Live Strong!

REFERENCE: II Chronicles 16:9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

Psalms 19:12-13 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.

Observation: Feeling weak? At times we all do. This verse in II Chronicles is such an encouragement. "To strengthen", in the form of the Hebrew it is in, means; "to stand strongly with" or "to use one’s strength on behalf of another". What an amazing promise! The God of all the universe would seek us out to stand with us and give us His strength when we need it.

There is a requirement, of course. God seeks out only those who are fully committed to Him. Still, even with that, God doesn’t say; "do it on your own." He wants to give us help with it. As it says in Psalms 19, we may think that we are fully committed but we can follow the Psalmist and ask God to show us the reality of our hearts. Not just reveal sin, but to cleanse us of it!!

To be fully committed to Him means that nothing else can have control over us. Thank God that we can do what verse 13 says and ask God to free us from the sin that can control us. Many of us struggle with those kinds of sins that seem to have a mind of their own. We need God’s grace to be free from them and, along with confessing them to others and even getting good counsel if we need it, we must look to God to give us the grace to be free from them. He is the one who can deliver us.

Application/Confession: I need strengthening day. It seems like there is always more to deal with than my heart and mind and body can deal with. I need to know that God is there to stand strongly with me. I believe that I am fully committed to God but I want to be open to Him revealing the truth of my heart. I definitely need His grace to live the fully committed life I want to live.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, give me Your strength. I need it, even today. I can not face this day without You standing with me in strength. Show me my heart that I might be fully committed to You. I want to be and want to know when I fall short. Help me to be by Your grace.