It's a wonderful, powerful statement from the Apostle Paul – an invitation for us to draw on the resources of God's strength. That's more than enough strength for any of us. Yet there is an aspect to this that we must think about. I first found this idea connected to this passage from the Bible in the works of the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones – an idea that is important to the resource of God's strength in our life. In his great series of sermons on this text, Dr. Lloyd-Jones listed many ways in which he believed Christians wasted their strength. It was as if they had received some of the available might of God, but it simply leaked away like water in a bucket full of holes. I don't present this list to judge or condemn, but for your sober consideration. Read it over, and ask God what might apply to your life. These are some of the things Martyn Lloyd-Jones thought sapped the strength of the Christian: - Committing to too many spiritual works or things - Too much conversation - Arguments, debates, wrangling - Laziness - Too much time in the wrong company - Too much foolish talk and joking - Love of money and career - A desire for respectability and image - An unequal partnership with an unbeliever - Ungodly entertainment - A wrong attitude toward or doubting the Word of God | |
| Lloyd-Jones didn't want this list to become a law, or a source of legalism and bondage. He wrote: "We have to walk on a knife-edge in these matters; you must not become extreme on side or the other. But you have to be watchful. And, of course, you can always tell by examining yourself whether your strength is increasing or declining." Is your strength increasing or declining? It may be that you are receiving the strength of God, but wasting it. Talk to God about it. By David Guzik |
PRAISE GOD BLESSED BE THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD Tweet |
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The Apostle's Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried, He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
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