Be Strong


	We are continually being encouraged to develop and maintain physical strength. 

We're told that with strong muscles comes a reduction of body weight, a healthy body, 

longevity of life, and, apparently most important, an attractive appearance. The appearance 

part seems to be the most enticing anyway, because there it is as the most prominent selling 

feature in all the ads for equipment and health clubs for strength development. The message 

is that if we'll just get this or join that, then we're sure to end up looking like this wonderful, 

tanned, beautiful body, rippling with muscles. Somehow, everything looks so easy and fun 

and you'd think that anyone, by just enjoying themselves, playing around with that stuff 

would be transformed into this powerful creature. 

	There is quite an awakening, though, for anyone that chooses to partake of this 

activity, especially if there has never been much inclination for this in the past. There may 

be a certain amount of pleasure in the first few moments, but soon there is a realization that 

this stuff, no matter how glamorous the packaging, is a great deal of work and there is much 

pain and sweat to be endured way before any bulging of muscles is noticed. Progress will 

definitely be  made in all areas of health and strength as these activities become a way of life, 

but please let it be known that it will only come after years of devotion to diligent hard work 

and faithfulness to a healthy lifestyle. So, there's this great necessity of physical strength for 

our health and ultimately for our very survival which requires all this faithfulness to exercise 

and diet.  And then, after all that, the most desirous part, that hard body, will probably never 

be acquired in its entirety.

	While the need for physical strength is so prominent in our lives, there is another 

strength that will never come by lifting a weight or running a mile. This is a strength that 

can be owned by any of us, whether or not we are ever able to give ourselves to consistent 

physical activity. In this strength can be found the power to go through any situation with 

authority and confidence, no matter how big or how small we may appear to be. We may be 

in the middle of an attack on our bodies with no visual evidence of ability to move at all and 

yet possess in our hearts and in our mouths the strength to rise up and live the life God 

designed for us. There may be circumstances surrounding us of failure, doubt, and dishonor 

that would make us appear weak, but this other strength can be at its greatest in these very 

times. While body strength is of a physical nature, this strength is one that comes only 

through inheritance and fellowship, such as that found in the child of royalty. 



Zec 10:12  But my people--oh, I'll make them strong, GOD-strong! and they'll live my way." GOD says 

	so! 


	The very voice that spoke, commanding all creation into being has spoken about the 

strength of His people. He's promised that they would be made strong in this other God-

strength and that they would live His way. All that was required of them was that they be His 

people- be His/be strong. It can be seen, however, in the lives of the children of Israel, that 

being a child of God meant more than just bearing His name. They were made strong only 

as long as they valued and honored their relationship with their God. The child of a king will 

know the true power and strength of his inheritance in direct proportion to his knowledge 

and honor of his father. It is possible to be a prince and yet despise and reject the most 

valuable and precious rights and privileges of royalty-time spent in fellowship with the king. 

What defines him as a person of strength even more than his name is his relationship with 

his father. For us as children of the King of kings there is name that we are given upon 

accepting Christ as Savior, but there is a strength that we find only as we begin to know what 

it is to truly "be" a child of God. Abiding in the palace and talking with the King is the way 

we will really be His child and know His strength. 

	So, there is another strength development program of an eternal God nature which 

has a promise of health and ability in all areas of life, and, like the commitment to physical 

strength development, this program is only effective as long as it is active. What's great 

about this program, though, is that any child of His can really do it and daily develop an 

inward man that is muscled and hard. (2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though 

our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.) There is a strength to be 

found and acquired in the presence of our Lord as He floods us with a joy that can't be 

expressed. All we have to do is "be" His child, honoring and savoring the wonder of His 

presence. He then will make us to be strong, just like He said, and we will live His way. 



Deu 31:6  "Be strong. Take courage. Don't be intimidated. Don't give them a second thought 

	because GOD, your God, is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let 

	you down; he won't leave you." 


3/12/04