Episode 2252 - Strength That Counts

Good morning and welcome to this brand new day. The Description link'daily Dose of Inspiration for Tuesday, January 21, 2025. And today is National Hugging Day. So go out and give somebody a hug today. But I think you ought to make sure you know the person first. I'll leave it at that. And our Bible reading today will be a Mark, chapter two and chapter three and Proverbs chapter 21. I certainly hope you're getting in on those Bible readings. Don't forget, subscribe to this podcast wherever you get your podcast from. For a complete list of where you can find find us at all the POD podcast outlets we use. just go to our website, Scripturallinks.org SL follow and that'll bring up the complete list of everywhere you can find the podcast. And just subscribe to whatever platform that you use. Don't depend on social media if you don't use a podcast platform. And you can also go to our website and there's a box there on the first page. Just fill it out. Sign up for our daily email and each morning you'll get each day's episode right in your inbox. Two great ways that you can make sure you never miss an episode. today we're going to look in Ephesians, chapter number three and we're going to talk a little bit about strength that counts. And part of the strength, I think, is courage. We were not going to talk specifically about courage today, but I found a story in Swind Doahl's ultimate book of illustrations and quotes that I wanted to share here. I thought it was a good story. something that I think we all need to be challenged in. Ray Stedman and this is from. Let's see here. O Ray Stedman told me, and this is a true story here, told me that he was sitting in his home one evening when he noticed that there was a meeting of homosexuals in Palo Alto, California. He thought, I'm going to go to that meeting. He went in and everyone sat on the floor. I think he had an intern with him. Nobody knew who anybody else was as, ah, a group, they were railing on the church and railing on the Christians and their attitude toward them. Just that sense of militants and hatred and on and on. Then the speaker asked, does anyone else have anything they want to say? So Roy stood up. He stood up and he said, my name is Ray and I'm a citizen of this city. I'm, one of the Christians you've been talking about, and I'm sorry for the treatment you've received for many of my brothers and sisters. We meet down here at Peninsula Bible Church, and all of you are invited, whoever would want to come. He went on, I want all of you to know that there is one ray of hope, and it is the hope that will bring for you the relief and the life you need. Of course, there was a disagreement and discussion back and forth, but I thought, what a remarkable thing to do. Would you have done that? Would I? It's an interesting thing. I don't know if I would have even went to that particular place, but maybe if the Lord told me to. I don't know. Ephesians chapter 3. We're going to look at verses 16 and 17 tonight, today, and we're going to talk about a strength that counts. Because in this day and age, we're going to need strength to live for Christ. We're going to need strength to do the things that he's called us to do. And in Ephesianster 3, specifically verses 14 through 21, we get a glimpse here at a prayer that Paul was praying for this church at Ephesus. And I believe that it can go right to us as well, because there's principles in here that we need. Now I'm going to just focus on verses 16 and 17. I trust that you'll look at the rest of this here and see what else Paul is specifically praying for here. But Ephesians chapter 3, veses 16 and 17 says that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love. I'm going to stop right there, because that, I think, is where we're going to get them the most of what we need to do to get the strength that counts here. The strength that counts is strength that comes through the Spirit of God. That's what he's talking about here, where the strength comes from. The first part of verse 16 says, according to the riches of his glory, we're getting the riches of his glory. It's the abundance of God's love in God's grace. God has love and grace stored in heaven for each one of us. And these riches that, that Paul is referring to, these riches that we're drawing from is the riches of God's abundance. That's where it comes from. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 19 says, but my Godou shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. God is going to give us everything that we need, all the strength that we need, all the ability that we need, all the help that we need to do the things that he has called us to do, to do the things that he has placed us here to do. Yesterday I asked a question, are you. How did I word it here? Are you making God sorrow? Sorrowful? And the question was asked, are you living a life that is grieving the Holy Spirit or making the Holy Spirit, sorrowful, by the way that you're living your life? And we can trust God to give us everything we need to live to life. He wants us to live, to stay away from those things that we looked at yesterday that grieved the Spirit. But it's going to come from the throne of God. This strength that he's talking about here is not a physical strength. Let's look at the second half here. Verse number 16. He says to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. We're going to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. Paul is praying for an inner strength. This gives us the courage and the perseverance to face any and all challenges that's going to come our way. Having this inner strength, strengthening the inner person is going to give us the strength to carry on. Remember in James chapter one, starting in verse two, James talks about how trials and temptations are something that we should consider joyful, about, how we should consider a joy when we get those trials of life. I've never met a person that acted that way. But when we have our inner man strengthened and our inner man lined up with the things of God, it becomes easier to go through these times of trial to gain the perseverance, to gain the courage, to gain the stability, so that when these trials of life come, they're not going to trip us up. Paul writes in Colossians chapter one, in verse number 11, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness. That's almost exactly what James says about in James, chapter one, verse two. But this strength is going to be with all might. That's going to lead to patience and longuffering, so that when times of trouble come, we'll be ready to stand up, we'll be ready to follow through, we'll be ready to be steadfast in our faith. Why do we need the strength? So that verse 17 teaches us so that we are rooted and grounded in God's love. Verse 17 says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love. When we are become rooted and grounded, we are able to fully experience God's power in us. When we're fully this is important. When we're fully rooted and grounded, we are able to fully experience God's power in our lives. This strength to be rooted and grounded comes because Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. It comes because Christ lives in us. Because Christ dwells in us. John, chapter 14. I love this picture that Jesus gives us here. John, chapter 14 and verse number 23. Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come into him and make our abode with him. I love that picture. We get there. If we love Christ, we prove that love by keeping his word. And because we keep his word, the Father not only loves us, but they the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit will come and dwell and make their abode in our lives. Remember Paul wrote of 1 Corinthians that we are a temple of God. So naturally God's going to dwell in his temple and they're going to come and they're going to abide in us. Having God in us makes gives us the ability to live for him. It gives us the strength to live for him. Why? Because all the riches of God is right there in each one of us to be able to live and do the things that God has called us to do. This power, because of Christ's dwelling in us, this power helps us overcome the challenges and resist temptation and live a life. And live a life that is bringing glory to God. Living a life that will not bring sorrow to God. So friends, let me ask you today, are you allowing God to dwell in you? Are you abiding with God? Are you allowing his spirit to come and give you the strength that you need? Or are you trying to go out and live life on your own? M Some people go on and on about how hard living a Christian life is. And it's hard. Don't let me fool you. But when we know where to get the strength, when we know when we where to get the answers, that's when it becomes easier. And M the first time you go through a temptation or first time you go through a trial, it may seem hard. It may seem like you want to give up and quit. But that's when you start getting that strength, that endurance, that stability, that long Suffering friends, Christ is waiting to give you the strength that you need to live the life that he's called you to live. Are you going to take that strength today? Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. And then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.