In my weakness, I find God’s strength

Over the past couple of weeks I listened to a podcast by Every Heart Movement (if you don’t listen to them you should), called “Boasting in our weakness.” And all I can say is the past few weeks I have been wrecked, changed, set free, and filled by the grace and love of God. I have been hit with realization of just how much I need God in my life. Not only that, but I became aware of how much I can act as if I don’t. In the podcast he said “I am so tired of subconsciously becoming numb to the gospel” and that hit me like a ton of bricks. How often throughout my day, do I actually realize it is only by the grace of God that I am alive, breathing, walking, talking, etc. It is only by the grace of God that I get to walk in relationship with God. It is only by the grace of God that He met me as a 7 year old girl and still meets me as a 22 year old woman. So often Christianity can be watered down to a one time realization. Realizing one time in your life your need for God and His forgiveness and then moving on. But this is such a lie of our flesh. I need God every day, I need Him in every step, every word I say, and every decision I make. I can’t do anything truly good apart from Him. So instead of thinking “when was the one time I had my Jesus moment” I should be thinking “did I realize my need for Him TODAY?” Did I wake up realizing my need for His mercy today? Did I come to Him praising and thanking Him for the cross, today? The beauty of Jesus is we don’t have to rely on the mercy, love, and grace of yesterday, because it is new every day. As said in the podcast “we need him in every sense of the word (need)” and I never want to grow tired of living in need of God. He talked about how realizing we have weakness actually leads us to being strong in God. In the presence of God we don’t have to act strong. We don’t have to pretend that we have it together. So much freedom comes from saying “I’m weak! But He is strong!” I’ve been realizing that when I hear sayings like that my usual response is “yeah, I know.” It’s almost as if I’m annoyed of being reminded that God is my strength. In reality I should be rejoicing in this statement! Praise the living Lamb that He does not expect or even want me to be strong my own. It has never been about “how strong can I be?” It has always been about how strong He is. So, praise God! I get to boast in my weakness because that means more of Him! My life is amazing. Not because of the things I have, but because of relationship with Him. My life is blessed because of my daily need for Him! It would all truly mean nothing without Him. Without God in our life we’re constantly searching for more. More of the world to fill the void that is meant for Him. We were created to worship Him, to be in relationship with Him. And you know what? My life is SO much better because of Jesus. As he said in the podcast “Jesus didn’t come to make a decent life a better one, he made a dead one a living life!” And wow, this may be one of the most countercultural statements I’ve heard. Jesus didn’t come to give me a “good life.” He didn’t just come to make my time of earth better than it would have been. No, Jesus literally saved me from the grave. He defeated death and sin, so I wouldn’t have to pay the cost! He took on the punishment that was meant for me. He made a dead life a living one, and it was all for love! Because He desired relationship with you and me more. Because He wanted us to walk in freedom with Him. Because of the joy set before Him he endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). And because of His strength we are made strong in our weakness. So now, I get to rejoice in the fact that I’m weak. Because my weakness was always meant to lead me to His strength. Thank You Jesus.