Be Strong: All you need for all life’s battles

We have a Father who brings all of His strength to all of our circumstances.

I sat in the corner of the brand new nursery my wife and I had renovated, rocking our newborn daughter. It was here that I prayed over her for the first time before laying her down to sleep, and it was also here that I first felt the weight that comes with the call to parenting—to the stewardship of a child’s soul. I don’t even remember the full prayer, but I do remember this phrase that I still pray over her every night: “Lord, give her all of my strengths and give her grace to look past all of my weaknesses.”

As a parent, it goes with out saying that I want the very best for my daughter. I want her to live a rich, full life filled with incredible experiences, and I want to give her all that I possibly can to help her fulfill her God-given purpose. But as an imperfect man who has limited experience, resources, and abilities (not to mention a very limited picture of what I believe my daughter’s “purpose” actually is) there is really only so much I can do to help her accomplish that purpose.

I do believe that we can hear from the Lord about our children’s futures and that He is faithful to show us elements of their destinies that help us make sound decisions on how we should parent, but as 1 Corinthians 13:9 (NIV) says:

“Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!”

Unlike earthly parents who can only dream for their children “in part” because of their limited knowledge, God has a dream of a glorious future and He created us so that we might co-labor with Him to bring it into existence.

He not only sees the entire scope of our lives on earth down to our last day, but He is currently in every season, every circumstance, and every battle we are going to face from now until that last day and is waiting for us in those moments.

Are you currently approaching the “battle line” of some hard circumstances? Do you feel anxiety about something you have to do this week? God is there waiting at the line, and He waits with all that you need in order to find victory, including your strength. When God told Joshua Deuteronomy 31:23:

“Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. I will be with you.”

He was not saying to Joshua, “Be strong! Man up! Find a way to muster some courage.” He was saying, “Joshua, here is MY strength. My courage is yours because today you and ME are going to battle.” God is giving you the same invitation for your battles.

Before you were born and simply a dream in the mind of God, He looked at the entire breadth of your life, saw every battle you are going to face, and then began sewing into the fabric of your being every gift, talent, skill, and ounce of strength you would need to face each battle.

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

Psalms 139:13

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians. 2:10

So today, let us not walk into battle in our own strength but accept the gift of God’s strength that He gives to us. Because He is a father who says “Here is all of my strength that covers all of your weaknesses.”

+If you are interested in hearing more content like this join us for our Annual Men’s Armory Conference on August 18th: http://northlandschurch.com/events/the-armory-be-strong