I Samuel 2:9b - “...No one will succeed by (their)strength alone” NLT

Several years ago while I was still pastoring a church, we had a really neat thing happen in one of our church services.  We were fortunate to have one of the men from The Power Team share his testimony.  The Power Team is a team of guys who love Jesus and are gigantic in muscle.  He came and did a couple of things that were amazing and demonstrated how strong he really was.  What was better was he shared his testimony how he came to a point in his life he recognized that as strong as he was, he could not make it on his own strength.

So often when I write these short devotionals, I figure I am preaching to the choir.  But I know there are always some in the choir who think they don’t need any voice instruction either.  So, whether you are in the choir or you are simply a bystander maybe you need to be reminded of this simple truth today.  I know I do.

While there are a host of things we can do in our own strength there is one thing we cannot do and that is live a successful Christian life without the strength of God.  Though we were made in His image we are a reflection only.  We do not possess all strength, all knowledge or all power.  We are limited.  But He will come to our aide.  He will stand beside us.  He will guide us.  He will help us.  There are times I don’t even have time to tell Him I need Him when He is there already.  There are also times when I think I don’t need Him and He doesn’t show up until I admit my powerlessness and ask for His strength to fill my life.  I am powerless to deal with death and dying without Him.  I am powerless to deal with personal attacks without Him.  I am powerless to deal with disappointments beyond my control.  I am powerless to deal with sickness or disease in my body without Him.  I am powerless to withstand the aging process.  Through Him I find power to deal with everything the enemy and life throws at me. Does it make it easy?  Hardly.  But does it push me into Him?  Absolutely...if I let it.  I can run from Him in those moments as well and then claim He abandoned me because everything didn’t work out the way I think it should have.  I cannot succeed in my strength alone...period.  I need God, you need God, everyone needs God.  Will He ever fail?  No, although it may seem that way.  Will He ever forsake me?  No... but I might forsake Him.  Will He always give me strength in my need?  Yes...but always in His time and in His way so that the glory of the end result is His not ours.  It is about Him, right?

You are loved, Pastor Roger