The Blessings of Divine Strength

UV 1117/10,000 The Blessings of Divine Strength

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

Psalm 84 v 5


Nations through history draw their source of strength from military power. Individuals draw their strength from wealth, position, qualifications, family background, personal talents, glamour and other personal attributes. But all these sources of strength can prove to be undependable and even be the very root of strife. But when a man draws his strength from the Lord, he is greatly blessed. We draw our strength from the Lord by imbibing His Word. When St Paul said, “ I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me,” he was implying that Christ strengthened him through His Word. When he first heard the voice of Christ on the road to Damascus, “ Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me so?”, the words awakened him to his life’s purpose and gave him the strength to turn away from all that he believed in and lived for till that moment. The Word of Christ had penetrated his heart and begun a transformation that was going to impact the contemporary world as well as succeeding generations in ways which St Paul could never have imagined or planned.


The words of Christ will bring about a turn-around in our lives, a change in direction, a change of focus, a change of priorities, a change of thought process, a change of goals, a change of habits, a change of attitudes and emotions. The ways of God will be laid out in our heart and we will hear a voice, “ walk in these paths for they are mine.” He will give us the strength to trod these paths. He will give us increasing strength and grace as we increase in acceptance, understanding and obedience. He gives us the inner power to overcome our own weaknesses and limitations. When Samson was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, he could do many great feats. Similarly, we will be filled with the Holy Spirit to overcome the challenges we find in our lives. As we depend on the Lord, our strength will be greater in magnitude than that of horses or that of chariots- natural power and strength as well as the strength of the products of human ingenuity and invention. The strength of a horse or of weapon or a muscular man is visible to the eye. It does not require any faith to depend on these. But, the strength of spiritual origin is invisible yet discernible for God delights to reveal not by might or power but by His Spirit. The more we exercise our faith, the more our spiritual strength increases. The purpose of giving us such immense spiritual strength is to ensure and enable us to be victorious in life. Our strength is divinely originated, divinely organized and divinely increased.

St Paul who was the scourge of the early believers and responsible for putting many to death, became a source of blessing to the early believers. He became a carrier of the gospel to many parts of the then known world. Many amazing miracles were wrought by him. His writing to the early churches became the basis of church doctrine through the ages.
When we make the Lord the sole source of our strength, He builds His highways in our hearts. We need to foreswear all our erstwhile sources of strength for the Lord will test our hearts to see on what we lean the most. He leads us step by step. He removes the barriers in our paths as He enabled the Israelites to cross the Red Sea and the Jordan. He leads us into a greater and greater experience of His grace, love and mercy. The path of faith is not to obtain forever an inexhaustible reserve of strength or power. But, every day to go to the Lord for a top up of strength and then go and spend it the rest of the day in the world, then to return to the Lord again for a renewal of strength till all our days are done.

Prateep V Philip