The Strength That Comes From Holy Spirit

For Your name’s sake, O Lord, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great. Who is the man who fears the Lord? The Lord will instruct him in the way he should choose. His soul will abide in prosperity, And his descendants will inherit the land. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear God, And He will make them know His covenant. My eyes are continually toward the Lord, For He will pluck my feet out of the net. Psalms 25:11-15 NASB

None of us will go through this life without facing battles. Some of our suffering will be because of the fallenness of this world, some of it because of our own weaknesses, and some suffering will be spiritually sourced. The death of Jesus Christ, as well as His resurrection, mean that we can share in His victory, as conquerors and over-comers through Christ. He never promised a life without suffering, in fact, He warned us that we would have many troubles in this world. Our strategies for facing these problems are described for us in the Bible.  Pray, praise, repent, worship, pray….. 

When we choose to exalt and revere God, we are placing more weight and authority in His Way of doing things. When we establish our foundation in God, we are literally placing our hope, confidence and trust in Him.  Approach God with reverential fear, honor and respect of the Bible — His Word.  

Jesus is the only person to live a life without sin, but even He faced satan, who attempted to sway Jesus into worshipping him. The Bible includes this encounter in Matthew 4 so that we could follow Jesus’ strategy in our spiritual warfare. It’s not complex: Jesus chose to rest in the written word of God- the Word that does not return void but accomplishes all it sets out to do. The enemy cannot stand against the truth of God.

In Ephesians, God further indicates the exact position of our defense against evil as rooted in His truth spoken in prayer.

Ephesians 6:10-20 NASB “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

Read the Bible everyday, The word of God overcomes the enemy’s lies:

• Deception is defeated with the sword of the word of God.
• Destruction is defeated with the shield of faith, that is, faith in Jesus Christ
• Disunity is defeated with the belt of truth.
• Distraction is defeated with the helmet of salvation, our salvation according to God’s word.
• Delay is defeated with the righteousness we have according to God’s word.
• Deficiency is defeated with the shoes of readiness, ready with the Gospel according to God’s word.

When we receive Holy Spirit, when we admit we need Him and invite Him to dwell within we not only have an armour of light, we have direct access to the king of kings, Jesus Christ, the living Word of God. As we pray an ongoing conversation with Holy Spirit He will teach and guide us, giving us wisdom as we live out our time here and share in Christ’s victory. We don’t stand alone! We rely on the Lord’s strength that we receive as we abide with Him.