Strengthened With All Power Psalms 18:32-35 Isaiah 41:10 Ephesians 3:14-21 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 1 Peter 5:8-11 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 Ephesians 6:10 08.07.20

 

STRENGTHENED WITH ALL POWER

BREAD

³² It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. ³³ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. ³⁴ He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. ³⁵ You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.  Psalms 18:32-35 (NIV) 

¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) 

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV) 

⁷ To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV) 

¹² May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³ May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.  1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (NIV) 

⁸ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. ¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹ To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.  1 Peter 5:8-11 (NIV) 

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.  2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NIV)

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)

BUTTER 

“Though assaults be many, and my enemies mighty, if God strengthen me, I have enough to comfort me; for the greater my enemy, the more glorious my victory; and the more glorious my victory, the more triumphant my glory.”  K.H. Von Bogatzky 

“It is so easy to give thanks for what one naturally chooses, but that does not cover the ‘everything’ of the text...One morning lately, in speaking of some small trouble, I quoted ‘In everything give thanks,’ and at once someone answered ‘But I cannot give thanks for everything.’ Now if our God tells us to do a thing and we say cannot, there is something wrong somewhere, for we all know the words ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me’ - that is, all things commanded. It is treason to say 'I cannot.’ But first we should make sure that we are commanded to do this.  The text says give thanks IN everything, not FOR everything. All God's biddings are enablings. We can do that. We will do that.”   Amy Carmichael

“Lynn Wheeler, a runner, tennis player, swimmer, guitarist, singer, friend, grandma, mother, and wife in a wheelchair for the rest of her days after a sudden accident took it all away.  And her conclusion to the matter was…I think of heaven more.  Whatever my God ordains is right.  She writes:  ‘My body is a mess right now, but it is well with my soul…I know my days are ordained for me, and [God] will comfort and strengthen me when I am weak. I cling to His truth, though it doesn’t make sense. His plans for me continue, though everything has changed…I take joy in the little things; find protection in my limitations. I think of heaven more.’  Her resolve that God is good in every circumstance, coupled with her optimism about the hope and future that God had prepared for her, led her to speak of her disability not chiefly as an affliction, but as her ‘assignment.’  It’s no wonder that at Lynn Wheeler’s funeral, Rev. Dr. David Filson declared that in her lifetime, her wheelchair became her pulpit.”  Scott Sauls

“The best exercise for strengthening the heart is reaching down and lifting people up.”   Ernest Blevins

“And we will never stop being the boldface brave who show up when it would be easier to give up, who go do hard & holy things when it would be easier to just go do happy things, who do not quit when we don’t know how to keep going on.  You can hear it about this time of September, breathing warm courage into our exhausted places:  ‘Just Call to Me, I guarantee I will answer you.  I will make you strong & brave.’  (Psalms 138:3).  Be Brave.  Hold out your Light to hold back the flood of dark.  Be Brave.  Your bravery wins a thousand battles you can’t see because your bravery strengthens a thousand others to win their battles too.  Be Brave.  And do not pray for the hard thing to go away.  But pray for a bravery to come that’s bigger than the hard thing.”   Ann Voskamp

“As a weak limb grows stronger by exercise, so will your faith be strengthened by the very efforts you make in stretching it out toward things unseen.”   James Aughey

“In God's hands intended evil becomes eventual good.  Joseph tied himself to the pillar of this promise and held on for dear life. Nothing in his story glosses over the presence of evil. Quite the contrary. Bloodstains, tearstains are everywhere. Joseph's heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God's servant turned out to strengthen him.”   Max Lucado

“It is much easier and delightful to build rather than to mend people.  Do-overs in a life always carry with it such icky consequences that most don’t factor in until  it is too late and they are face to face with them.  Also, don’t arrogantly think for a minute that you will not ever need a voice of wisdom and reason either.  Do your part to help others on their way, to strengthen the saint and to help them to stand.  We do this through His power and always for His glory and our good.”  BHY 

“You have all you need to stand firm in your faith. God is the one who strengthens you. When you fall in battle and cry out to Him, He rushes to your side and lifts you up.”   Michael Youssef

“The root of discouragement is unbelief…Discouragement is Satan’s device to thwart the work of God in our lives.  Discouragement blinds our eyes to the mercy of God and makes us perceive only the unfavorable circumstances.  There is only one way to dispel discouragement, and it is not in our own strength or ingenuity.  It is to turn in faith to God, believing that He loves us and is in control of the future.  The Bible says, ‘Wait on the Lord…and He shall strengthen your heart.’”   Billy Graham

“Strengthen me Lord according to Your glorious might.  Give me great endurance and patience and joy so that I may walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel.  May I please You in all that I say and do.  You alone are faithful to keep me from falling and to equip me for this so great an endeavor.  May I, through Your great power, leave the aroma of sweet Jesus in my every encounter that I may change my sphere by bringing Your Presence to every circumstance You present me with today.  Always for your glory alone and my good.”  BHY

HEART SAVOR

·         It is God Who strengthens us and equips us for every good work.

·         He strengthens us in every good deed and word.

·         He makes our way perfect and enables us to stand on the heights.