Understanding Spiritual Strength
Each of us is a spiritual being who must possess and demonstrate spiritual abilities. The apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12, addresses the Corinthians so that they are not ignorant of spiritual realities. There is a spiritual world to which every child of God has access and in which they can function.
We must not be dominated by natural things. While we live in a natural world, it is also a spiritual one. In addition to sight, hearing, wisdom, and spiritual understanding, a child of God must also have spiritual strength—strength in his inner being.
Many people live in a purely natural way in a spiritual world. And the spiritual world determines what happens in the natural world. However, some individuals operate negatively in the spiritual world and from there, afflict people in the natural world.
Unfortunately, many Christians are completely ignorant of the spiritual world and operate on earth as natural people. As a result, they are dominated by the negative spiritual world.
When I began to discover these things in God's Word, I realized that I didn't know as much as I needed to know. I cried out to God, asking Him to teach me. I wanted to know spiritual realities. I didn't want to be a victim of spiritual realities because of my ignorance. This is a choice everyone should make.
We must choose spiritual strengthSpiritual strength is different from spiritual power. Spiritual power in our sense here refers to divine or demonic power. But when we speak of strength, we are talking about inner strength, inner capacity. It is the fruit of a strong mind and renewed thinking.
Be strong
In Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul shares his prayer for the recipients of his letter. He bowed his knees before the Father and prayed that they would be strengthened mightily by the Holy Spirit in their inner being. This is God's desire: that we have spiritual strength. His desire is for His people to be strong, solid, and resilient. They must be able to stand firm despite adverse circumstances. What Paul wants is for them to have the resources that allow them to be steadfast no matter what comes. These words of power must be an integral part of our vocabulary.
Love strength, hate pity
Years ago, as a young Christian, I heard a man of God speak about strength and say, 'You must love strength.' This hit me hard because at the time, I was far from spiritually strong. I had my ups and downs, but I made the decision to embrace and develop strength. Unfortunately, many Christians hate weakness. They just want pity. The problem is, most of the people who seem to have compassion for you aren't real. As soon as your back is turned, they reveal their disdain. Don't look for pity, look for strengthIt is better to be spiritually strong than to benefit from the pity of others. You don't need pity, you need power. God needs a church that is spiritually strong. If we are not strong, we will not be able to stand. Many people are down not because the enemy is powerful, but because they are too weak.
Jesus strengthened
When the apostle Paul speaks of strength in the inner man, he is talking about a great ability, the kind of ability that only the Holy Spirit can give. Imagine what happens to you when the Holy Spirit Himself comes to strengthen you? Jesus spent 40 days fasting, and angels came to strengthen Him. When Satan came to tempt Him, He was strong, sharp, and able to discern and resist.
David's spiritual strength
David experienced a very painful episode in his life. Returning to Ziklag, where he was living, he discovered that a hostile army had passed through and taken his entire family and the families of his men captive. They were devastated. His men lost their minds and were talking about stoning David. He was at his lowest point; he seemed to have failed, both as a father and as a leader. How can we imagine the pain of that moment, the horror of the uncertainty he faced? David took strength in the Lord. He neither blamed God nor threatened to abandon the kingship because of all this. How different from others who, faced with a few minor trials, throw in the towel.
Many Christians have renounced their kingship, they have abandoned their calling from God and their role as kingdom builders. But David took strength in the Lord, and the Lord told him to pursue the invaders and recover everything that had been stolen from him. And that's what he did. He was given the plan, the path to follow, and he succeeded.
My testimony
There is a testimony I have been sharing for years and will continue to share. It is the testimony of an encounter with the Lord when I was a young woman and still relatively new in the faith. The Lord spoke to me and placed in my mind the fact that He was going to give me tensile strength.
I knew the meaning of the word, but I went to check because I never expected to hear that from the Lord. The expression applies to materials and refers to the degree of resistance of the material to a force that tries to disintegrate it. In the case of a piece of fabric, for example, its tensile strength is its level of resistance to a force that tries to tear it apart. C
Every child of God must have a high degree of tensile strength. When the forces of life and darkness launch an attack to destroy, you must be able to stand firm. Whether it's challenges at work, at home, or in service to God, you must have the ability to not be overcome. Opposition is not going to stop you because you are strengthened in your inner being.
Even the devil knows where everyone stands. For some, he knows that all it takes is a few bad thoughts projected on them and they will collapse, disappearing from the church for two years. Sometimes, all it takes is a handsome boy or girl to distract them. That's enough to end their commitment to God. Sometimes, it's a promotion or a job transfer that spells doom for their Christian life.
It is imperative that developing spiritual strength becomes a necessity in our lives. If God were to measure your tensile strength today, what would He find?
Read the second article: WHY PASSIONATELY DESIRE SPIRITUAL STRENGTH? (ARTICLE/VIDEO)
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