GIG265 Live by His Strength

Growing In God Podcast

Title: Live by His Strength

 

Web Description: As Christians should we have an expectancy for less strength and less life in our physical bodies as we age? According to the Scriptures, something different is available for us. We can have the strength that comes directly from God. The Spirit of God dwelling in us can give life to our physical bodies. We need to appropriate what God has made available. Let us wait on the Lord and be renewed by His life.

 

Show Notes: As Christians we believe in the resurrection of Christ and the new life that is ours. But Christians grow old like everyone else and watch their strength and vigor dissipate over time until it is gone. According to the Word, we should have something different. We read in Isaiah 40 that if we wait on the Lord, we should gain strength rather than lose it. This happened for Caleb who had the same strength and vigor at eighty-five that he had when he was forty. The same was true for Moses when he was one hundred twenty years old.

 

When Christ begins to dwell in us, our bodies are still dead because of sin. But that does not mean we are supposed to remain in that state. It does not mean that we are supposed to believe in death and have faith that our bodies will grow weak and die. Christ being in us means that we are being reconnected to the Father, and our spirit is coming alive to the Father. And the Spirit of the Father dwelling in us will give life to our mortal bodies.

 

Through Christ we are plugged into God. And as Isaiah 40 states, God does not grow weary; His strength does not go away, and His vigor never drains out of Him. And when we wait on the Lord, He gives us His strength that never dissipates. Why then would we live our lives as if we were still disconnected from God like we were before receiving Christ? Do not keep drawing from the world and the world’s concept of living and dying but keep appropriating the new life that Christ has made available.

 

Key Verses:

 

•       Isaiah 40:28–31. “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.”

•       2 Corinthians 5:17. “If anyone is in Christ … old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

•       Romans 12:2. “Do not be conformed to this world.”

•       Romans 8:10–11. “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.”

•       Galatians 5:22–25. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

•       Psalm 118:14. “The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”

•       Joshua 14:7–12. “I am eighty-five years old today. I am still as strong today as I was.”

•       Deuteronomy 34:4–7. “Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old, … his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.”

 

Quotes:

 

•       “Christ is in you. But the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead must dwell in you and give life to your mortal body. So this is part of maturing in God, growing in Him, moving on in the relationship and in the purpose for which He saved us.”

•       “If Christ is in me, I can begin to wait upon the Lord. I can begin to connect with God in such a way that His attributes come into my life.”

•       “There's no lack of vitality in God. And Moses and others like Caleb—and we see others in the Scriptures—knew how to wait on the Lord, how to draw this energy on a daily basis. They didn't do it once or twice. They lived this way.”

 

Takeaways:

 

1.    As Christians there are ways in which we are still conditioned by the world. And one of those conditionings is to believe it is okay to grow old, get sick, and die. But the reality of becoming Christian is that we have a new life, and our experience should be different than that of the world.

2.    We have Christ in us. And because we have Christ in us, we can have the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead also dwelling in us. And because His Spirit is dwelling in us, life should be infused into our mortal bodies. What prevents us from having this?

3.    All that is available in God is activated when we wait on Him, plug into Him, and draw His strength and power into our lives. But we are not really getting that if we are not consistently walking that way. We need to get out of any blindness and passivity resulting from our conditioning and go after the appropriation of all His provision.