This week we begin a series on a much needed topic, strength. In these challenging times, all of us need more strength. Many times it may seem like the demands in life are just getting harder and harder, which is valid, but also our culture has gotten soft. We have a lifestyle where we desire things to be easy, we like it when things are easy. With that creates the situation that when things get a little more difficult, it is a lot harder for us to deal with. So at challenges mount, we need that inner strength to fortify us and provide us with what we need to endure.
One of the most wonderful statements that Jesus ever made was one that He made about Himself and what He desires to impart to us:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free – Luke 4:18 NLT
Jesus came to this earth not only to take care of our sin problem and to make it possible for us to experience forgiveness and eternal life, He came to make us whole from the inside out. With wholeness comes emotional, mental, and spiritual strength.
The Holy Spirit is God’s ongoing gift to us that we might become more and more like Jesus and experience what He purchased for us on the cross in an ever deepening, ever more potent way.
No matter who we are today, we are “poor” in some way. We each lack something or are a little weaker in one area of our emotional makeup than in other areas. No person is 100 percent strong in all areas of his or her life at all times. Just as we are healthier physically on some days more than others, and at some periods in our lives we are physically fit than at other periods, so we go through periods when we experience a weakness or a “hit” in our emotions.
When those times of emotional weakness come, we generally experience emotional pain. If we deal with our emotional pain as soon as it arises, receiving God’s help and healing for the injury we have suffered, this pain is generally temporary. At other times, however, the emotional pain lingers. We may not deal with it, hoping it will go away or heal itself. We may not know how to deal with the pain, and thus, continue to struggle on without relief. We may not believe that we should deal with the pain, thinking perhaps that pain is inevitable and a normal part of every person’s life.
How is your emotional strength these days? How have you been dealing with the emotional challenges going on?
For our emotional pain, there are some fundamentals we need to acknowledge:
- Time will not heal our pain, but Jesus Christ can and will heal us in our emotions if we turn to Him and receive the strength He offers to us.
- The Bible presents to us God’s ways for dealing with emotional pain; we must learn what the Bible says and apply God’s truth to our life.
- God desires for us to live in emotional freedom and strength, unshackled by emotional weakness or inner pain.
The results of an ongoing, lingering emotional pain—a pain that goes unaddressed and unhealed—can be devastating to a person and to a family. Lingering or pervasive emotional weakness saps a person’s energy, drains away creativity, diverts the person’s motivation and enthusiasm for life, impacts his or her relationships, and, if left unhealed, can cause serious damage to the person’s physical health and to overall effectiveness as a witness for Christ in this world.
We need to understand that none of these conditions are God’s desire for us! Rather, God desires that we be filled with a vitality and enthusiasm for life, be creative in every area of talent and skill that God has placed in our life, have healthy and vibrant relationships, experience a maximum amount of physical health in our life, and be both a productive and an effective witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Are you lonely? Do you feel restless and frustrated? Is anxiety eating away at your joy? Do you feel burned out…insecure…broken…as if you are a failure?
These conditions are all symptoms of emotional wounds that weaken us and make us more vulnerable not only to manipulation and injury by other people, but also to attacks in the spiritual realm. These are the very symptoms that Jesus came to heal and to strengthen when He said that He came to
- heal the brokenhearted,
- proclaim liberty to the captives,
- bring sight to the blind,
- and set at liberty those who are oppressed.
Emotional pain and weakness cause us to feel dejected, “bound up” on the inside, blind to the goodness of God, and imprisoned in our own darkness. Jesus came to set us free and to make us whole; He came to impart to us a deep, abiding, and consistent strength, and then to develop us so that we move to greater and even greater strength in Him.
Are you willing to receive the strength that the Lord desires to impart to you?
This week, get in the scriptures and seek out verses and examples of how God provided strength to his loved ones. From Abraham, to Moses, to David and even into the New Testament. If you struggle to find some area to get in and read about, ask a brother for an example and investigate together. We will be back next week with more fellowship, guidance and encouragement.
Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. Stanley, C. F. (1998). Developing inner strength (p. v). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.