And whatsoever ye do, DO IT HEARTILY, as unto the Lord, and not unto men. Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward.." Colossians 3:23 &24a. We should give the utmost care and attention to serving the Lord. If it is done half-heartedly, it's slackness. "See then that ye WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY, not as fools, but as WISE. REDEEMING THE TIME, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:15-17.  Dr. Aiken used to always give us this example at Bible college-To walk circumspectly, he said, was like a cat walking along a picket fence, knowing that on one side was a pit bull, and a Doberman pincher on the other! Get the idea! If we do what we want to do, pleasing ourselves, we are liable to get in a lot of trouble, fall on our faces, and thus hinder the cause of Christ! We should also abstain from slackness because the Lord is not slack! " The Lord is not SLACK concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." II Peter 3:9.

 

Ain't nobody got time for spiritual SLEEPING, SLOTHFULNESS, OR SLACKNESS!  WE need to WAKE UP, GET BUSY, AND WALK THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and WE ARE NOT SAVED!" Jeremiah 8:20. Think back to that time, O Chrisitan, when you were not saved!  God help us to remember that it's only by His grace that we are saved today! "WALK IN WISDOM TOWARD THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT, REDEEMING THE TIME." Colossians 4:5. "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."Matthew 25:13