Empowered to Persevere 5

God is the only One who can give us strength to keep going during hard times. Friends can encourage us, and family can be there with us, but only God can give us the strength to keep going when we want to throw in the towel. 

“Behold, God is my salvation;

    I will trust, and will not be afraid;

for the Lord God is my strength and my song,

    and he has become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2

When we think we can be our own source of strength, we are in trouble, but when God is our strength and salvation we do not need to be afraid. While fear is a natural response to life’s uncertainties, fear can also be a warning sign that we are not fully depending on God for our strength and salvation. With the many messages of marketing in our world today, we can mistakenly put our hope in things other than God. we think: If I get this job then I’ll be happy; if my kids do this, then I’ll be happy etc. But all those things that we are trained to follow after will not provide us with true salvation or the strength to live as we wish we can. Only pursuing God can enable us to have the strength to live as God intended us to live. 

When God is for us, nothing can stand against us.

Knowing that God is always for us enables us to have the courage to face the giants in front of us. David knew he could fight Goliath not because he had betten bears and lions to save his sheep but because He knew God was standing with Him. The key to not being afraid during hard times is knowing that God is our source of strength and depending on Him. We need to listen to His voice and determine what He is calling us to do . Once we know what He wants us to do, we should pursue that thing with all of our might, without fear, knowing that God will give us everything we need to do what He has called us to do .

If we don't let God be in charge and change us, our life is a waste of time. 

Part of knowing God is giving up our desire to be in charge of our lives. As we spend more time with God, We naturally become more like whoever we spend time with. We will change over time, the only question is how will we be changed. Will we be transformed into the image of Christ or will we become more conformed to the image of the world. Our ability to persevere through hard times without fear depends on who we become. The ultimate hard time we will have to face is death, and if we don’t know how to trust God beyond this life, then our life will be meaningless and will fade away.