For When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong

So very often in life we feel the need as followers of Christ to do more. To be more. We often feel that we need to serve more within our churches, or that we should read our bibles more, do more volunteering, spend more time in prayer, or even that we just need to be better, to do better. While all of these things we shame ourselves for not doing “enough” of are often good things, they do not define who we are in Christ and they don’t reflect our worth in Christ. When we think this way we quickly become self-focused rather than Christ-focused and grace-focused. When we live this way, we are living out of our own strength rather than living in God’s perfect strength. When we live this way, we aren’t living in the truth and freedom that Christ died for us to live in.

• You do not need to be more. You do not need to do more. What you do need, is to quiet down before The Lord – before you get upset with me for telling you what you need, let me just say that this is what we allneed. To quiet down before God in the midst of worries, in the midst of life. To come before a holy God and humble ourselves before Him, is powerful. I need to do it, you need to do it, Mother Teresa needed to do it, heck even Jesus needed to do it. There is something miraculous that occurs when we come before our loving Father in Heaven, trusting in who He says He is. When we trust in the words He has spoken to us. When we trust that He will give us peace that surpasses understanding, that He will give us joy, that He will strengthen us and give us rest for our souls.
  I often find myself stuck in the rhythms of life – focused on all the things that I feel I need to do in order to be successful. I need to wake up early so I have enough time to put myself together for the day. I need to make my bed because I’m a slob if I don’t. I need to tidy up because what if someone stops in and thinks I’m a hot mess because my apartment is a disaster. This is just the tip of iceberg when it comes to the expectations and pressure we put on ourselves each day. When really, what God requires of us is simply this: To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him.
  “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
  (Micah 6:8)
  The Message also says it beautifully,
  “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously – take God seriously.”
  I feel like that verse says it all. It isn’t about us. It isn’t about how much we can do or what we can do for God. It isn’t about earning God’s love, because He has freely given it to us. It isn’t about striving to be more, to be better, even if your desire is to be “better” for God. It’s about God. He’s the one to take seriously, not ourselves. We’re called to place ourselves in the humble position of dying to ourselves and inviting the Holy Spirit to live in and through us. And in doing this, He will give us rest. He will not only give us rest and restore our weary souls, but He will fight for us, He will comfort us, He will cover us and be our refuge. He has told us all of these truths in scripture and so often we forget, we dismiss these truths, and we live a life of struggle because we try to do it all on our own. We depend on our own strength instead of depending on our creator who adores us.
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  And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
  (Luke 9:23-24)
  
  
  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
  (Matthew 11:28-30)
  
  
  “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.”
  (Psalm 23:1-3)
  
  
  “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
  (Exodus 14:14)
  
  
  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
  (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)
  
  
  “For you have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat…”
  (Isaiah 25:4)
  
  
  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
  (Psalm 46:1)
  
  
  “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
  (Isaiah 40:29)
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  Lastly, today I pray that you would take to heart the words from this next section of scripture I’m about to share with you. We must remember how vitally we need God. You are enough in Christ, but you are not strong enough on your own – we were created to be in relationship with God. He longs for you to come to Him and rest in His love and in His promises. He desires for us to come to him and to drop our worries, our burdens and our insecurities at the foot of the cross and allow him to wrap His loving arms around us so that He can give us rest. Remember that in your weakness, God’s strength will stand firm. In humility, don’t be afraid or ashamed to display your weakness, to proclaim it even; because in the proclamation of your weakness – you are displaying God’s strength, God’s goodness, and  God’s perfect love. So allow yourself to get quiet before God today and rest in Him.
  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 12:8-10)