Your inner strength is that part of you that allows you to keep pushing forward when times are tough. It is the part of you that no one sees. Others only see the results, not the process that goes on inside you. To have great inner strength that is beneficial consistently there must be a solid foundation. Something that anchors everything about you. A ship may be huge and appear powerful on the surface, but when the storm comes, if the anchor isn’t solid and secure, it will begin to drift and can be destroyed. If your inner strength is not anchored in a solid foundation, your life will be like riding a roller coaster. Your peace, comfort, decisions, and happiness will be based on your circumstances.
Where do you find your inner strength? Is it based on what others think of you? If so, get ready for the roller coaster because people are fallible creatures. We are sinful and self-serving, and our opinions are biased. However, when we find our strength in the Lord, it will be coming from a source that is perfect. He knows everything about us, our motives, our failures, and our successes, and He still loves us enough to allow us to gain our strength from Him. His strength is available at any time, and He is waiting, ready to render it to us. There is no limit to His strength!
Ephesians 3:16 “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;”
God knows our motives for everything we do, and He will challenge them to get us to see ourselves clearly. He will convict us when we seek what is not pleasing to Him. If we yield to Him, His strength will empower us with truth, wisdom, and peace. He will empower us to change. His power will give us the inner strength that is confident, not in ourselves, but in Him. We are confident that He will work through us to accomplish His will.
I John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
So much of life is spent trying to find strength in something that is external. We want to avoid the inner feelings that are painful. We go on trips, take medications to escape, some drown their pain in alcohol, others seek diversions in entertainment of all kinds. This type of response may bring a release for a moment, but it does not last. However, when we seek inner strength from God we can be like the diamond. A diamond is only formed as it receives great pressure from the earth for long periods of time. Before it becomes a beautiful gem, it is nothing but a lump of dirty coal. When we gain our strength from the Lord, we, too, can remain under pressure until we become His gem.
So how do we gain this inner strength? We spend time with the source. Spending time alone with God will allow us to grow in our relationship. We will become intimate with Him. There are no shortcuts to having this kind of relationship. Once you experience this relationship, nothing else will rival it. You will want to get alone with Him daily. You will feel His presence all day, every day, in everything you do. You will feel as if you have your best friend with you constantly, and because He is!
When we depend on Christ for our strength we can say as the Apostle Paul. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This was Paul’s conclusion after experiencing many things that were distressing both physically and mentally in life. As He grew in His walk with the Lord, by daily communication through prayer and study, and by dependence on God one day at a time. He came to this conclusion, this truth, this promise, this confidence that nothing would be required of Him that God would not empower Him to perform. His confidence was not in himself, but in God working in and through him.
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
This inner strength is available to anyone! However, there are conditions that must be met. Just like a weightlifter must lift weights to gain muscle strength, we must meet God’s conditions. First, we must repent of our sins, and accept Him as our Master. Second, we must live in obedience to His word. We must study to know how we are to live, and then do it!
So, what is keeping you from the inner strength that will empower you to face and overcome anything in life? Is it laziness? Do you not love the Lord enough to spend the time with Him that is required to get to know Him? Is it the opinion of others that guides your actions? If these apply, ask God to help you and determine you will follow His lead. You can be as confident as Paul that He will give you the inner strength to stay on task if you are sincere. What He begins, He will complete if we let Him. When our inner strength is derived from our relationship with God, we will feel satisfied and complete, not helpless or hopeless.
Psalm 84:5 “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.”
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
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