Overcoming Anxiety with Peace

As I wrote in my last devotional, over these weeks, I am going to share what I am learning about being an Overcomer, to experience renewal and transformation. I have to believe that God has created you and me not to live in defeat, rather, He has given us the supernatural tools to go on the offense.  When Jesus was resurrected, the world became a “New Normal”, for it would never be the same again and that is a reality for us.

Ephesians 6:10 says,  “ A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power”.

There are more than thirty occasions, where God commands someone to be strong. Recently, I had a paradigm shift on this verse. I have always viewed it as being strong to do battle. However, it is not a call to fight, rather, it is having spiritual strength to stand. We are not commanded to fight, because Jesus has already won the battle against Satan. We are called to stand in the victory that Jesus has already won. This is the message of being an Overcomer. We are to go on the offense, not the defense and that is a huge paradigm shift.

For this short devotional, I am looking at “Overcoming Weakness with Strength”. Here are four ways to access God’s strength, which He makes available to us, because of the New Normal we live in.

1 The New Normal Power is accessed through His Word. Previously, I wrote about life verses. I trust that you have selected one or more. We access power through reading and obeying the Bible. Focus on those life verses and they will be deep reservoirs to give you strength.

2 The New Normal Power is accessed through worship. Oh, how I have missed our corporate worship times, during this pandemic. Yet, there are different ways to worship. One of the most profound worship songs in the entire Bible is Habakkuk 3: 17-19. I sense God asking me, “Bruce, will you trust in my wisdom and goodness, no matter what happens”?  In the words of Daniel Henderson, who has written extensively on prayer, “We must first seek the Face of God before we can seek His Hand”.

3 The New Normal Power is accessed through waiting. I am not very good at waiting; in fact, I can be very impatient. (Don’t ask Denise about this of me). The frantic pace of our lives affects peace and when there is no peace, there is no strength. Author Ken Blanchard writes: “ Solitude and silence give us some space to reform our innermost attitudes toward people and events. They take the world off our shoulders for a time and interrupt our habit of constantly managing things, of being in control, or thinking we are in control.”

4 The New Normal Power is accessed through our weakness. Charles Spurgeon writes: “God does not need your strength. He has more than enough power of His own. He asks for your weakness. He has none of that Himself and He is longing therefore to take your weakness and use it as an instrument in His mighty hand. Will you not yield your weakness to Him, and receive His strength?”

It is when we are all out of answers and strength, at a dead-end, that we are in a position to be the most effective and God gives us the strength to overcome.

In closing, I tell the story of a wise king in a faraway country, who decided he would seek counsel and advice on how he could improve on his vast garden. He looked far and wide and finally selected an old gardener, known for his expertise.

After much time, the old gardener had completed his research and came before the king to give him his advice. Here are his words.

“O King, you indeed have a beautiful garden and I am only able to make one recommendation. If you were to plant a row of oak trees on each side of the laneway, into your garden, the improvement would be so significant.”

The king jumped to his feet and said, “That is it, thank you." He then saw that the countenance of the gardener was downcast and said, “Sir, you have just given me the best advice, why are you downcast?” The gardener responded, “Your majesty, yes, it would greatly improve your garden, however, for what I am envisioning, it would take 100 years for these oak trees to grow.” The king exclaimed, “Then, we do not have a moment to lose!”

My friends, in the "'New Normal," we do not have a moment to lose. Be strong and stand in the victory of the cross.

~Bruce