In the midst of life’s most recent overwhelm, I fought the temptation to grasp for control. Even as I wrestled with feelings of needing to do more, Holy Spirit once again brought to mind the opening stanza to the hymn, “Jesus Paid It All:”
“I hear the Savior say,
‘Thy strength indeed is small
Child of weakness, watch and pray
Find in me thine all in all’”
That’s when I realized just how much of my wobbling was because of my innate weakness.
Humans were not created to carry all the weight of the world, not even of our ‘little worlds’. We’re meant to come to terms with the fact that our strength indeed is small – not to make us feel bad about ourselves. But to help us see and accept our need of Jesus, the One who came to save us and to help us carry the burdens of this world:
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 NLT
Here is a truth: in this world, we will have troubles (John 16:33a). That’s not a maybe. Or for some people. It’s our actual reality of living in a fallen world with broken people. Yet, Jesus doesn’t drop that truth-bomb and leave us hopeless. Rather, He promises that He has overcome the world (v.33b)!! Jesus desires that we take heart, that we live in His peace even as the storms rage around us (v.33) – because He has gone before us and made a way for us to find the strength we need to keep moving forward in faith. Because He is with us.
Holy Spirit in us is God’s strength for us.
When we embrace the truth of our weakness and the way God’s power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), we can, without a hint of shame, receive the invitation to watch and pray, to find in Christ the strength and help and everything else we need.
Why Holy Spirit Strength Is So Different From Our Own
In today’s pop culture we hear the message, more than ever before, that ‘we are stronger than we think’. And I find myself caught between knowing I am actually very weak on my own and recognizing there is some vague nugget of truth in that statement. In my own life, I’ve discovered I really am stronger than I would have thought possible, for each time the bottom has fallen out and my heart has been broken, God has met me with the strength I’ve needed.
But here’s the difference between what the world says is true about us and what is actually true: strength doesn’t come from our striving. It doesn’t originate from our own mindset or willpower. It comes from Someone dwelling deep within us:
“Not by strength and not by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD who rules over all.”
Zechariah 4:6 NET
God’s word spoken through Zechariah is as true for us as it was in his day because it’s a simple reality that our automatic response is to try to push through all that life throws at us in our own strength. I know it’s true for me.
When we first got word that our son was walking through a most horrific tragedy, everything in me pushed to ‘plan’. To ‘fix’ everything so that my son didn’t have to hurt. To ‘help’ by calling people into action on our son’s behalf. And when I finally stopped to take a breath, I could recognize that the source of all my rolling thoughts was not God’s love, but my own fear. I was operating from a sense of panic, not peace.
Knowing from my own experience that those automatic, protective, self-preserving reactions are rarely, actually helpful, I stopped. I recognized my inclinations and behaviors for what they were and took them to the Lord. I asked Holy Spirit to meet me in my weakness and show me what was mine to do. I looked to the Father and spoke my faith – that I would trust Him for all that I could not yet fathom or see.
Trust me, these responses were not only ‘not easy’ but ‘not natural’. However, they were learned. They’ve been practiced for years – with many more failures than wins. And in seasons like the one we’re in, I continue to put them into practice all the time. This is how I’m learning to let Jesus carry the heavy burdens. This is the way I’ve been able to sleep at night when the mind demands to run in circles. I rehearse God’s truth. I give Him the reins (over and over). And I choose to trust Him to lead us, to provide for us.
Paul prays for believers to be strengthened in our inner beings with power through Christ’s Spirit (Ephesians 3:16) – because he knows we will never summon enough strength within ourselves to remain faithful or hopeful or even…strong. Instead, Paul tells us that God has been teaching him how to live dependent on His grace rather than on natural strength. Whatever our struggles, God’s grace is always enough. No matter our situation, God meets us in our weakness, perfecting it – finishing and fulfilling it just as He promises (2 Corinthians 12:9).1
In this way, Paul can speak with certainty that when he is weak, then he is strong (v.10). He knows that because Holy Spirit is in us, God’s grace flows. God’s peace reigns. And God’s strength is always sufficient for whatever we face.
I can look back a few decades to another season that was especially difficult and see that’s when God began teaching me about strength – and where it really comes from:
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Isaiah 41:10 NLT
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
God has been showing me ever since those early days that He is the source of my strength. And He has proven true to that word every time I’ve needed it.
Yet I find I have memory issues. It seems that all these years later, I still need reminding: God is where my strength and help come from. Not myself. Thankfully, He is always faithful to tell me – again and again.
In fact, earlier this year He began pointing out verses and ideas to me about ‘strength’ – in podcasts and nighttime prayers I listen to, in daily Bible readings and song lyrics. Truths about ‘strength’ kept popping up, so much so that I began a ‘strength’ page on my Notes app in order to capture them all (in addition to the ones I’ve already used in this post):
- Isaiah 30:15 NIV, “In repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength.”
- Isaiah 49:5b NIV, “I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength.”
- Psalm 73:26 NLT, “God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever.”
- On her That Sounds Fun podcast, Annie F. Downs interviews Jen Lily, a faith-filled actress who talks about having read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, where Jesus says “blessed are the meek” (v.5). Jen explains that ‘meek’ in the Hebrew means controlled strength.2 It looks like “exercising God’s strength under His control.”3
- In Jen Weaver’s reading plan, “From Promise to Presence,” she says that “the Spirit does not override your humanity; He strengthens it.”4
All of these. poured out to me. weeks before I actually needed them. This is God going before me, preparing me for what I would need when the hard season came crashing in. This is God providing me with the promises I would need to cling to when my ‘flesh’ would cry out for control. This is God showing me the truth that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). When I am weak, God is strong.
Because Holy Spirit is in us, we are stronger than we think.
How Strength Comes from Trust – and Stillness
Our instinctual ‘fight or flight’ responses are necessary and good when wild animals are chasing us, but such reactions often hinder us from seeking Holy Spirit’s wisdom and strength in the middle of a life-crisis. Racing thoughts of overwhelm impede our ability to hear the Spirit’s quiet whispers. A flood of cortisol has a way of keeping our eyes focused on ourselves. Panic pushes us away from God – because fear and faith fight for the same space within our souls. If our fear is a nine-out-of-ten, then our faith sits at a one.5
Science has caught up to what God has been saying all along. Stop and breathe. Be still and look to Me (Psalm 46:10; Exodus 14:14; Isaiah 30:15). When we take deep breaths, the part of our brain that guards us and reacts to all the perceived threats can be calmed. By getting still and speaking truths over ourselves, that amygdala stops firing off ‘fight or flight’ signals, and our thoughts and hearts stop racing.6
For me, this has looked like taking Scripture and creating memorized mantras that I can repeat in a moment’s notice – like, “My health may fail and my spirit may grow weary, but God remains the strength of my heart” (Psalm 73:26, emphasis mine).
It looks like taking lots of deep, slow breaths and repeating Psalm 23 until my mind settles – because I’m believing what the words say: with the Lord as my shepherd, I lack nothing! I have nothing to fear because He is with me!
It looks like turning on worship songs packed with scriptural truths that focus my mind and help my soul get still before the Lord – in faith and surrender, with worship and hope. For instance:
You go before I know
from Rita Springer’s song “Defender”
That You’ve gone to win my war
Your love becomes my greatest defense
It leads me from the dry wilderness
All I did was praise
All I did was worship
All I did was bow dow
All I did was stay still
My friends, Holy Spirit in us means we have all the strength we need. We no longer have to scrape the last dregs of ourselves in order to move through life looking like we are strong. Instead, we posture ourselves humbly before the Lord and confess how weak we actually are. We ask Holy Spirit to strengthen us from deep within so that one day at a time, one step at a time we can walk through the storms of life without drowning in the waves. We put our whole hope, even our mustard-seed-sized faith in the One who loves us enough to die for us, believing that all we have to do is embrace the truth that in “quietness and trust is [our] strength” (Isaiah 30:15) – because we have Holy Spirit making us stronger.
This week we’ll use lyrics from the song, “Spirit Lead Me” as our prayer because they speak so closely to what we’re talking about in this post.7 Even though there’s no specific reference to Holy Spirit as our Strength, the practices and beliefs spoken in these words lead to a strengthening of body, heart, mind, and soul. Let us pray:
Lord,
When all hope is gone
And Your word is all I’ve got
I have to believe
You still bring water from the rock
To satisfy my thirst
To love me at my worst
And even when I don’t remember
You remind me of my worth
I don’t trust my ways
I’m trading in my thoughts
I lay down everything
‘Cause You’re all that I want
I’ve landed on my knees
This is the cup You have for me
And even when it doesn’t make sense
I’m gonna let Your Spirit lead
Even when it doesn’t make sense,
I’m gonna trust in You.
I’m gonna trust in You.
Spirit lead me.
In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
[Please remember that throughout this series, we want to move through information gathering to Holy Spirit experiencing. As such, I will be adding an ‘experience’ of Holy Spirit each week in our “Rhythms” section below. I hope you’ll jump down there to see how you might stretch yourself in the way of experiencing more of the Spirit in your life. You can trust I’m doing the same!!]
Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.
- 1 – From Biblehub for the word in Greek for ‘perfect’ in 2 Corinthians 12:9
- 2 – That Sounds Fun podcast episode when Annie F. Downs interviewed Jen Lily
- 3 – From Biblehub for the word in Greek for ‘meek’ in Matthew 5:5
- 4 – Jen Weaver’s reading plan on YouVersion Bible app, “From Promise to Presence”
- 5 – JD Walt is credited for this way of thinking about the faith-and-fear scale.
- 6 – Jennie Allen’s book, Get Out of Your Head,^ is one of many recent resources that bring together neurological findings, biblical truths, and spiritual practices in order to help believers regain the strength God offers us, to help us retrain our brains with the Word and by the Spirit so that we overcome lifelong thought habits and responses.
- 7 – This week’s song-prayer, “Spirit Lead Me,” is by Influence Music and Micheal Ketterer; it can be found on our Holy Spirit Playlist on Spotify.
- My monthly newsletter, The Abiding Life, goes to email inboxes the first week of each month to those who have subscribed on my website. I also post them on Substack. My most recent edition can be found there, and you can subscribe for future newsletters on Substack, here.
- Many of you have found me on Substack. Thank you so much! And, if you’d like to listen to (rather than read) these weekly posts, you can do so on Substack. It’s easy to see and use the audio bar across the top of each post. While you’re on Substack, check out the ministry I’m blessed to be part of, the Devoted Collective. WE’VE JUST BEGUN A DEEP DIVE STUDY OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, AND IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN US IN OUR GROUP ON FACEBOOK. YOU CAN PICK UP A COPY OF THE BOOK OR GET A PDF.
Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike.
- The rhythm we are employing for our summer Holy Spirit series falls in the category of a weekly experience. To experience Christ’s peace in our chaos and His strength in our weakness, we have a role to play. And there are always contending factors coming against all that we desire. It’s why the Word and Spirit are so key for our growth and strength as believers. So when we acknowledge our weakness and our need for God and His strength, we break through the barriers that have kept us locked in our unhealthy thought patterns and heart postures. When we memorize Scripture and pick it up like a sword to fight off thoughts that cause us to spiral, to anchor us in truth instead of lies and fear, we gain strength from Holy Spirit. When we choose to put our trust in our good, good Father, we live yoked with Jesus and find that our burdens become lighter. When we get still before the Lord, getting our minds and hearts aligned with His, we find our footing… and get stronger. All of this — by grace, by faith, and by Holy Spirit in us.
- We’re all called to share the truth about who Jesus is. One way you can do that is by sharing this site and telling others your own stories of faith experiences. May we use our whole selves to tell others about our holy God!!
Featured Photo is a stained glass window in Sacred Heart of Jesus in Harrisburg, PA
“All the Bits and Pieces” Photo by Zrng N Gharib on Unsplash.
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