Where Do You Find Your Strength?

Like everyone else these days, I spend time every day thinking about all the things going on in the world. But it’s not a time spent worrying. I trust that God, the God who sent His son to rescue us from sin, knows what is happening and has a plan.  Tim Sheets is a pastor who has written two books on Angels.  In both books, he has included a section in the back of the book called decrees we can make.  In an interview he gave, he said he asked Holy Spirit to make a decree. And the decree that Holy Spirit gave was; “Hell doesn’t stand a chance”.  “Hell doesn’t stand a chance.” In the whirlwind of all that is happening in our world, it’s a good thing for us to remember these words from Holy Spirit. It's in remembering the holy perspective from the Lord, that we find our ability to overcome the worry and stress of the world we are living in. So, I want us to think about the word overcome.  Specifically listen to Jesus as he used this word. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33  Will we have trouble? Yes. Will life get difficult? Yes. Will there be wars and rumors of war? Yes.  Will inflation make life difficult? Yes. Will we have trouble in this world? Yes. But, take heart – because Jesus overcame the world.  He overcame, he defeated sin and Satan, by taking away the authority that Satan grabbed when he caused Adam and Eve to sin. Because Jesus overcame, we too can be overcomers. We can rise above the troubles in our lives, we can prevail if we keep our eyes on Jesus and our hope in the God who created heaven and earth. Now don’t feel bad if you haven’t felt like an overcomer lately. It must be a common problem for all of humanity in all of time, because scripture has a lot to say about overcoming.  Here are just two passages that encourage us to fix our eyes on Jesus so that we can overcome the world. Romans 8: 35, 37-40 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”1 John 5:1-5  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.If nothing can separate us from the love of God, and in that love we have faith that He is for us and not against us, we don’t have to worry and fret about what Satan is trying to convince us is coming. Because God has all power and authority, and “Hell doesn’t stand a chance.” One of my favorite little verses, is one that includes the familiar line “the joy of the Lord is my strength.  “Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:10 The Jewish people were coming back from exile and were getting overwhelmed listing to the Law being read to them. In the midst of feeling like life was too much, in the exhaustion of dealing with all that needed to be done, the people need help from God – and they got it! What was their help? To go, enjoy life, have a party with food and good drinks, share with those who nave nothing. PARTY! Why? Because the Joy of the Lord would be their strength.  God was going to sing over them because He loved His people. The Joy of the Lord is still our strength because He is still singing over us. He loves us and is for us and is making a way. We can be overcomers because Christ over came and our hope, our faith is in Him and Him alone. So go ahead, look around, but while you are doing that remember what Holy Spirit said, no matter what it looks like, Hell doesn’t stand a chance.  And then look up, look up and rejoice, have a party, celebrate in the Lord, because He is our strength and we will overcome. Here is Rend Collective Experiment’s song: “The Joy of the Lord.”  If you have three minutes and 41 seconds more, listen and worship the Lord.