Scripture Reference Philippians 4 : 13

¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Learning to rely on God’s strength rather than our own is a lifelong process.  How many of us find ourselves regularly trying to live by our own strength? Our own wealth? Our own intellectual understanding? I’m not discounting the fact that it is more than possible to live this way, in fact it is the norm for most people including most believers. 

Let me give you an illustration from the Word of God, when God brought Israel out of Egypt it was not by Moses’ hand or by Pharaoh’s power that they were released, it was by the Hand of God as God directed His servant Moses and as God humbled the leader of Egypt.

And after their deliverance God continued to deliver and to provide for the vast multitude even in the harsh and barren wilderness. It was God who directed the nation to go down to the Sea and camp there and it was God who allowed Pharaoh the opportunity to yet again harden his heart and to pursue the Israelites thinking that he would yet again re-enslave the people.

God did this to demonstrate His power and to yet again foreshadow our deliverance from enslavement and captivity to sin through our baptism into Christ! God did that! God led them to the shores of Canaan and there the people had the opportunity to go in and to inherit the Land of Promise however instead of listening to God the people decided they knew better.  By their own wisdom they chose against obedience to God and they all suffered for forty years because of it.    

After God brought His people into Canaan having provided water and manna the full forty years in the wilderness, God warned the people against forgetting God after settling in the land, Deut. 6:10-12. Why? God knew that the people would become quickly complacent and self-reliant due to their new found land of plenty and subsequently no longer look to God or revere the Lord who had delivered them. 

We today have that same temptation ever before us, especially those of us who live in such a prosperous land as Canada. Every day we are tempted to walk autonomous from the Lord. Every day we are potentially lulled into complacency and apathy regarding our devotion to the Lord and every day we are tempted to allow the corrupting influences of the culture and religious beliefs of false doctrines to infiltrate our hearts and our minds.  

The early Church understood this ongoing battle and those chosen to lead the Church continuously warned the various congregations to remain vigilant by constant reliance on the leading and directing of Christ through the infilling of the Holy Spirit! Guard yourself against the seductive influence of the devil by constantly looking to and relying upon the leading and directing of God in your life. Plumb the depths of the endless resource of God’s strength that is available for any and all who believe! Stand in the strength of the Lord and be victorious!