Do You Need Strength?
‘THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR
O
THE
vercoming
SERIES
STRENGTH’ ISAIAH 40:31.
God doesn’t tell us how He’ll answer our prayers or even when, but He does promise
those who wait on Him one thing, strength. Tony Evans points out that the word
‘wait’ comes from a Hebrew word used in the making of rope. Every rope starts as a
thread and every thread added just increases its strength.
Getting the idea? Every time you wait on the Lord you add another thread to the Help me be patient,
rope; you get a little stronger and a little more able to cope. Feel as if you’re just Lord, and not run
hanging on by a thread? Wait in God’s presence and let Him turn it into a rope. But
ahead of You.
waiting is not always passive: sometimes it’s active, like waiting on a customer,
Father, show me
seeing that his or her needs are met. Waiting is not so much a position, rather a
the rhythm of Your
focus. Isaiah says, ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
Holy Spirit, so I
[focused] on Thee...’ (Isaiah 26:3).
may do things in
Whether it’s sitting prayerfully in God’s presence, or actively carrying out His
Your perfect timing.
will, you’ve got His assurance that your strength will be renewed. Listen to these
Let me know the
seasons of Your
promises: 1) ‘Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your
Kingdom and
heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!’ (Psalm 27:14 NKJ) 2) ‘...wait silently for God alone,
don’t let me be
for my expectation is from Him’ (Psalm 62:5 NKJ) (3) ‘As the eyes of servants look
distracted by the
to the hand of their masters...so our eyes look to the Lord our God...’ (Psalm 123:2
circumstances I
NKJ). Need more strength? Wait on God more! fi nd myself in. I
pray, Lord, that my
Learning From Elijah
life would be an
instrument in Your
‘ELIJAH WAS A MAN JUST LIKE US. HE PRAYED EARNESTLY’
hands, in Jesus’
JAMES 5:17.
name, Amen.
Elijah did something we keep forgetting to do. When things got tough, he recalled
what God had assigned him to do: announce the end of a drought and the
beginning of rain. What has God called you to do? Pull it up on your screen and start
doing it. What has He promised you? Begin speaking it over your life.
Learn from Elijah: First, ‘[He] bent down to the ground and put his face between
his knees’ (1 Kings 18:42 NIV). He deliberately positioned himself not to see his
surroundings. Smart move! Hang up the ‘phone. Turn off the TV. Lock the door. Get
alone with God; He has your answers. Next, he refused to give up. Six times his
servant came back to say, ‘There’s no rain. Not even a cloud.’ But Elijah persisted in
prayer and told his servant to go look again. This time he came back to say,
‘I see a cloud like a man’s hand.’ Next we read ‘...here was a great rain’
(1 Kings 18:45 Amp).
Here are three important things you need to remember today: a) the greatest
moments in your life will always come through prayer. God does things through
prayer that He’ll do no other way b) instead of obsessing over your situation,
start ‘factoring in’ the God who can change it c) if you don’t sense the Holy
Spirit’s power in your life, it may be because you’ve left the place of prayer too
soon. Commit yourself to ‘pray without ceasing’ and God will come through for you.
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