I remember a time in running youth ministry when my husband
and I poured our hearts into preparing lessons and encouraging games for our
very humble-sized mid-week youth group of 2 or 3. I remember spending time to prepare each week
for our Wednesday night group on top of our full time jobs and driving 40 minutes
to the church and each week we asking ourselves, “Is anyone going to show up at
all?” “Even if one teen shows up, does that make this worth all the blood sweat
and tears we put into this ministry?”
Then the ping of disappointment in ourselves, and failure followed
closely behind. I can tell you that we
felt so much discouragement and weakness at that time. We had to just submit and trust that God would bring
the kids that really needed to be there.
We didn’t come up with some genius marketing plan or show up at kid’s
homes to kidnap them, but just submitted.
Again I ask, “How can I be strong when I feel so weak and desperate and
ill?”
In Daniel 10, the author describes a vision he has where he says he
is so weak he can hardly breathe. The
kind of weakness that makes you give-up trying all together, and I can relate. But then “the one who looked like a man”
touched him and he suddenly had strength.
Not by his own sheer will-power, but from this other source.
2 Sam. 22:33 says that God “arms me with strength and makes
my way perfect”. Again, not by one’s own
strength or will, but God’s. God is not only the source of strength, but he also paves a path for us (though that path
may not always be downhill).
I think we can all agree that we need God’s strength and no
matter how much the Little Engine That Could says “I think I can, I think I can”,
no happy thought or positive power of the mind will get us up those steep hills in
life alone. Sheer determination can only
get us so far before our bodies poop out on us and our minds start to get
cloudy.
So how do I apply this strength from God in my life?
A.
Isaiah 40:31 says that those who HOPE in the
Lord will renew their strength, run and not grow weary. Having FAITH that God will be the source of
strength rather than relying on your own strength to give you renewal.
B.
“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s
wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” 1 Cor. 1:25. Of course God has no foolishness or weakness,
but recognizing that no matter how hard you try, or how smart or strong you are,
it is nothing compared to God’s strength and wisdom. SUBMIT to God’s wisdom and give up your own
understanding because it’s foolishness.
C.
The more you submit to God, the more you will
start to see that it opens up a whole new door in your life that leads to
FREEDOM.
One might think that submission is
not strength, and being free and carefree is not strength, but isn’t it possible
to submit to God and still be strong and free all the same time?
We had to have faith that God
would have His hands on our beloved ministry.
Over time, we had discovered that even though we had just a few teens at
that time, we were actually being incredibly blessed by those few teens. We had the opportunity to pour into those incredible
kids in a way that we couldn’t have if we had a group of 20+. It actually turned out that those very teens were
facing real issues in their lives and really needed pouring into at that
time. It didn’t happen that way because
we were wise or put on our “big boy pants” that day and could just tough
through it. It was because God gave us
strength and understanding and freedom to just love on our small group that we
are still very much invested in.
It is submission to God and being
vulnerable with Him is what makes me STRONG.
by Megan Murray
by Megan Murray
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