Where Does Your Strength Come From...?

The Lord has been teaching me one powerful lesson after another lately. I feel like I am continually going to the woodshed with Him as He reveals yet another way that I fall short of His standard of perfect Love.

The one message that is abundantly clear in all of this is that ALONE, I WILL FAIL. I have not the strength within me (despite my grandest attempts) to ward off the attack of the devil.

If I try to go it alone when it comes to loving my husband, serving in my church, or working in ministry, I may look like I have it together for awhile. I may fool many people, including myself, and think that I don't really need God after all. But the truth is that any strength that I have to do anything good - it is from the Lord. And if I fail to acknowledge that, I will also fail to seek renewal in Him. I may put up a pretty facade at first, but eventually what little strength I have will run dry. I will get burnt out, and bitterness will begin to take hold of my heart.

That said, I am being challenged to seek renewal in Christ continually. I have been asking that the Holy Spirit would fill me and equip me for every good work in Christ Jesus. Prayer is an important part of that and so is getting in the Word. We must be reminded of our frailty so that we remember to draw on God's strength, not our own.