Exercising Trust in God’s Strength

Dear Friends,

Exodus 15:2 THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH and my song; he has given me VICTORY. This is my God, and I will praise him—my father’s God, and I will exalt him!

Psalm 21:1How the king rejoices in YOUR STRENGTH, O LORD! He shouts with joy because you give him VICTORY.

Psalm 118:14 THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH and my song; he has given me VICTORY.

Isaiah 12:2 See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. THE LORD GOD IS MY STRENGTH and my song; he has given me VICTORY.”

Habakkuk 3:19 THE SOVEREIGN LORD IS MY STRENGTH! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful; HE WILL STRENGTHEN YOU and guard you from the evil one.

We like the idea of being strong. We work hard to have strong bodies, strong families, and strong financial portfolios. We admire people with strong goals, a strong future, and a strong voice. But what happens when these aren’t part of our reality? Can we still be strong?

According to God – as seen in the above verses – he is our strength; not our abilities nor our accomplishments. But how do we avail ourselves of his strength?   

Isaiah 40:31 But those who TRUST IN THE LORD will find NEW STRENGTH. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Who doesn’t want to soar and run and walk with ease!! It comes with a sense of lightness and freedom. Is this how you move through your days?

My husband bought me a treadmill for my birthday (at my request). I love it. Working out now isn’t so boring. I can get healthy while watching teaching DVDs or my favorite Jane Austin movies. And once I conquered walking up hills and could still breathe without passing out, I took up jogging. Can you believe it?? In the privacy of my own home and away from the public eye, certain excessive parts of my body are being … let’s just say that jowls and saddlebags are being seriously shaken.

Even though I’m now up to 25 minutes of jogging at a time, I didn’t start there. In fact, at first I could only jog for 30 seconds and then had to walk for 30 seconds. Each time I slowly increased the jogging time and decreased the walking time. I hope to make it all the way to 45 minutes at a time, and it doesn’t seem so impossible now. But if you would have told me before I started that I would one day jog that long, I would have laughed hysterically.

God asks us to trust him to gain new strength. Our ability to trust him has to be exercised in order to increase. Maybe you have difficulty trusting God with the “big things” in your life because you haven’t began with trusting him with the “little things”. And when you trust God to give you the strength for the little things, you will experience victory. And one victory will lead to another … and another … and another.

Fill in the blank – Heavenly Father, I trust you for _______________. Write it out. Date it. And then watch expectantly for him to strengthen you and give you victory. Unlike jogging, there is no limit to what God will do because of your faith.

Blessings from Bev