“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Psalm 46:1 reminds us of our dependence on God, for it reminds us that He is our “refuge and strength.” We looked at God as our refuge in the last article. Today we will consider that He is our "strength". This is fundamental biblical truth, that is, we do not have the strength to live the Christian life by our own resources. I want to show you how God can be your strength. God strengthens our faith. We are saved by faith, but we also need to live by faith, and to grow in faith. Faith in God, in Christ, is not merely a proposition, it is necessary, for we are reminded in Hebrews 11:6 that “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Here is another fundamental biblical truth: Christ has given us the Holy Spirit to work within us and to grow our faith. We have the resource (if that is the right word) of the Holy Spirit’s work within us, the truth of scripture, the practice of daily prayer, and fellowship with fellow Christians. We have all of these at our disposal to strengthen our faith. God strengthens our resolve. He strengthens our resolve as He strengthens our faith. It appears to me that there are a lot of people who claim the Christian faith who are on the fence. They are probably not on the fence about attending church. This is a good thing, but a better thing is to actually be the church. What I mean by this is that we should live the Christian life. None of us will do that perfectly, but we sure do need to give it a good shot. We should be resolved to live for Jesus, and depend on Him. Those of you who know me, know that I do not mean that we should be mean-spirited and self-righteous. All that does is turn people away. Ask God to strengthen your resolve to be a witness for Christ. This leads me to: God will strengthen our care and concern for people. When we read the four gospels, we get the idea that people were drawn to Jesus, in part, because of His care and concern. We need to ask God to strengthen our love for people. Believe me, I know that this is a tall order, but we must seek to do it. When you live your faith on a daily basis, you might make enemies of some people, but Jesus told us to love our enemies and do good for them. (Matthew 5:44) We need to believe biblical truth, stand by it, and let it affect the way we live our lives. We do not deny biblical truth when we love people and when we are concerned about their salvation. Let God strengthen your faith, your resolve and your care and concern for people. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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