| Your Strength Is Limited, God’s Is Unlimited |
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| By Rick Warren — Oct 10, 2015 |
“You bless all who depend on you for their strength.” (Psalm 84:5a CEV)
Are you tired? Some of you are running on steam. You’re tired a lot. At the end of the day, you’re worn out and you’re running out of energy, and the reason why is real simple: You’re a human being.
Your strength is limited. God’s strength is unlimited. Your strength is finite. God’s strength is infinite. Your strength is exhaustible — that’s why you get exhausted! But God’s strength is inexhaustible. God never runs out of energy. God never gets tired.
Psalm 84:5 says, “You bless all who depend on you for their strength” (CEV). Do you want God’s blessing in your life? Then you need to depend on God for your strength.
One of the most famous Christians of the 19th century was a guy named Hudson Taylor. He was a missionary to China, and he was a spiritual giant and a brilliant man. In his old age, he lost his health and became very weak. He wrote a letter to a friend that said this: “I am so weak I can no longer work. I am so weak I can no longer study. I am so weak I can no longer read my Bible. I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in the arms of God like a little child in trust.”
Sometimes in your life you’re going to be so weak you can’t even pray, read the Bible, or go to a Bible study. You can’t work. You can’t do anything. What do you do in those moments? You rest in the strength of the Lord, in his arms like a little child, and you trust.
Weakness can actually be a good thing in your life if it causes you to depend on God. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (NLT, second edition).
That’s the paradox of depending on God — the more you’re weak, the more you depend on God. And the more you depend on God, the stronger you get.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick>>
Talk It Over
- Why is it difficult for us to admit or show our weakness?
- How does our culture perpetuate the idea that we have to be strong all of the time?
- What does it mean to depend on God’s strength? What would that look like to other people?
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Today’s Scripture |
“I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my Refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust [with great confidence, and on whom I rely]!’”
(Psalm 91:2, AMP) |
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| What Do You Say? |
Your words have tremendous power. No matter what you may be facing today, the words of your mouth can help set the course for victory or defeat. When you wake up with an attitude of faith and expectancy and declare that God is your refuge, you will be strengthened and empowered by His Spirit. When you talk like you are blessed, when you walk like you are blessed, then you will live like you are blessed!
Understand that your words are like seeds. When you declare favor and blessing, you are sowing favor and blessing, and you will reap a harvest of favor and blessing in return. That’s why its so important to take inventory of what you are saying on a regular basis. Even when challenges and obstacles arise, you have to rise up and say, “If God is for me, who can be against me?” Every day, let go of the weeds of unforgiveness and bitterness. Water your seed with the Word of God so you can move forward into the the abundant life He has in store for you!
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| A Prayer for Today |
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| “Father, thank You for Your Word which is like refreshing water to my soul. Help me choose the right things to say so that I can live in victory all the days of my life in Jesus’ name. Amen.” |
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