Devotional Song: … Go to this link … Please take the time to take in a video of Steven Curtis Chapman singing his poignant song … His Strength Is Perfect, declaring the reality that God imparts His grace and strength to all believers who wait on Him.
Highlight Passage Isaiah 40: 7, 31 [NKJV] …
7 The grass withers, the flower fades . . . 31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
… God’s Spirit is there for believers who need HIS strength.
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Highlight Context - Isaiah 4: 6-11, 28-31 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s enabling grace is there for those who wait on the Lord … God’s enabling grace is there for those who wait on the Lord
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Reference Passage #1 - 1st Kings 19: 1-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK
… Elijah runs from Jezebel and exhausted, finds strength from God
Reference Passage #2 - 2nd Corinthians 12: 7-10 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK
… Paul, depleted and in pain remembers the teaching of Jesus Whose grace is ALWAYS sufficient when we need it.
Reference Passage #3 - Philippians 4: 13 [NKJV] ...
13 I can do all things through Christ Who gives me the strength.
… Paul’s exhortation about God’s strength being there when we are in discontent.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Mart DeHaan, relates an illustration about how African game wardens learned to track and capture the fastest animals on earth, Cheetahs, when they were killing the livestock of locals in Kenya. They learned to chase them with motorized vehicles until the cheetahs were exhausted and could be easily tranquilized for transfer to game reserves.
I’m sure any believer reading here, as well as I, have come upon times when physical or emotional exhaustion rendered us vulnerable to our spiritual enemies. Elijah certainly experienced that when he was running from Jezebel, which can be found in the linked passage above from 1st Kings 19: 1-8. But Elijah discovered the truth of what the Prophet Isaiah taught in the highlight passage above (see Isaiah 40: 31) … that those who are willing to wait on the Lord can/will renew their strength and not faint.
The Apostle Paul remembered such a teaching from Jesus when he was overwhelmed by the pain of that unknown “thorn,” about which we read in 2nd Cor. 12: 7-10 (linked above). He remembered Jesus saying that God’s grace is sufficient for us when our strength is gone. Paul also reported [see Phil. 4: 13] what Steven Curtis Chapman sings (link above), that God’s strength is perfect when our strength is gone. And I pray today that any who are wiped out in their own flesh are willing to wait on God’s grace and strength to allow us to move forward in His mighty Name.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I pray that any here, reading with me today, who need Your strength will be willing, as did Isaiah and Elijah, to wait on Your strength to lift us up in these times of trial, pain, or weakness. 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, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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