Abiding in Christ - Day 28 - He is Your Strength

Okay.  We know.  We're weak.

It's very easy for us to fall into sin.  It's very easy for us to be tempted.  Linda writes about it here.

We acknowledge we are utterly weak, but we often try to forget it.  God wants us to remember our weakness, and to feel it deeply.

We tend to mourn over it, believing our weakness is a hindrance to all-out service to the God we love.  Yet Christ teaches us to be content with the truth that we are very weak.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 

Here's a secret:

Our weakness is actually the secret of strength and success.

The Christian's life work is to testify concerning Jesus, either by living a holy life or by speaking in His name. But how are we to do this?  By abiding in Christ, and by yielding to Him as His power works through us.

Christ gives His power in us by giving His life to us.  He does not take our frail lives and impart a little strength to help us in our frailty.  He goes the WHOLE WAY.  He gives His own life to us, and gives us His own power.

Instead of taking away our sense of weakness and giving in its place a feeling of strength, our Saviour leaves and even increases the sense we have of utter impotence.  At the same time, He increases our consciousness of strength in HIM.

"The weakness and the strength are side by side; as the one grows, the other does, too, until his disciples understand the saying, "when I am weak, then am I strong; I boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." ~ p. 172, Andrew Murray, Abiding in Christ

Believer, look to Christ.  Look to His beauty, His power, His ability to always do the right thing in every situation.   Remember that He is never tempted to sin, and never without strength to accomplish what His Father has willed.  Look to Jesus.

The believer who longs for holiness and power to do the Heavenly Father's work confidently remembers the power of Christ in him.

"He lives a truly joyous and blessed life, not because he is no longer weak, but because, being utterly helpless, he consents and expects to have the mighty Saviour work in him."~p. 173

Practical Lessons

1. All our strength is in Christ.  He has all authority in heaven and on earth and is able to meet every need.  
2. The power of Christ flows into us as we abide in close union with Him.  "When the union is weak, undervalued, or undercultivated, the inflow of strength will be weak."  But when we abide in Him, His power works through us.  His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Our one care is to abide in Christ as our strength.

Our one duty is to be strong in the Lord and in the power of HIS MIGHT.  

The Lord is my strength and my song.  Isaiah 12:2

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Phil 4:13