Wednesday, April 3, 2019

April 3 Thought for the day...always given strength


Have you ever had a time in your life where you just didn't have the strength? It may have been to accomplish a task given, to handle dealing with problems at home or simply to get out of bed in the morning. Jesus found himself in that place and here is what happened.

Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. Luke 22:43

I remember the first time my life was threatened. I was in Sudan and a soldier who had been fighting in hand to hand combat for 20 years came to me with fear in his eyes and urgency in his tone telling me we were surrounded by the enemy and were going to be killed. It was 4 soldiers, 3 pastors and 300 children under the age of 10 verses 150 terrorist whose goal was to murder us all. When a soldier who is used to battle and has killed many men himself is afraid, that creates a certain amount of intense feelings for a novice in warfare, like me. I went to prayer, and in prayer, I could relate exactly to this verse. Everything natural in me said I should be overwhelmed, but I needed the Lord to strengthen me, and He did. All fear was gone, so much so with the enemy about to attack, I went to sleep and had one of the most restful night's sleep I can remember ever having.

The angel appeared to strengthen Jesus as He was facing the greatest trial of His life and His friends could not even be trusted to stand with Him. The word Luke uses here for "strengthen," refers to muscular strength like a bodybuilder but with the prefix that is added to the Greek word, it means that kind of strength plus it being poured into someone as a renewed vitality and vigor. It is an imparted strength, being instantly recharged, in the best modern terms it means "supercharged."  At that moment, Jesus was filled with the strength and vitality that He would need to face his betrayal and torment.

There will be times when you can't depend upon those around you, even those closest to you. If you are in a battle, it is nice to have friends to support and strengthen you. We all need to understand that God will gladly and wonderfully strengthen and encourage you! You are never alone, God wants to amaze you with His strength, wisdom, and power. He will always protect and strengthen you if you allow Him.

In case you were curious, God placed fear in those who were coming to kill us. They saw an army filling the camp that scared them away even though there was no visible army there. (see 2 Kings 6:16,17 for a similar miracle)

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