How can God’s strength become our strength? How can His strength work in our limitations, struggles, and hardships?
How God’s Strength Can Become Our Strength
I woke up but didn’t want to get up. I just wanted to continue sleeping and avoid facing the new day with all its challenges. My constant struggle with depression and grief made me weak and vulnerable to various temptations. On that particular day, I felt doomed to defeat and utterly helpless in dealing with my problems. I felt weak and limited–unable to move forward and live the life I’ve been given.
I spent the morning crying out to the Lord, asking Him for His strength to carry me through and to help me live. The reality of my limitations and struggles hit hard, but God was present, too. He heard my desperate cry, and His Holy Spirit strengthened me from within so I could go through the day and actually praise the Lord for a good day before I fell asleep.
Do you have similar days and struggles as well? Perhaps your limitations and weaknesses are some other struggles or challenges. But whatever they are, they make you feel weak and helpless. And exactly this condition is the perfect opportunity to experience God’s real strength.
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How God’s Strength Can Work in Our Limitations
There are several steps we can take to experience God’s strength in our limitations and weaknesses.
The first step is the act of acknowledging. We acknowledge who and what we are and who God is. Humbling ourselves, we admit our weaknesses, limitations, and struggles.
But we acknowledge God’s strength, power, and sufficiency for our lives. We admit He is the source of real strength and life. We recognize Him and give Him thanks as our Sustainer, Provider, and Giver.
The next step is to ask Him for His strength and power to help us live and carry us through. And then we tell everyone how He showed up and proclaim His power.
We trust Him and His ability to preserve, sustain, heal, guide, and help us endure and overcome.
We trust God and His ability to preserve, sustain, heal, guide, and help us endure and overcome. #trustGod #encouragement #hope Share on XAcknowledging God’s Strength
We find a wonderful invitation to acknowledge God’s strength in Psalm 68.
“Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!” (Psalm 68:34-35, ESV)
According to the King James Bible Dictionary, the word ascribe comes from the Latin “ascribo”, of ad (to or toward) and scribo (to write). It means to attribute, impute, to assign, to consider, or to belong; as, to ascribe perfection to God, or imperfection to man. (Job 36:3, Psalm 68:34, 1 Samuel 18:8.)
So, when we ascribe power to God, we actively recognize, confess, and celebrate God’s greatness. It is an act of worship that puts us in the right position to connect with God and receive from Him.
Ascribing power to God is an act of worship that puts us in the right position to connect with and receive from Him. #trustGod #worship #encouragement Share on X
Real Strength for Real Life
We need God’s strength every day. It invokes our inner abilities for a holy and righteous life. It makes the one who can’t resist temptations and overcome sin strong enough to do it. God works with everyone, especially with vulnerable and broken people. His strength makes ordinary people extraordinary. He makes us strong to serve and build others up.
God’s strength works in our limitations. When we see our struggles as an invitation to draw near to God and to lean on His power, our limitations become a blessing.
God is sufficient for every trial and challenge we face. Our weaknesses, struggles, and limitations are opportunities to experience His strength in real life. He gives us real strength for real life.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2nd Corinthians 12:9, NIV)
Prayer for God’s Strength
Lord, I admit that all power and strength belong to You. I praise You as the One who gives power and strength to His people. You are my source of strength and grace. You are sufficient for all my struggles and weaknesses. May Your power and grace work in my weaknesses today, Lord. With You on my side, I am not doomed to defeat, but I am destined for victory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Find Strength in God When You Go Through Suffering and Pain
Do you want to draw near to God when you are tempted to pull away amidst painful and traumatic experiences? Do you long for the transformation of your painful story into a story of preparation, empowerment, fruitfulness, and growth?
My new book “DRAW NEAR: How Painful Experiences Become the Birthplace of Blessings” takes you on a journey through 13 painful experiences, showing the precious blessings in each of them.
More Encouragement for You
If you need more resources, encouragement, and comfort during painful experiences, I highly recommend these books. Check them out.
Uprooting Anger by Robert D. Jones
Trusting God in All the Things: 90 Devotions for Finding Peace in Your Every Day by Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk
Make Up Your Mind: Unlock Your Thoughts, Transform Your Life by Denise Dubois Pass and Michelle Nietert
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero
Life Can Be Good Again by Lisa Appelo
It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lisa Terkeurst
Hope When Life Unravels: Finding God When It Hurts by Adam Dooley
Restoration Year – a 365 Days Devotional by John Eldredge
All Things New by John Eldredge
This page contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. The commission I make from these items will help keep this blog going. Thank you!
Your Turn
In which limitation or weakness do you need God’s strength today? Share in the comments and on social media if you found this article helpful. Thank you!
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I really, really needed to read this today. So often I try to do things in my own strength and that never turns out well. I’m so grateful that God’s strength can become my strength. I appreciate the prayer you included. I’m need to remember to acknowledge God’s strength and power each day!
What a beautiful post! My big struggle right now is building up a career that I feel happy in and proud of and can support myself with. It’s been a very hard journey trying to figure myself out and figuring out my purpose in life. I’m praying to God to give me strentgh and patience as I go through this period of my life. In the end, God knows me best, and he knows how to use me. I just need to be like Isaiah, so that when he calls me I’ll be ready and can say “send me”! pray for me!
Thank you for showing us how God’s strength can become our strength. I certainly can identify with the feeling of not wanting to push through and face the day, but it is a blessing knowing His strength to carry us through to help us all live in His glory.
I have experienced many mornings in my life where I didn’t want to face the day. And I agree, this is exactly the condition that is the perfect opportunity to experience God’s real strength. I really had to get to the point where I am ok in my weaknesses and don’t need to be strong. Then God’s strength could be lived out from within me. Thank you for your beautiful ministry, dear friend. You always minister to me deeply. Thank you, I am grateful for your friendship.
Thanks, my dear friend! Yes, when we walk with God, it is easier to accept our weaknesses and helplessness because we know we have Him. I am grateful for you and our friendship, too! Blessings!
Thank you for this, Hadassah! I am soaking in these words today!
Thanks, friend! I am glad the post encouraged you! Blessings!