“Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”  Ephesians 6:10

We have had tough times and in the midst of those we have had others who have tried to encourage us to “be strong.”  Although the counsel is certainly not bad advice, it is often easier said than done.  It is much like the PE teacher who runs his kids, lines them up, and then says, “Stop sweating.”  Some things seem a bit out of our control.  After all, if we could just “be strong” we probably wouldn’t need encouragement to do so.

Paul is advising the Christians in Ephesus (and us) a much more practical way.  Rather than a glib “Hang in there,” he is actually telling them from whom they can draw their strength other than reaching “deep from inside.”  He is saying that they need to focus not on the problems, but on The Lord, and from Him they will be able to draw strength.  When Paul wrote to the Philippians he reminded them, as well, that they “… (could) do all things through (Christ) who gives (them) strength.”  (Philippians 4:13)  Paul does not just give encouraging words but encouragement through solutions- that is truly encouraging.

Herbert Johnson was a fledgling missionary going to school who was assigned a car by the local missions board.  The only trouble was that the car would not start without a push.  Herbert learned to park on hills or at least slight inclines so he could get it going. On occasion he would have to enlist others to help him fire up the engine with a good push. After two years, when he was finally going to go off to the mission field and decided to leave the car to another young missionary and told him the car’s malady and how he had solved the problem through the years.  The missionary looked under the hood and remarked, “It seems this cable is loose,” and he tightened it, stepped into the car, and it started right up.  We are often like Herbert.  We have access to power, but still try on our own strength to get things done.  Paul is checking under our hoods and telling us that if we just tighten the connection between us and God we will have the power to go forward.

We can’t always will ourselves to just “be” a certain way.  “Be happy.”  “Be strong.”  “Be encouraged.”  The effort to do those things on our own can be exhausting.  When we rely on our own efforts and our own wisdom, we are tapping into limited resources. Instead we should be tapping into the unlimited power of a mighty God.  Years ago one of my football teams gave me a wonderful plaque with this verse from Isaiah: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;  but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  Isaiah 40:29-31  It has been an encouragement to me every time I have read those words because it reminds me that it is “He” who gives true strength.

Of course, even turning toward God seems beyond us sometimes.  There is a wonderful song that says, “when you don’t know what to say, when you don’t know what to pray,  just say Jesus.”  Christ makes it easy to come to Him; it is us who makes it hard.  We fight through every scenario in our life on our own until we finally give in, lying sweating and out of breath on the coliseum ground, and finally ask God for help.  Why must we reach that point?  Why don’t we ask God to help us before the battle and during the battle, rather than in desperation at the end of the battle.  Only God can give us the power we need to successfully battle against sin, against self, against selfishness, and of course, against Satan.  He awaits our call, armored up and ready to go, stronger than anyone or anything that we might face, not because He has to be ready to come to our side, but because He wants to.

The Word says, “if He is with us, who can be against us?”  Well, the answer is everyone can be against us, but the truth is no one can stand against us.  It would be futile for anyone to try to test our Warrior King who “never rests, never slumbers,” but instead sits on the right hand of God waiting to empower us.  Let’s quit jump-starting our lives with senseless self-effort and instead connect closely to God and let Him move us. That is so much more sensible.