God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1 (KJV)
Many find that they have the desire to do a thing, but no strength for the journey. God is our strength, so if we are trying to make the journey without putting Him first, we will fail. Our own strength will fail. Even youths and strong men have their limits (see Isaiah 40:30), but with God we are unlimited as long as we stay focused on His goals for us instead of our own. We cannot do anything we want to do, but we can do anything He wants us to do!
Even when we are pursuing something that is God’s will, we still need to lean and rely on Him and trust Him to be our strength each step of the way. The single biggest mistake we are likely to make is to try to “do it ourselves.” We are warned in Scripture of the dangers of leaning on frail man, and that includes others and ourselves. The prophet Jeremiah said it well:
Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:5 (AMPC)
Knowing what to do, or even how to do it, doesn’t mean that we have the strength to take a task all the way through to the finish. We can go on willpower alone for a short distance, but all self-determination eventually fizzles out without God helping us! Discipline and self-control are both good and they are necessary, but where do we get the strength to exercise them? We know we shouldn’t give up, but where do we get the strength to go the distance in a race that is much longer than we thought it would be? We get it from God Who is the source of all strength.
When Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), He actually meant exactly what He said. Jesus invites the weary to come to Him and find rest from their labor (see Matthew 11:28). We may work without Jesus, but we will labor and be weary.
We are saved by grace, and we can also learn to live by grace! Each day we need Jesus and His amazing gift of grace, just as much as we did the day we were born again. We need His undeserved and unmerited favor, His help, and His power to do what we need to do in life. We cannot earn or deserve grace because it is a free gift, but we do need to receive it through faith. I can offer someone in need twenty dollars, but that does not guarantee he will receive my gift.
I like to think of grace as the power that saved me from sin and the power that enables me to live the life that God wants me to live. For example, God wants me to be loving, patient, and kind, but I need His grace (power) to do it. God wants me to endure whatever comes with good temper, but I need His grace (power) in order to do it. God wants me to teach His Word, but I need His grace (power) to do it.
The apostle Paul spoke of a thorn in his flesh that he asked God to take away. Exactly what the thorn was, we don’t know for sure, but we can discern that it harassed and was disturbing to Paul. Like most of us would do, Paul begged God to remove it. That is the easy answer—“God, if you get rid of this, then I can behave the way I should!” God told him that His grace was sufficient to enable him to bear the trouble (see II Corinthians 12:7–9). God didn’t remove the difficulty, but He strengthened Paul in his weakness. Had God removed the thorn, that would have been a manifestation of His grace, but enabling Paul to bear the trouble was also a manifestation of God’s grace.
Whether we need to be able to focus more, be more determined, or be more organized, we need God’s grace (undeserved favor and power) to do it. If we need to change an attitude or a behavior, we cannot do it through struggle and fleshly effort; we need God’s help and power to do it.
The way to get help from God is to ask for it. You can wait until you need it to ask for it, or you can ask before the need arises, because you already know that without God’s help, you will be unsuccessful in whatever you try to do.
When I go to the gym to work out, I don’t wait until I am exhausted and feel that I cannot go on to ask for help. I ask on the way there! I already know that without Him, I won’t even want to go, let alone do all I am supposed to do once I get there. I always want to treat people the way Jesus would, and I am quite sure that I will not unless God helps me, so I ask daily for the fruit of the Holy Spirit to flow through me and my personality.
God wants us to depend on Him in all things! He is the Vine and we are the fruit-bearing branches (see John 15:5). Branches continually draw their life-giving strength from the vine. It is that life flowing through them that causes fruit to manifest on the branch. If there are stubborn dead leaves hanging on to the branch from last year, the new life that produces the new buds will push them off. In this way, you don’t have to struggle to change yourself because you are changed by the grace (undeserved favor and power) of God. In order to bear good fruit in any area of life, just stay connected to the Vine (Jesus).
You don’t have to struggle to change yourself because you are changed by the grace (undeserved favor and power) of God.
There are a few scriptures that I quote to myself or open the Bible to and read when I want to remind myself of the power in simply asking God to help me. They are James 4:2, John 16:24, Matthew 7:7–8, John 14:13–14, and John 15:7. I purposely am giving you only the reference to these scriptures to get you to do what this book is about—to personally take action.
Seize the information for yourself. When you do, it will mean much more to you than if I do the work involved for you. Lay the book aside, get a Bible, and look up these five scriptures and read them out loud. You will find yourself being much more inclined to ask God for help than you may have been before reading them. Harper Lee, an American novelist, said, “The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that.”29
Things seem to mean more to us when we make a personal effort than they do if we only feed on someone else’s work. I am thankful for computers and all the information that is available to me at the touch of a button, and I use them almost daily. But to be very honest, I am even more grateful for the years prior to computers when I had to dig and study, sometimes for hours, to learn what people today can get at their fingertips. Why? Because the effort I put into learning made what I know extremely valuable to me. One of the things that I thank God for on a regular basis is what I’ve learned, and it wasn’t downloaded to my heart from a disk.
You can enhance your church experience tenfold by making notes of the Scripture verses your pastor or Bible teacher uses when sharing God’s Word and then going home and looking them up and reading and meditating on them for yourself. In addition to studying God’s Word personally, surround yourself with good resources that contain the Word of God taught by someone who is anointed by God to teach. Devotionals, books, and recorded messages are good resources. Even plaques displayed in your home that have Scripture verses on them are beneficial.
A friend of mine is very gifted and has a strong desire to minister to people, but she has experienced frustration at times because the right doors have not opened for her yet. I have felt led of the Lord to strongly encourage her to “serve the Lord with gladness,” according to Psalm 100. When we serve Him with gladness, we can enjoy our time of waiting for Him to lead us into what we are to do next. I spoke with her recently, and when I asked how she was doing, she said, “I have painted on my office wall, ‘Serve the Lord with Gladness!’” I have personally used many such reminders in my walk with God and found them to be very beneficial. Keep God’s Word and your vision in front of you, and it will help you to keep pressing on.
One of the best ways to make the most of each day is to start your day with God! Form the habit of beginning to talk with Him before you even get out of bed. Thank Him for another day, and ask Him to help you live it for His pleasure. You can mention the things you know you need to do during the day and ask for His help in doing them well. If you have a meeting you are dreading, don’t just grit your teeth and “try” to get through it, but ask for help in doing it with a good attitude. You can even ask God to help you enjoy it!
Every day is part of our journey with God, and we find strength for the journey by seeking Him early and consistently. There is nothing more vital to living an effective, intentional, “on-purpose” life than a daily time with God. This is a foundational biblical truth for any believer who wants to go beyond ordinary and live the extraordinary life Jesus died to give us.
There is nothing more vital to living an effective, intentional, “on-purpose” life than a daily time with God.
The Bible teaches us that God is the Source of all things (see I Corinthians 8:6). Because God is our Source, daily time spent with Him is more than a devout obligation—it is a divine opportunity! It is our opportunity to be strengthened, encouraged, healed, equipped, and empowered for the day ahead.
You might look at time with God like charging your battery. My husband has an electric golf cart that he drives to the golf course that is close to our home. When he comes home with it, he always plugs it in so it is charged up the next time he wants to go. On occasion, if one of our children has borrowed it to take their children for a ride in the subdivision and failed to plug it in when they returned, Dave has been disappointed and not real happy when he went to use it and there was no power.
If we fail to plug in to God by spending time with Him, we will be disappointed and unhappy when we find that we need power and we have none. Take a branch off of a vine and watch it for a few days as an experiment. Each day it looks a bit more lifeless and in only a few days it is dead! That is the way we are, too. Off the Vine (Jesus), it doesn’t take us long to lose our vitality, energy, zeal, enthusiasm, passion, determination, and joy. He is our Source!
In much the same way that a river is only as strong as its source, you and I are only as strong as our connection to God. When we purpose to spend time with Him by studying His Word and talking with Him, thanking and worshipping Him, we are filled with wisdom, strength, and courage for whatever is ahead, no matter how challenging it may be.
David spent time worshipping God (see Psalm 5:7). Mary sat at the feet of Jesus (see Luke 10:39). Moses went up the mountain to meet with God (see Exodus 19:3). Even Jesus took time to get away from the crowds and pray (see Mark 1:35). If “time with God” was important to them, it certainly should be important to us.
Hudson Taylor said, “Do not have your concert first and tune your instruments afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.”30
Many families sound like a band where all play a different song and none of their instruments have been tuned. They start bickering with one another from the moment they get out of bed. Things could have been very different if they had spent time with God first!
Yes, it takes time to be properly prepared to face another day, but many of us feel that we just can’t find the time. After all, we are already too busy.
You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.
(Charles Buxton, English philanthropist, writer, and member of Parliament)31
Why is it so important for us to study God’s Word regularly? It is more important than getting a college education. How can we know the will of God unless we study His Word? We cannot and never will. Perhaps some people don’t study because they feel their lifestyle may be confronted by what they read. I will admit that as I study God’s Word I am often reproved by it. It corrects me and helps me stay in what I call the “safety zone” of life. I do not in any way dread the corrections, but instead I am very thankful for them. God’s Word helps me. It has power in it that enables me to do what I should, and power that enables me not to do what I shouldn’t.
Any time you spend with God will actually save you time later. Martin Luther famously said that he had gotten so busy, he now had to spend three hours each morning in prayer in order to have the wisdom and strength to handle the rest of his day. No wonder he impacted the church forever with his revelation that we are saved by grace and not by works. He obviously worked hard, but only after having received sufficient power for the day through his time with God.
Any time you spend with God will actually save you time later.
Just imagine what a different world we would live in if everyone on the planet spent time with God each morning in Bible study and prayer. All of the miseries from selfishness, crime, violence, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war come from despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible, but if people studied them daily, the world would be a different place.
We cannot make other people’s decisions for them, but we can decide for ourselves. I have made my decision, and I see the result in my life. God is my strength and a present help in trouble. He is my enabler. Each day is a gift, and I choose to seize it and do the most I can with it. I urge you to do the same.
• God will always give you the strength to do the things He calls you to do and live the life He’s purposed for you to live.
• Grace is both the power that saves us from sin and the power that enables us to live the life that God wants us to live.
• The way to get help from God is simply to ask Him.
• In order to bear good fruit in any area of life, just stay connected to the Vine (Jesus).
• The best thing you can do to make the most of each day is to start that day with God.