Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please go to this video link to hear a chorus singing a classic hymn O God Our Help In Ages Past, … reminding us that God’s power is always there for those who are powerless. The challenge is accessing it when we need it. … And ON TO THIS LINK to hear Steven Curtis Chapman singing, His Strength Is Perfect, reinforcing the message of God’s strength being ours when we need it.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Isaiah 40: 29 [NKJV] …
29 He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.
Highlight Passage #2 – NKJV: Isaiah 41: 10 [NKJV] …
10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Isaiah 40: 27-31 [NKJV] Go to this link …
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Reference Passage #1: 2nd Corinthians 12: 9 [NKJV] … [I hope you have this one memorized, contextualized, and internalized. If not, please do!]
Reference Passage #2: Philippians 4: 13 [NKJV] …
13 I can do all things through Christ Who gives me the strength.
My Journal for Today: If you’re reading along with me as I delve into my Our Daily Bread devotional for this date, I have a study challenge for you, GO TO THIS LINK - http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/ - which is the Bible Gateway keyword search site; and when you get there, put the words “God” and “strength” in the search box. Finally, have the software search the entire Bible for those two words occurring together in the same passage. You’ll find no less than 63 passages; and reading through them – believing in the truth of Scripture – is a mind building exercise. TRY IT as I did this morning. You’ll be encouraged.
God’s word is clear, my friend. As Isaac Watts wrote in his classic, old hymn [see song links above], God is our help when we need help; and as Steven Curtis Chapman sings, God’s strength is ours when our strength is gone. David declared it in so many of His psalms. God declared it through Isaiah; and the Apostle Paul wrote it many times in his letters to the church (and to you and me). Over and over and over God declares the truth that His power – through enabling His grace – is ours when we feel powerless.
But how often, when we do feel powerless, do we really believe what God’s word says? Have you ever endured a devastating storm when you lost power in your home; or maybe you went out to drive somewhere and the battery was dead in your car? How do you feel in moments like this? But so often, in situations like these, we pick our selves up and use our own strength to get ourselves through a time of powerlessness.
But what about when we can’t?!!
I think of a prisoner of war who is captured by the enemy. Or maybe a teenager who’s being trafficked into prostitution. Or what about a rape victim or a young child who’s being repeatedly abused by a cruel parent.
POWERLESS!!!
It’s in all of these instances and illustrations that we need to be able to call upon the strength of God to cover us in our weakness, believing and knowing that He will do as He has promised over and over again in His word. I pray below that I do believe and know, as Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 41: 10 that our God is there to lift us up with His righteous right hand.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, I’m really always powerless without You! But I know – at least right now – that You’re always going to be there with Your strength to cover my weakness. And I pray that all reading here believe that. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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