The Illusion Of Strength

“The king is not saved by his great army;

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

The war horse is a false hope for salvation,

and by its great might it cannot rescue.”

Psalm 33:16, 17

There is a tendency at times to try to go through life on our own. We try to show God we

got everything under control. We think He is impressed with our show of power, intelligence

and wit so we “power through” life when we should be looking to Him for strength.

You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders and think it’s cool but it’s not.

In the world, showing how strong, independent, powerful you are is celebrated. We see this

in terms like “self made man or woman” But it’s not so in God’s kingdom.

He wants you to trust Him. He wants you to give up control and let Him take the steering wheel.

Surrender to Him in faith. Let Him do the heavy lifting.

I was working on a project recently and was getting frustrated and overwhelmed. As I stopped

to see what was going on I realized I was going at it in my strength. I never asked God for help.

I repented and asked Him to help me. I stopped trying to figure things out on my own and started

praying more and seeking His guidance.

He wants us to rely on His strength, not our strength.

Turn to Him for help always.

“He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. No, the Lord’s delight is in those

who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

Psalm 147:10, 11

Bless you friends

Rolain

The warrior’s cry!

I wait quietly before God,

for my victory comes from Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will never be

shaken.

Psalm 62:1, 2

 

There is no doubt that David was a mighty man of war.

He killed his tens of thousands. He also had a crazy army.

Men who killed giants, killed lions, took on a whole army

single handedly……! David and his army were feared in the land

but as we look at the scripture above, David doesn’t rely on

any of that. For the scripture to make sense let’s look at

the context:

 

So many enemies against one man –

all of them trying to kill me.

To them I’m just a broken-down wall

or a tottering fence.

They plan to topple me from my high

position

They delight in telling lies about me.

Psalm 62:3, 4

 

So get this, there are people who want to kill David.

And it isn’t just one man but many! They are telling lies

about him behind his back and they want to topple him.

He is in some very serious trouble. Life threatning stuff

but instead of using his strength and power to take on his

enemies, he waits quietly before God!

 

He waits silently before God!

 

The enemy is strong, very strong but instead of

fighting, he waits silently before God!

Was it easy for him to wait? I don’t think so.

 

Let all that I am wait quietly before God,

for my hope is in Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will not be shaken.

Psalm 62:5, 6

 

Another translation says,

Patiently wait for God alone, my soul!

For He is the one who gives me confidence.

Psalm 62:5

 

You can almost feel the battle he is fighting on

the inside. There is the one side that wants

to do something, to fight, but he silences that part.

The warrior sees more benefit in waiting silently

before God than resorting to his weapons and fighting!

His waiting reflects his incredible faith in God! It takes

a lot to wait instead of fight.

 

Can you picture it?

There is David, waiting quietly

before God even though there are men trying to kill

him!

Lies are flying behind his back but he

waits silently before God!

The enemy has gathered together, planning his

dimise, strategizing how to take him down but

David quietly waits before the Lord!

His conviction is strong:

 

“my victory comes from God,

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will never be shaken.”

 

“My victory and honor come from God

alone.

He is my refuge, a rock where no

enemy can reach me. “

 

His conviction is our conviction and our truth!

We may be in a dark place, a hopeless place but we

need to wait quietly before God.

The victory is coming!

The enemy may have us surrounded, too strong for

us, but instead of fighting back in our own strength

we need to quietly wait before God.

He will deliver us from our strong enemy!

In the storm know that God is with you. He has

not abandoned you. Don’t lean on your own understanding

but lean entirely on Him!

Our victory comes from God and only God!

Amen!!

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

 

Does that make sense???

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord

with all your heart and mind and do not rely

on your own insight or understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

 

If you are going to walk in everything God has

for you there is something you need to do.

You will need to throw what you know out of the

window!!!

The word says, we must trust in the Lord with

ALL of our heart and mind….that’s clear.

Then it says, “and do not rely on your own

insight and understanding“…not so clear???

Let me share another scripture with you:

 

“Men, I can see that our voyage is going to

be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and

cargo, and to our own lives also.”

But the centurion, instead of listening to what

Paul said, followed the advise of the pilot and

of the owner of the ship. Acts 27:10, 11

 

It’s very clear why the centurion listened to

the pilot and the owner of the ship. The pilot

who I am guessing is the captain had sailed

these seas numerous times. He had years

and years of experience. Wasn’t that

enough? Let me rephrase that, it should

have been enough! But it wasn’t!!

There is a time when experience and insight

play their part but we must be must know

when that time is.

Our own understanding gets in the way of

what God wants to do at times. A lot of the

time our own insight and understanding

excludes God from the equation!

The centurion was not about to listen to a

man who knew nothing about the sea. Paul

was not a sailor so why listen to him???

 

God’s word a lot of the time doesn’t make sense

and calls us to believe in the impossible!

Your destiny doesn’t make sense.

God’s blessing in your life does not make sense.

You are not supposed to be standing but you are

because of God.

Trust in Him with all of your heart and mind.

 

Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear

and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away

from evil. Proverbs 3:7

 

There it is again. Don’t rely on your own wisdom!

 

As you walk the road God has called you to don’t

lean on your own understanding and insight but trust

in Him with all of your heart and mind!

A truly difficult word to live by…….

Rolain

 

 

Why hard times and suffering are important…

I have been going through a testing time this couple of weeks. The year started off well and it seemed like it was going to carry on like that but it didn’t. Things happened and everything is different now. I have some major life changing decisions I have to make. In fact as I look back in my life I see all the hard times I have been through. There were times when there seemed like there was no answer. I had nothing. No plan B, nothing but God! He was all I had and He came through. A few years ago our economy crashed. Food became scarce, inflation sky rocketed, people didn’t know what to do. Imagine going to the supermarket and finding nothing on the shelves! Imagine going to a coffee shop but finding out they didn’t have flour to bake anything? Everything came to a standstill. The average person’s job was to find any place that was selling any kind of food. People had money but couldn’t buy anything! Those were really testing times!!

Just one of the many pictures you would of seen in 2007-2008. No food in the country! But God came through for us!

 

But even in those very testing times God came through!!! He was there for me. He provided for me and cared for me.
Then there was the time when I had no job. I had no income what so ever and until today I don’t know how I survived. God helped me!

With all that said, why does God allow us to go through hard times and suffering?  You may be going through some hard times and wondering the same thing. Well, let us look at the word for the answer.

We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally – not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead. And He did it, rescued us from certain doom. And He’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11

Did you see that? Paul was going through some really trying times even to a point where he thought he was not going to make it. It felt like he was on death row! But as he was going through all that something happened. He saw something! He realized he was supposed to trust God and not in himself. He came to a realization that he was not the answer to his problem, God was!

Is this why God allows us to go through hard times and suffering, so we can trust Him? Does He want us to realize, He is the only One who can save us?
God does not want us relying on our own strength because it’s not enough and because there is only one God and one Savior.  Our strength is not strength at all. We are not strong and wise and perfect. We need God.

What is the “take home”then?

God allows us to go through pain and suffering because He wants to show Himself strong. He wants us to come to the realization that our strength is not enough. He does not want us trusting in our own ability! Instead, He wants us to look to Him and trust Him…..   God bless

Rolain