Wednesday, Jan 8

Scripture: Judges 6:12-14 (NIV) – “When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, He said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’ ‘Pardon me, my Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, “Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?” But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.’ The Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?’”

Message: Does the holiday season seem draining of our energy? Can our energy thrive through whatever challenges we face – financial, relationships, or health?

When we follow God's leading, God will lead us to things we are not sure we can do. Those things cannot be done without God's extra strength.

Just like Gideon, the extra strength you have is:

1) you are who God says you are (“mighty warrior”) – not whom anyone else says that you are;

2) God is with you – the Holy Spirit inside you is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

When God put a calling on your life, He already factored in your incompetence. God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

We often lean on things we know, which is dangerous. We should not shrink our vision down to what we can do – but expand it to what God can do.

If God leads you to it, He will see you through it – through His extra strength – not ours.

Often God increases our courage by decreasing our resources – so that we see what He can do – not what we can do in our own strength.

What we don't have often makes other people comfortable to share their weaknesses and flaws. We need to show humility in a world where often the image of a Christian is of a self-righteous, judgmental, know-it-all. Our inability to answer someone's question may be what leads them to Jesus.

Prayer tithe: give 10% of the time that we spend on anything to prayer.

Prayer: God, we ask through Your extra strength, that You make us brave. Do in us – through us –what we cannot do on our own. Lord, whatever we face, we give it to You. Amen.

Jim Esch