We have eight letters left as we continue looking at words that can bring us encouragement and draw us closer to God. Today’s letter is “S”. The word I want to talk about is the word strong. I want to encourage you today by letting you know you are stronger than you may actually think you are. If you are a follower of Christ, your strength is in Him. If you are not a follower, you have the       strength to ask Jesus into your heart to become one of His children. If we are going to be the Christians God wants us to be, we must understand that we have strength within us, even when we feel weak. But what is so important about understanding we have strength? I believe there are two areas of our lives where we need strength.

One area is in living each day. Hebrews 13:14-16 shares the fact that, even though we live in this world, it is not our ultimate home. As believers, we have a home that is being prepared for us in heaven. One day, we will live at our heavenly home. Until then, we must live in this world and for that to happen we have to be strong. This world can be a difficult place to live at times. While it is not easy, we do have the promise of knowing that we can, and do, have the strength we need from God. Read Isaiah 41:10 and find the assurance of the strength of God. We need to understand we have the strength to live in this world.

Another area we need to be strong in is in our dealings with one another. A part of living in this world is dealing with other people. Some people are much easier to deal with than others. However, we must deal with even those who are difficult. So how do we find the strength to deal with even those who are difficult? Jesus gave a lesson on how to do this in Luke 6:27-36. One verse in particular we have heard from childhood. Verse 31 says to “do to others as you would have them do to you.” Is it really that simple? Well, yes and no. It is simple to want to treat people as we want them to treat us, but it is difficult in knowing not everyone will live by this rule. Some people will treat others harshly. They will do this even if we treat them the way we want to be treated. So, what’s the point?

The point is as Christians, we should follow the teachings of Christ, which tell us to treat others in the way Christ would. Pray for our enemies and ask God to be with them, helping them to live in the way they should. We have the strength to do this. We have the strength to pray for our enemies, because we have the strength of God. Being strong is about knowing Christ and using that strength we have in God allows us to draw closer to Him. Until next week..

Peace and Blessings..

Johnny