Strong In The Lord

You and I have been given instructions from God’s Word that when we are weak, we are to say that we are strong. In Joel 3:10b we read these words: let the weak say, I am strong. What is the context in which this statement was made? It was made as a part of preparation for war.

When we prepare for war, we must know that we are strong as God’s warriors. Even when we feel weak, we are not to declare our weakness. We are to declare our strength. Where do we get that strength? It comes from our Father, Almighty God. He is the strong and mighty One. It is not in our own strength. It is in the power of His strength, His might.

We are in a war with the enemy satan 24-7. But the nice thing about this war is that he is already a defeated foe, and we are the enforcers of that defeat. We are the occupying army, standing our ground of victory that has been won for us by another, Jesus Christ. The battle is not ours; that battle was fought and won many years ago. Jesus turned the keys of victory over to us. However, there is one problem: if we don’t know that we are victorious, we can suffer great loss and casualties in a fight that never should be occurring. The only fight that we are to fight is the good fight of faith. Did you notice that word “good”? It’s a good fight. We stand our ground.

Let’s look at some scriptures in Ephesians 6 (KJV and Amplified Bible), the famous chapter on the armor of God. The first thing we are told is that we are to be strong in the Lord, that we are empowered through our union with Him. We are to draw our strength from Him. His strength is that which His boundless might provides (v. 10). We are to put on the whole armor. Why? So that we may stand up against the wiles, strategies, traps of the enemy. When we put on God’s complete armor, we do it so that we may be able to resist and stand our ground when we are confronted by satan. God backs us with His power and has given us His authority to stand firmly in the place of victory He has provided for us.

We stand our ground; we don’t back up, back down or turn away. We stand firmly in our place, knowing that we have the victory. Satan can snort and paw the ground and breathe fiery darts at us, but we have God’s armor to withstand his personal attack against us. That armor is mighty through God to the pulling down of every one of satan’s strongholds he has attempted to erect against our forward motion, which is called progress.

Keep on your armor; it really is the Truth of God’s Word, Jesus Christ Himself, Who is called the Word. Our loins are girt with Truth (Word, Jesus). We have on the breastplate of righteousness (Jesus the Word is our righteousness.). Our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace (the Word). We take the shield of faith (Faith comes by hearing the Word.). We put on the helmet of salvation (Jesus the Word is our salvation.). We wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And there you have it. You have on your armor.

Now you are ready to do battle----praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Go forth. Move the enemy right out of your territory. It belongs to you and not to him.