The Lord is the strength of my life…Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart…The Lord will give strength to His people…Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength…Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord (Psalm 27:1, 14; 29;11; 31:4, 24).
God promises to be the source of strength to those who love Him with all of their strength. When asked, “What is the first commandment of all?”, Jesus responded, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:28-30). Paul commented on this joint participation when he said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). He also urged others to do the same as he described the armor of God, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10).
We often think of strength as having a physical quality. And it does. I often pray that God will give me the physical strength to finish an assignment that He has given me – one that entails the use of my aging body! I am encouraged by the woman described in Proverbs 31 because she also found it needful to strengthen her arms.
In the verses of the Psalms above, we see twice the promise that God will strengthen your heart. We need strength in every part of our being – mental, physical and spiritual – but most of all in our heart – where our intentions live.
David, who wrote these Psalms, certainly knew how relying on God’s strength could accomplish an otherwise impossible task. He experienced that as a young boy when he met the giant Goliath.
A modern day example of the all encompassing supply of strength from God was Desmond Doss. His refusal to carry a weapon during WWII brought him ridicule from other soldiers, but in the bloodiest battle of the war, he single-handedly evacuated 75 men from behind enemy lines. The story of his heroism was documented in the film Hacksaw Ridge. Desmond Doss was not a large man with “strong” arms. He was a man of faith who continually asked the Lord to help him rescue “just one more.” Because he was a man whose spiritual heart was incredibly strong, God gave him superhuman strength to accomplish the task to which He called him.
Whatever God is calling you to do, He promises to give you the strength to accomplish it.
One Focus Ministries 