Be Strong in the Strength of His Might, Today!

A word we need ingrained in our head, heart and soul for these dark hours: “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and length and height and depth” (Eph. 3:16-18).

Hey Gang:  Notice Paul set the table for receiving and understanding this power Scripture in verse 14: “I bowed my knees before the Father”.   

Have you ever taken the time to see the world is filled with God’s object lessons?  Several years ago, I helped a friend split wood in preparation for the coming fuzzy, white stuff season.  He had several types of wood, some split easily and some with more difficulty.  But, he also had some grizzly elm in the pile. I noticed that if I tried to go at the strength of a piece of elm, the eight-horse splitter did not have the power to penetrate and split the log, but, if I moved an inch or so from the edge, it would, with a great deal of grunting, split the log.  It weakened the log enough that I could then attack the inner parts of the log and complete the splitting job.

Throughout the day each time I ran into a piece of that tough elm tree, God reminded me of Paul’s words in Ephesian 6:10-13: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

I once heard an illustration from an old country preacher: “As long as we keep the armor of God in place, the devil cannot tell us from Jesus.”  I certainly believe in that analogy. 

God gave me an example of that elm log in the form of a young lad who had many of the attributes of that grizzly elm log.  Although only twelve years old, he had developed a hardness of heart, soul and mind that exceeded his years.

When I read the story of his life (he had been in many previous placements and bombed out through his violent outburst, I readily admit) I had made up my mind that I did not need that challenge added to the eleven other challenges we had in our home at that time.  But God had other ideas. 

I noticed in his case file that he had always bombed out because of his violent temper.  I also sensed that when he blew, the recipient of his outburst reacted in kind.   In the weeks that turned into months of his arrival, God continued my education on how to penetrate the hearts of kids who had been hurt deeply inside but did not know how to get out of their prisons.

Lesson one: Do not react to their attempts to say, “You are not worth much, I am going to thrash you like everyone has thrashed me.”  Lesson two: Look for the fault- line in the grizzly behavior.  God showed me that the young lad telegraphed when he was building a head of steam; I needed to learn the signs and head him off at the pass.    From then on it was a piece of cake, right?  No way! 

The next step in the learning process:  Teach him that he reaps in the same measure that he plants, both on the negative side and positive side.  He had to learn the ice cream with chocolate syrup and a cherry on top came when the grizzlies were under control!

So, my friends and neighbors, the moral of this story? Make sure you have your grizzlies under control before you hit the bricks and run face to face with the alligators that have been assigned to test your testimony.  Make sure you have your armor in place before you begin to deal with the darts of the ‘powers of darkness’ this day.

Blessings,

Gramps