Connecting with God for a Strong Finish
| Why connect with God for strength | How to connect with God for strength | Sources of Strength |
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Part 1: Why connect with God for strength
Be Strong in the Lord
When God speaks, strength, courage, and comfort follow. In a letter to the church at Corinth, Paul wrote,
“The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort”. (1 Cor 14:3 NIV)
The word of the Lord imparts strength because it is “living and powerful” (Heb 4:12). Each message adds strength, inspires courage, and builds confidence. God’s word also conveys comfort by dispensing hope, healing, and consolation.
Connecting with Jesus Christ activates stellar power. He transforms mortal weaklings into shining stars. Blazing at millions of degrees for billions of years, stars surpass every spiritual analogy for fire, heat, and light. Our Sun burns 700 million tons of fuel per second. This thermonuclear word-picture illustrates the far-reaching and unquenchable influence of God’s people in action.
While incarcerated in an ancient prison, Paul wrote:
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars [phoster] in the universe as you hold out the word of life. (Phil 2:15-16 NIV)
Once we connect with Jesus, the Holy Spirit escorts us beyond the comfort zone of religious mediocrity. He leads us into hostile territory, with a commission to change the spiritual climate. Rather than reflecting our surroundings, we radiate light and release energy. Rather than dabbling in superficial religion, we activate supernatural resources to reach those ravaged by spiritual darkness.
Life is not hard to live―It’s impossible.
Without God’s Help.
Connecting with Jesus Christ enables us to live more abundantly, love more passionately, and influence more effectively. He seasons our personality with peace and flavors it with joy. He fuels our performance with perseverance and sustains it with patience. Life on earth offers more than a survival course for us to negotiate. It summons us with an eternal imperative enriched with a relational agenda. Knowing the truth about God empowers us to embrace His glory and encounter His goodness.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3)
“We cannot become what we need to be by remaining as we are.” (John Mason)
Jesus does not recommend crucifixion for everyone―He requires it. Connecting with God means dying to self, figuratively and sometimes literally. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34 ). Simply put and with a promise attached, He said,
“whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will find it.” (Mar 8:35)
Life comes packed in a finite container. Though elegant in design and sophisticated in function, the body we inhabit limits our mortal tenure. We are a breath in time situated in a biological organism. One heartbeat separates us from eternity.
Jesus did not come to help us say and do religion better. He came to connect us permanently with His passionate love. Our primary purpose in life is not task oriented; it is love oriented. Jesus redeemed us to participate in a divine romance, celebrating strong affections with everlasting parameters.
Loving God requires All our Strength
Properly understood, the love of God evokes an endearing response. His passion inspires us to reciprocate with ardent fascination. Instead of pandering to our weakness, Jesus brings the best out of us. His love focuses all our strength with favor, respect, and anticipation.
[Jesus] answered and said, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ …do this and you will live.” (Luk 10:27-28)
Connecting with Christ activates a royal calling with a universal mandate. It transforms idle spectators into ardent ambassadors. Jesus strengthens us so we might put His love into action. He wraps everlasting love around us, so we might wrap it around those poised to receive it.
Physics and Fruit
In 1905, a 27-year old patent clerk published the most famous equation in the world. Apparently, E=mc² is so simple and profound that Einstein wondered “whether the Lord is laughing at it and has played a trick on me.” According to Einstein’s theory, energy and mass are different forms of the same thing. His equation asserts their equivalence; it surmises that mass, whether solid, liquid, or gas, may be converted into energy, and energy may be converted into mass. Stars, atomic bombs, and nuclear power plants generate energy based on this illustrious equation.
“When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber”
(Sir Winston Churchill)
This world doesn’t need another sound bite echoing the party line. It needs a compelling and provocative message delivered with deep conviction. Paul reassured the church at Thessalonica that:
our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. (1 Thessalonians 1:5 NAS)
Unleashed from their constrained roost, prophetic messengers soar into heavenly realms where the word of life reverberates with clarity and distinction. Spiritual eagles proclaim an inherently powerful and eternally vital message. They connect with God to activate eternal connecting points for every person in every people group.
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (Isa 40:31)
Strength involves a combination of intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual components. It is a multifaceted concept. Strength specifically refers to the capacity for exertion or endurance. Technically, it represents the ability to produce a force. Power refers to the ability to produce an effect or influence. Dictionaries generally classify strength and power as synonyms. The two words are often used interchangeably. Energy denotes a related concept. It refers to the strength that can be transformed into action.
