I'm Not Strong Enough.

STRONG WHEN I AM WEAK

Do you ever have those times when you feel like the hits keep coming? When it rains, it pours? When the storms in life keep coming and you think, “ok Lord I’m not sure how much more I can take”?

Then someone tells you, “When you are weak He is strong”. We hear that and far too often let that go in one ear and out the other without thinking much of this great truth.I can think of many times in my life, and to be honest the past couple weeks have felt like one thing after another keeps happening, and I wonder when I will have just one week of calmness…

Check out this song by Matthew West: Strong Enough <- click for video

As I’ve talked with friends, and heard Todd preach this past Sunday about all that Ann is going through it seemed fitting to share with you about these storms in life. You see more than often we rely on our own strength to get us through the days. We try to control and do things our own, it’s funny how strong and in control we think we are.

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” -1Corinthians 1:25

“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.” -Isaiah 31:1

Finally in times of brokenness we look to God for his will, his strength, his grace, his peace, “God will you do anything to just get me out of this situation, or make this better, or bring this back, or take this pain away…God I can’t do this, I need you.” Oh how the Lord rejoices when we come to him and realize how much we need him.

“Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”– Isaiah 66:2

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I’m not sure why bad things happen, and why sometimes it seems like more than we can bare, but I know my God. I know who he is. I know that he hasn’t promised us an easy road, but he has promised to see us through everything (Isaiah 41:10). Things may not play out how we’d like, but his plan is greater than mine. He is good. He is faithful and I trust him. He is a strong tower, a refuge, when I can’t seem to find my way or have the strength to get through the day (Proverbs 18:10). I believe there will be a day where there is no more crying, no more pain, no more death, and He will make everything new (Revelation 21). I believe that Christ has victory over all, and I can't wait for that day to come, but until then I have to keep an eternal perspective.

Do you believe God is for you? He is. Do you believe he loves you and is there to see you through? He loves you, and you are not alone.

How quickly we forget our SAVIOR. He is all we need. He is our strength, our hope, our trust, our everything. Have you forgotten him? Have you turned to him to help you through the storms of life? He understands your pain. Christ suffered. He is full of compassion and grace. He longs for us to rely on Him. That is why he suffered…a greater suffering than we will ever endure...

Isaiah 53

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

He understands your suffering. He will get you through the storms in life. The awesome thing is when you see God use those times of suffering later to help others and to comfort them. He redeems all and uses all things for His glory and our good. Believe that.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. -2 Corinthians 1:8-11

Praying for you all and that you would trust the Lord to see you through~

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