Strong in the Lord
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in
the Lord, and in the power of his might” Ephesians 6:10. Christians are engaged in a battle. A spiritual battle for the souls of our
families, friends, neighbors, and yes even the strangers we meet on the street.
Satan does not want to hinder us, he wants to absolutely destroy every
Christian in this world. “The thief
cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy”. John 10:10a
Paul gives us a twofold charge in
Ephesians 6:10 that will help equip us on this battlefield called life. He says that the Christians need to be,
“strong in the Lord and in the power of His might”. We have to rely on the Lord’s strength, not
our own. Matthew Henry put it this way,
“We have no sufficient strength of our own. Our natural courage is as perfect cowardice,
and our natural strength as perfect weakness; but all our sufficiency is of
God”. Paul states, “Strengthened with
all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness.” Colossians 1:11, and in Ephesians 3:16, “That he would grant
you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his
Spirit in the inner man”. The believer
needs to be living in a right relationship with the Lord to fully rely on His
sovereign unlimited power.
What does the “power of His might”
look like? When the Psalmist remembered
how God had moved the Red Sea, and dried the ground for the children of Israel
to walk across he stated, “Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that
he might make his mighty power to be known”,Psalm 106:8. He delivered Noah from the flood, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace, Daniel from the den of loins, and
Jonah from the belly of a whale. He has
delivered those of us who have trusted in Him from death and hell. What power does that take? It takes the power that only an omnipotent God
has. I am in awe every time I think of
Job 26:7,“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and
hangeth the earth upon nothing”. I love
the visual I get of God stretching the north over a void and hanging the earth
on nothing like we would hang an ornament on a Christmas tree.
Once we as believers are strong in
the Lord, then we are ready to “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil”, Ephesians 6:11. I will discuss this armour next week.
Elder Tim White
Ider, Alabama