I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
Ephesians 3:16 (NLT)
When I was in high school, I was pretty good at running track. My specialty area was the mile run. No, I wasn’t the best in the conference or state, but I was far faster than anyone else at my school. One day, as we were practicing, my coach asked me to try and run 400 meters to see how I did. I figured since a mile was four laps, I could breeze through just one. He lined us up and fired the starter’s pistol. I took off like a rocket, running as fast as I could. About half way around the track, my competitors were left in my dust. About three-quarters of the way around the track, I began to breath really heavily, and my legs started to tingle. When I reached the final straightaway, my legs felt like lead weights, and I couldn’t get them to move. Though my mind was telling them to run, they would only walk. One by one the other racers began to pass me. By the time I was able to walk over the finish line, I was dead last, and humiliated.
You see, though my body was trained for longer distance running, I didn’t have the wisdom on how to run the 400-meter race. I hadn’t practiced it. I hadn’t been coached on it. I didn’t understand how to run it. So, I relied on my own power, my own wisdom, and I failed.
We tend to approach life like this, too. Unfortunately, in our society, it is seen as a weakness to ask for help. It’s also considered a weakness to ask for wisdom. Why would anyone else know better than me? All of this is born out of our pride, and it’s destructive to our lives.
Instead, as Christians, we know the source of all wisdom, coaching, training, which we need to tap into. It’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. How? Because this supernatural source happens to be able to give us His strength and power (which is the greatest in all of the universe). Our verse today captures this idea as it states, “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.” In other words, God gives us the strength to run this race of life and win.
So, what do we win when we allow Him to empower us? Freedom, salvation, peace, hope, wisdom, security, and so on. As the verse says, these things are “unlimited.”
Today, and every day, seek out God’s power. Let Him propel you to the finish line.
ChadReisig.org 