Your Secret Power

A few years back I remember hearing a story of a mother who went food shopping with her 4 year old daughter. When she arrived home she went into the house to bring in the groceries and somehow unexpectedly, the car rolled on top of her little girl out in the driveway. Without any thought or hesitation the mom ran out to the driveway and was able to lift the back end of this car off of her daughter before she was crushed to death. She had this inner strength that she never knew she had before but instinctively she was able to use it in order to save her little girl’s life. The bible tells us as we walk with Christ, “for everything there is a season…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 ESV) There are times to be happy and a time to mourn. There are often times of peace, when everything seems to be under control and then there are those times when it seems you’re in an endless fight. If you’re like me I try my best to avoid the seasons of struggling and fighting at all cost. Who wouldn’t? Unfortunately, I’ve found that the closer you walk with God, the more frequent and tougher these battles become.

You see, Satan never attacks the believers who are “sleeping,” why would he? They pose no threat to him. Many false teachers you hear today will have you think that when your world is being tossed and turned that somehow you’re to blame. Ridiculously, they try to blame it on some hidden sin in your life or your lack of faith. Foolish and destructive comments like these have cost many believers to look inside themselves to try and figure out what they are doing wrong and how by their own strength they can get themselves out of these difficult situations. If you’re a Christian and you seem to be in constant battles, I’d like to give you some words of assurance that it’s not your LACK of faith that’s bringing on this fight but it’s BECAUSE of your faith. In fact, strangely enough, when you’re going through these various trials you shouldn’t feel confused about it but you should be happy. I know this sounds crazy and contradicts everything that seems normal but it’s true. James the half-brother of Jesus wrote “Count it all joy… when you meet trials of various kinds…” (James 1:2 ESV) These trials are producing in you, “perseverance” which will lead to a stronger, more mature faith. Notice, trials don’t come in just one form, they come in many different ways. Loss of a job, persecutions, family members who insult you because of your belief in Jesus. There are many difficulties. I can go on and on… Somehow we are supposed to be joyous when we are in these fights. Now if you were a kid in the playgrounds of New York and you were being picked on by the park bullies, the first thing you would do is train yourself to fight. Exercise, lift weights, anything to get your body both physically and emotionally ready for the next altercation. But what does God want us to do to prepare ourselves for the fight against our spiritual enemy? The answer will shock you.

First we must remember that when we fight as a believer, the battle is not ours but the “battle is the Lords.” He will always be there, no matter what, to take on our fight in our behalf. What does He say we should do, on our part, in order to win these battles? Here is the shocking answer… Become weak. That’s right, the key to the inner strength that we get instinctively in a spiritual fight is to become weak in our own strength. Just like the mom who exhibited strength she never thought she had. God provides power for us when we are weak in ourselves. In fact until we realize that we can’t fight this on our own, we can never see the full impact of Gods power.

Here’s the proof, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, that Jesus said to him these strange, out of the ordinary (to our way of thinking) words, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV) The power you get to win battles that all believers face is not when you mentally get tough in your own mind, it’s when you realize that you can’t do anything without Him. The victory we get against the devil never comes standing up to him on our own power, it comes down on our knees in prayer. Satan’s attacks are no match against God’s powers when we cry out to Him.

If you’re in a long, tough fight with the enemy today, try crying out to your Heavenly Father. Tell him how weak and battered you are feeling and see what He will do. Satan can never get the victory over one of God’s children when we humbly come to Him in prayer. Never. “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry…” (Psalm 34:15 NIV) He will see you through. He has to, He gave you His word. No one wants to admit weakness. It’s in our nature to feel ashamed to be weak. We were taught as young children to be strong, fight and never back down. And we shouldn’t. But fight in His strength, not your own. Every battle we face has already been won when Jesus was butchered on the cross and then rose from the grave. Mysteriously, God has armed us with the same “resurrection power” to defeat our enemies. I say this carefully and with all respect, the same power God exerted when he raised Christ from the dead is inside you (Ephesians 1:19-21) through Christ Jesus. Just imagine the power that you have. I wonder if the Apostle Paul felt awkward and embarrassed when he wrote these words to the church of new believers in Corinth. Corinth was a place where all sorts of sexual immorality and lawlessness was not only out on display but was encourage by the leaders of that time. Imagine hearing this from a televangelist today? We would probably laugh and change the channel.

Paul knew the secret to His strength. He wrote this: “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 12:10 NIV) Paul found out through the trials and suffering, that his personal weakness brought on the power of God in full force. Paul never strutted around bragging how strong and tough he really was, he boasted in His weakness. I pray somehow we can learn this as well.

Just something to consider. May God’s Grace be with you.