Your Own Strength Will Fail You

“He said, “This is the message from the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Your help will not come from your own strength and power. No, your help will come from my Spirit.’ This is what the Lord All-Powerful says.”
‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭4:6‬

What an incredible reminder to us! When we face an army, small or large, our strength will be provided by the Spirit and not by our own power and strength.

For about 5 years, I have attended a strengthening class called Body Pump. I get excited about the progress I have made to lift heavier weights. The last couple of weeks, I have increased my squat weights again. I am able to do all the push-up routines on my toes and not my knees. I have come a long way from my old self.

However, do you think for a second that I can actually be a worthy opponent if I was attacked by a 6 foot guy? No way. How foolish it would be for me to think I have the strength to defeat an enemy with my strength! I would need someone to fight for me.

We need to be the same way when we face our enemy..the accuser, the liar, the deceiver. We absolutely cannot defeat him in our own strength. We need more power and wisdom. We need someone right there beside us to fight for us.

Do not continue to fight your battles with your own strength and wisdom. You will lose every time. Get in the Word! Develop an intense prayer life! You have to have different weapons to fight our adversary.

“The weapons we use are not human ones. Our weapons have power from God and can destroy the enemy’s strong places."
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10:4‬

By the way, I do not lift weights by myself. I am in a class with 30 other people. I have become a part of a group of friends who care about me and they notice when I am absent from Body Pump. They acknowledge if I am lifting higher weights and they praise me and encourage me. When I use the heaviest weights for squats, they lift the weights off my back when I am done.

Same thing with a small group...you attend until you are a part. You learn everyone's name. You acknowledge when you see growth in their life. However, the most important thing you do is to pray for them when their load is too heavy.

Love to Your Fellow Believers

I was reading a great article that my sweet friend, Michelle Myers wrote about how we are quick to criticize our sisters in Christ. I have been thinking about this and this morning I read this verse.

“One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.””
Luke 7:36-39 MSG

The Pharisees were quick to accuse Jesus and one had the nerve to say, "if he was the prophet I thought he was." I thought about how I am quick to find a fault in my fellow sisters in Christ. I judge them quicker than I do a non-Christian and I bet you do too.

Today i am going to give more grace and love to my fellow believers. Think about it...you are going to spend eternity with them:):):).