The Lies We Continue To Believe...

Have you ever believed this…?

I have to be strong. I mean I have to be emotionally strong for a loved one that is emotionally weak. I have to be there for them, I can help them if I just stay strong.

Or

I have parents that their marriage is struggling and I have to be strong for them…if we work really hard we can help keep their marriage together.”

Or

Perhaps you have a struggling marriage but “you know we got to be strong for our kids.”

I have to be emotionally strong; even though on the inside you feel vulnerable there is no way you are going to let anyone know...why do it? Because we have bought the lie (Inspired by Craig Groeschel)

It could be the feeling you have to keep everything together in your finances, in your career. How about in your faith….I have to stay strong people are looking and I have to look strong to keep up the illusion.

It is a lie we often believe. I've been there; I can put the game face on as good as you can. Sometimes, although, you really can’t fake it….like when I took a weight lifting class in college with a bunch of football players. I put on way more weight than I could really lift (what they did many reps of I did a few of) and did the 1, 2, and then 10 when someone walked by, and would be puking after class. I got pride...I don't want them to see weakness even though it was pretty obvious.

The truth is that our strength is limited. God made us that way so that we might learn to depend more on Him and His unlimited power. It is pretty frustrating doing life out of our own limited strength like cutting with a dull saw. We get worn out, tired, hopeless.

Look deeper in Isaiah 40:30-31- Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on 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.

Notice it says “even youth” get faith, young men "utterly fall," in the original language the point is made that these are the best of best. As opposed to those who are past their prime; they are in the strongest part of life and even they get tired and stumble and fall.

However those who wait on the Lord will mount up with wings like eagles. I learned that eagles even though about 12 pounds in weight can carry well over its own body weight even carrying baby lambs. They are able to spot rabbits two miles away and with their 7 foot wing span they reach speeds of over 150 mph and have the ability to dive at speeds of 200 mph. Eagles have been seen almost motionless in hurricane force winds. What amazing strength…God’s Word says we can have that strength but it doesn’t come from us.

The apostle Paul learned this. It wasn’t about him being stronger, trying harder, being better, caring more. At one point he was bothered so much by something he begged God to take it away, yet God did not. Instead God told him “My grace is sufficient for you” and then he learned “my power is made perfect in (can you believe it) weakness.” Paul learned when he is weak, broken, vulnerable, and dependent then he is strong.

He even makes a crazy statement “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” He goes on to say he delights in them (2 Corinthians 12:10), the language has the idea of thinking well of it or embracing the weakness. Paul embraced his weakness because he learned that when he did that a powerful strength from God would begin to work in him.

Are you embracing the weakness? Truth is “I don’t have to be strong” rather “when I am weak then I am strong.”

I have heard it said that lifeguards are trained to wait to rescue the drowning person until they quit trying to save themselves and just surrender otherwise they will be resisting the lifeguards help. When they surrender then they are able to give them the help they need. What a great picture of the power we can find as we learn to surrender. Some things you can’t fix, only God is going to be able to do it. His grace is sufficient, it’s exactly enough. His power specifically His explosive miraculous power is made perfect when we quit trying to do it on our own and become broken before Him. Let go of the façade of looking strong and embrace the weakness through brokenness. Reach out for His solutions and see if you won’t be finding a new strength that is not your own (see 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).