Father give me strength for ….

Father, give me strength for …. facing the unknown without flinching in faith of the One who does know.

Father, give me strength for …. facing the battle and to giving glory to You for the victory.

Father, give me strength for …. confronting those who oppose me, without losing the grace that you’ve shown me.

Father, give me strength for …. obeying to do what is right, not what is easy.

Father, give me strength for …. another day with hope filled eyes.

These are worthy prayers. These are prayers I’ve personally and humbly prayed this week … Father, give me the strength to …

I wonder how you would end that sentence. What do you need strength for today? Go ahead, take a moment to think about it, then quietly submit your heart to the Lord and ask  … “Father, give me the strength to ……. in your precious Son’s Name, amen.”

I’m writing to encourage you today, but also to remind my own heart that this strength comes from God. Isaiah writes:

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31

and

fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Can I encourage you today to rely less on yourself, or others around you, and to rely more on God. As you do this you will become more and more confident that

…If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

Getting Strength

Now you might be asking .. “sounds great. How do I get this strength?”. Great question! Here’s how the psalmist answers:

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

Psalm 31:24

How do weak people become strong people? The Psalmist answers: those who wait on the Lord”. Why? because it is the Lord who gives strength:

and

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 27:14

So the way to be strong is to be strong with a strength that is received from the Lord. That seems to be the gist of what is being said. Wait for the Lord to give the strength. Next question: what does “waiting” look like? Well, let me say this first: Waiting on the Lord seems to be an expression of the healthy heart’s desire.

O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul

Isaiah 26:8

Waiting on God

Paul prays for Christians that they may be

strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light

Colossians 1:11–12

Did you notice the phrase “patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father”? It seems that patience, or waiting, is linked somehow to “joy”, and this in turn is linked to “giving thanks”. So how about this: giving thanks to the Father, increasing your joy whilst you are waiting for the Lord. Does that phrase work for you? How about I re-phrase it a little: waiting for strength means counting your blessings, naming them to God and being filled with joy.

Isn’t this what the Ezra told the people when he said to them:

…“ the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10

We must be a people who know that

The Lord is my strength

Exodus 15:2

and the way we are to gain strength (that is not our own) is to take pleasure in the things of God, and even in God Himself. We do that as we remember the blessings and count them back to God and give him thanks for them.