muster strength

written April 24, 2008

Proverbs 23:5
"The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength." (TNIV)

As a Christian we are taught that our strength comes from the Lord. Which is true, He empowers us, through the Holy Spirit to handle whatever situations arise in our life. But, we still have to put some effort into obtaining that strength. So many times, I get all pumped up and things start going well and then before I know it, I'm back in a similar situation as I was three months prior. And it's all because I don't "muster my strength". I have knowledge about God - how He wants me to just love Him and embrace Him - but so many times I feel like I have to do all these things for Him in order for Him to love me. But the great thing is He's all about grace!
Last week a friend was praying with me about this and the things she started speaking were a great revelation to me. God just wants me. He just wants you. He doesn't want us for the things we can do for Him - although the fruit of our love will essentially end up being those things - no, He just wants us to love Him! And the same goes for us. I think too many times we get caught up in only going to Him when we need something and seeking His hand instead of seeking His face. It's time that we draw near to the heart of God - that we stop using God as our slave and turn to Him as our Father.

Think how your parents love it when you just call and talk with them having no motive or request for anything but just calling to talk. And then think how much more our Heavenly Father must love it when our intentions are simply to know Him and the power of His resurrection!

Philippians 3:10
"I want to know Christ - yes, the power of His resurrection."

So like I was saying, I have the knowledge of God's desire towards me but all too often I get caught up in the works part of it. And because I get focused on the "doing" for Him and not the "loving" on Him, I start to lose strength. As seen above in Proverbs - we have to muster the strength. Muster means to assemble, call forth, gather, display, reveal, or appear. I love this definition. It shows that we already have the strength inside [through the Holy Spirit] but it's our job to assemble, gather, and call it forth. It's our job to display the strength of God's love in our lives, to reveal the passion that love brings forth, and to finally, live in a way that people can see Him through us.