Be Strong In The Lord

Pastor Alex Adegboye

Zech 12:8-10 “In that day Jehovah shall defend around the people of Jerusalem. And it will be, he who is feeble among them at that day shall be like David; and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of Jehovah before them.

And it shall be in that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

And I will pour on the house of David, and on the people of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be bitter over Him, as the bitterness over the first-born”.2Cor 4:16 “For this cause we do not faint; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day”.

The bible is saying here that in the last days God is going to pour out the spirit of supplication upon the church. This implies strength because it takes strength to supplicate. The days in which we live demand strength of us. Your real strength as a Christian is spiritual strength. As you grow older your spiritual strength can be renewed. There is a difference between physical strength and spiritual strength. As a matter of fact, it is the spiritual strength that propels the physical strength. When you want physical result you have to take it from the realm of the spirit. From the realm of the spirit you release spiritual force that is not in the physical realm. To be able to grow in life you have to tap into spiritual strength, 2 Cor 4:16. You should be strong because God says you can be strong. We live our lives out of our human spirit so our strength comes from within.

WHY DO YOU NEED TO BE STRONG?

1. You need to be strong because of our adversary the devil. The most dangerous part of Satan is not his power but his cunningness. 2Cor 2:11 “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices”.
2. You need to be strong because of the evil day. The devil attacks both the good and bad people. Satan takes a long time to plan and launch an attack. Eph 6:10-11 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil”.
3. You need to be strong to avoid personal failure. Attacks are personal so also strength to overcome them is personal. The devil looks for feeble people to attack. Deu 25:17-19 “ Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it”.
4. You are who you are because of what you are.  You are under an attack because you bear the emblem of Christ, because you are a child of God. Heb 2:11 “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”

You are strengthened by God so as to bear the infirmity of the weak. So, be strong for your family, your loved ones, your friends, your community e.t.c. Rom 15:1 “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves”.

Might means potential. Power means released might. When you gave your life to Christ you had might, but you receive power from the Holy Ghost so as to release might (potential). Power is the manifestation of might. The manifestation of the full grown spirit is power. All the power in the universe is in Jesus and we have all this power in us as Christians. Col 1:19 “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell”.

HOW DO WE SEE THIS POWER IN THE LIFE OF JESUS?

1. We see the power manifested in Jesus. A man who does not have Jesus is not a man.
2. We see the power in His miracles, Psalms 66:3, Matt 8:27, Luke 4:34. Jesus commanded the devil, He never negotiated with him. His miracles speak about power. Our gospel is a gospel of power. With this power you can overcome temptation, Luke 4:13. Demons can leave you if you refuse to bow. Some demons will reside and continue to have rulership over your life as long as they use your body as a traffic.
3. We see the power manifested on the cross and in the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection was a demonstration of power – Phil 3:10, Eph 1:19-20.

THREE THINGS YOU MUST DO TO BE STRONG

1. Feed on His words of strength. Read the bible in-depth not casually. The word of God must be read through your eyes, listened to through your ears, thought and meditated on through your heart.
2. Pray in the Holy Ghost. Pray in tongues regularly and by so doing you strengthen your spirit man. 1 Cor 14:4, Jude 1:20
3. Say it “I am strong”. Right from the Garden of Eden, our lives has being ruled by what we say. Our destiny is determined by what we say (this is a universal principle). What you say determines where you go. Stop saying I am weak. Stop belittling the grace of God by what you say.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

You must renew your mind that you are strong. This is renewing your mind from the stronghold of weakness. Think strength!

God bless you.