No Power, Know Power
When I was in High School I hung out with a very close friend a couple times a week to work out. We would meet at his house one time and then at mine. We would push ourselves to lift a lot of weight, do as many reps as we could, and go as far as we could. When we would lift at my house, especially during the winter, I would stoke up the fire in the wood burner and we’d lift in front of the fire. Of course the “Post-High” Bible study didn’t care for us to do this. Only because we didn’t smell really well after we finished lifting.
The one thing that I learned during that time is that while I was lifting, I had great strength. I didn’t have very much fat on my body, but a good amount of muscle. I was selling slab firewood at the same time and was able to lift 8’ pieces of good width to load them onto the truck to haul home. Usually, I didn’t have much problems handling the pieces. Of course this added to the workout and the strength.
Since getting married and through the years, I’ve stopped that regimen of lifting. Actually, I’ve stopped lifting altogether. At first I didn’t notice too much difference in my strength. I felt that I was just as strong as I always was. I could lift just as much as I always could. I soon found out that wasn’t the case. About 16 years ago I was helping a friend move from her home to an apartment. She had a motorized recliner sofa and I lifted one end and thought my brother and I could handle it, he was a beast. Anyway, we both found out quickly that we couldn’t handle it. Two of her friends jumped in and helped us out. So, now there are four of us carrying the sofa off the truck and up a flight of stairs to her apartment.
When we got into the apartment, we’re standing there waiting for her to decide where she wanted the sofa. Well, the other two guys decided they weren’t going to stand there any longer holding the sofa and let go. Of course, they didn’t let my brother and I know that they were letting go, they just let go. We very quickly readjusted and I shouted and told her that if she didn’t make up her mind in the next 15 seconds I was going to drop it where it was and she’d have to move it. It got placed where she wanted, I looked at my brother and said, “I’m finished. We’re leaving.” I hugged my friend and we walked out the door.
What we didn’t know at the time was that when the other two guys let go, the twisting of the sofa blew a disk in my lower back. Talk about pain when I went to get out of the truck when we got back to the house. Actually, the next morning it took me 45 minutes to get out of bed. Obviously, I ended up having surgery and all is good now.
So, why tell you this story? Good question. Without the power and strength, I learned that there were some things that I couldn’t do. I found out that I couldn’t lift that sofa like I thought. I found out just how out of shape I really was. You know if we want to defeat the enemy in our lives, we have to be in “shape.” As I stated last week, that starts with a relationship with Jesus Christ. When we start looking at putting on the whole armor of God it starts with that relationship. This is written to believers. If you’re not a believer, then you need to get saved. You need to open your heart to Him and accept Him as Savior.
As a believer we then need to heed the charge to “be strong in the Lord…” As believers we must diligently heed what is about to be said. There is no other way to conquer the enemies who stand so violently opposed to us. Unless we heed the charge and message of this passage, we will cave in to temptation and sin and end up walking through life just as most men do. We won’t experience the abundance and joy of life. We won’t experience the power and deliverance, care and concern, love and fellowship of God’s daily presence. We won’t be certain and sure of the future. We won’t have the confidence of being acceptable to God. We won’t be assured of living forever with God.
We must heed what God says here in this passage, we must do exactly what God says in order to conquer the great enemies of life. The charge that Paul gives is twofold.
- We must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Look at the stress that is placed on power and strength. Three different words are used: be strong, in the Lord’s power, in the Lord’s might. Each of these words is used to stress the utter necessity of the believer being strong and possessing power. The word strong means power, might, strength. We must possess power, might, and strength as we walk through the course of this life. The Lord’s power means His sovereign, unlimited power and dominion over all. The Lord’s might means strength, force, ability. It means His ability to use His strength and force wisely, that is, in perfection. We are to be strong in the sovereign unlimited power of the Lord—the power of His might—in His ability to use His power exactly as it should be used. We have to note that our strength is not human, fleshly strength, it is not the strength of anything in this world. Our strength is found in the Lord—in a living, dynamic relationship with Him. The Lord is the source of our strength. There is no other source that can give us the strength to overcome this world with all its trials and temptations and death.
- We must put on the armor of God. Once we are strong within, then we are ready to be clothed with the armor of God. But note: no amount of armor is worth the material it is made of unless the soldier has the heart to fight. We must—absolutely must—be strong in the Lord before we can be clothed with the armor of God and beging to wage war against the foes of life. Once we have the presence and power of God in our heart, it is then that we begin to arm ourselves to wage war against the spiritual enemies of life. But we MUST put on the whole armor of God, leaving nothing out. If we leave a piece of armor off, we will expose ourselves to the enemy and stand a good chance of being wounded (blow a disk in your back), or perhaps killed.
The charge is strong in the Lord, in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God. No power in your life? Know the power of God with that relationship, then lift the weights of His Word, through prayer and worship. Put on the whole armor and watch the enemy fall. Next time we’ll dig a little further.
Pastor Rob
