MatthewWestVEVO
Sept 13, 2011
Music video by Matthew West performing Strong Enough (Official Music Video). (P) (C) 2011 Sparrow Records.
All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a violation of applicable laws. Manufactured by EMI Christian Music Group,
What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Zechariah 4:7
What do you do when there is a mountain in your way? The story of Dashrath Manjhi can inspire us. When his wife died because he was unable to get her to the hospital to receive urgent medical care, Manjhi did what seemed impossible. He spent twenty-two years chiseling a massive gap in a mountain so other villagers could get to the local hospital to receive the medical care they needed. Before he died, the government of India celebrated him for his achievement.
Rebuilding the temple must have looked impossible to Zerubbabel, one of the leaders of Israel who returned from exile. The people were discouraged, faced opposition from their enemies, and lacked resources or a big army. But God sent Zechariah to remind Zerubbabel that the task would take something more powerful than military strength, individual power, or man-made resources. It would take the Spirit’s power (Zechariah 4:6). With the assurance of divine aid, Zerubbabel trusted that God would level any mountain of difficulty that stood in the way of rebuilding the temple and restoring the community (v. 7).
What do we do when there is a “mountain” before us? We have two options: rely on our own strength or trust the Spirit’s power. When we trust His power, He will either level the mountain or give us the strength and endurance to climb over it.
What challenges stand in your way? How will you trust the power of God’s Spirit in your life?
Human power is inadequate to accomplish God’s purposes.
What keeps us from finishing the work entrusted to us? Eighteen years had passed since Cyrus, king of Persia, told Jewish captives of Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of their God (Ezra 6:3,14). Now the prophet Zechariah urged completion. This temple, like the Messiah who would someday enter its courts, represented the heart of God for the world. Anything done for His honor—and for the good of others—is done in His Spirit.
John 15:9-11
Is your life exciting? Or do you, like so many people, find most days routine and tedious? Have dreams become disappointments? If so, you might feel tempted to give up hope. But God promises fulfillment that can’t be found anywhere else.
Joy is a gift from the Lord. It doesn’t depend upon circumstances but rather is found in Jesus’ unchanging character and promises. And that’s exactly where to find true strength and power to endure.
Years ago I found myself being tested on this very point while working on a sermon about joy. A few days earlier, I had baptized a large number of people, and evidently, the repetitive motion had strained my back. There was no pain until midweek, when I tried to lift something heavy. Suddenly, I was dealing with severe backache. Almost immediately, the Lord brought to mind the message I was planning to present a few days later. Even though I complained and desperately wanted to be freed from the pain, I found I could be joyful in the Lord.
Philippians 4:4 tells us always to rejoice in Him. From this command, we know that even in the midst of hardship, we can purposefully choose to live with joy. This choice is possible for believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit and walking obediently (Gal. 5:22-23).
Consider your response to both good and bad times. Does a consistent joy in Christ give you strength? Or do you find emotional relief only in the midst of positive circumstances? Difficulty is inevitable, but God’s truth is able to sustain you. Rely on Him for emotional security.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)
Although today’s verse appears in parentheses in the King James Bible, it is a most important concept in Scripture and is the summary of an extensive passage that precedes it. Beginning with 2 Corinthians 4:8, Paul continually contrasts the seen and the unseen, finishing up with the admonition to “walk by faith.”
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (vv. 8-9). Though we have trials on the outside, through faith we have inward triumph.
“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus . . . that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (vv. 10-11). Even though “death worketh in us,” that same persecution results in “life in you” (v. 12). Through faith we know “that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus” (v. 14).
“Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (vv. 16-17).
“If our earthly house [i.e., body] of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (5:1) “that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (v. 4). The death and decay of this life will ultimately be eradicated. We know this to be fact, for He “hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit” (v. 5) as a guarantee of our resurrection, if indeed we have been born again by faith, the same faith by which we walk.
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). JDM
We shall now listen to Isaiah while he speaks partly of Cyrus, and principally of Christ in—Isaiah 42:1-16.
Isaiah 42:1
mine elect or my choice one
Isaiah 42:1
This Jesus has done in our case, for we who were sinners of the Gentiles rejoice in his righteousness. Glory be to his name!
Isaiah 42:2
Jesus was meek and lowly, and no clamorous fainter for popularity.
Isaiah 42:3
The poor, useless, feeble heart, which, like a crushed reed, can yield no music, Jesus binds up; and the soul in which only a spark of grace lingers, and out of which only a smoke of desire arises, he will preserve and fan into a flame. How encouraging is this! Oh, for faith to lay hold upon it!
Isaiah 42:7
See what a Saviour we have, and how the Lord is. with him. He works wonders of grace, and why may we not share in them? Will he not bring out our captive spirits to gospel liberty?
Isaiah 42:8-12
The finished work of Jesus is enough to fill the universe with the praises of the Eternal God. We will daily pray that it may be made known, till the whole earth shall rejoice in it and bring glory to God.
Isaiah 42:13
The gospel is the cry of the mighty God, and those who do not receive it will be overthrown by it. To the unbelieving its voice is terrible as the roaring of a lion.
Isaiah 42:14, 15
Longsuffering has its limits; and when God begins to deal with sinful nations and ungodly men, his works of justice will be beyond measure dreadful. No comforts will be left to those who refused comfort in Christ.
Isaiah 42:16
In the midst of judgment, mercy and truth shall not be forgotten; God’s chosen shall be led safely, and their afflictions shall be removed. Specially precious are the last words, “and not forsake them.” Why are we sorrowful? for God is our friend still. Never has he deserted a sincerely believing heart, and he never will, come what may. Let us, then, rest in his love, and go forward to our life’s end with exulting courage.
But without faith, it is impossible to please him, (Hebrews 11:6)
Too many Christian leaders, acting like enthusiastic promoters, are teaching that the essence of faith is this: “Come to Jesus—it will cost you nothing!”
The price has all been paid—”it will cost you nothing!” Brethren, that is a dangerous half-truth. There is always a price connected with salvation and with discipleship.
God’s grace is free, no doubt about that. No one in the wide world can make any human payment towards the plan of salvation or the forgiveness of sins.
I take issue on Bible grounds with the statement that “everyone in the world has faith—all you have to do is turn your faith loose.”
That is truly a misconception of what the Bible teaches about men and God and faith. Actually, faith is a rare and wonderful plant that lives and grows only in the penitent soul.
The teaching that every one has faith is simply a form of humanism in the guise of Christianity. I warn you that any faith that belongs to everybody is not the faith that saves. It is not that faith which is a gift of God to the broken and contrite heart!
“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Rom. 10:9
There must be confession with the mouth. Have I made it? Have I openly avowed my faith in Jesus as the Saviour whom God has raised from the dead, and have I done it in God’s way? Let me honestly answer this question.
There must also be belief with the heart. Do I sincerely believe in the risen Lord Jesus? Do I trust in Him as my sole hope of salvation? Is this trust from my heart? Let me answer as before God.
If I can truly claim that I have both confessed Christ and believed in him, then I am saved. The text does not say it may be so, but it is plain as a pikestaff, and clear as the sun in the Heavens: “Thou shalt be saved.” As a believer and a confessor, I may lay my hand on this promise, and plead it before the Lord God at this moment, and throughout life, and in the hour of death, and at the day of judgment.
I must be saved from the guilt of sin, the power of sin, the punishment of sin, and ultimately from the very being of sin. God hath said it — “Thou shalt be saved.” I believe it. I shall be saved: I am saved. Glory be to God for ever and ever!
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