8—God Promises to Give You Strength

Do you sometimes think you don’t have the strength to go on? So many things sap our strength, such as illnesses, hardships, depression, stress, disappointments, too many tasks, etc. The solution for enduring troubling issues is easy, but doing it is hard. It is human nature to try to overcome and solve besetting issues in our power, which saps our strength. The solution is to submit to God everything that troubles you. Submitting your troubles to God involves admitting you need God’s help and strength, then letting God take care of your issues, which is hard to do. Psalm 68:35 states, “Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!”

Find Strength in God

Ephesians 6:10 tells us, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” God’s might gives us strength to endure and stand firm against our enemy, who causes most of our troubles. According to 1Chronicals 16:11, you find power when you are in the presence of God through continually praying, praising, and pondering His promises.“Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!” Also, claim Habakkuk 3:19, which says, “GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Have you lost hope? Find your strength and hope to scale the mountains in your life through God’s might, not your useless attempts to be strong. Do you find yourself depressed? Pray and seek God to give you hope and strength to endure the issue sapping your energy.

Strength in Waiting

Sometimes we must wait and seek God for the strength to endure the issues we are facing. When you seek Him, the key to receiving power is to give God an offering of thanksgiving and praise, knowing He keeps His promises. Isaiah 40:31 proclaims, “but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” When you feel weak, especially as you follow, honor, and serve God, trust His promises to strengthen the weak and faint. The hard part is waiting to receive God’s promise. It is equally hard to give thanks in all circumstances, which is God’s will (1Thes 5:18).

Know that you are God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10), and He is shaping you through tough times to reflect His image (Rom. 8:28-29). Also, adversity causes your faith to become stronger so you can have the strength to endure troubles and temptations. God also has a good work planned for each of us, and we all need to go through hardships to strengthen our faith and character. Claim God’s promise in Psalm 46:1-3God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” God is our refuge and strength when we face grief and difficulties. Though it is hard to endure hardship patiently, we know we are being perfected when we patiently persevere (James 1:3-4). 

Trust God to Give You Strength

Trust is hard for us because we need to rely on God to keep His promises. Many of us have painful memories of disappointments when we relied on someone to do something, and they let us down. These painful memories often prevent us from trusting God. Read my short book on my website to learn how to heal painful memories. 2Corinthians 1:20 tells us, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” We can trust God to keep His promises. By faith, we can speak into existence Psalm 28:7, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” If you need strength and have none, you can call it into existence by believing and claiming God’s promises. Ponder the following Scriptures: “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak” (2Corinthians 4:13). Also, “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare [proclaim]; before they spring forth, I tell you of them” (Isaiah 42:9).

Strength for the Grieving

We lose our strength when grieving a loss or disappointment. Nehemiah 8:10b encourages us to “not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Not only do we find strength in God’s presence, but we also will have joy. Psalm 16:11 explains, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 73:26 states, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” What a wonderful promise.

Fulfilled Promises Bring Him Glory

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans 4:20-21 the following, “No unbelief made him [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” The Apostle Peter teaches his readers in 1Peter 4:11, “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

Conclusion

We can only attain God’s strength when we seek His help and submit our troubles to Him. You also find strength when you remain in God’s presence through praying, praising, and pondering scriptures. Lastly, God promises to give you strength for His glory. I will end with one of my favorite scripture promises: 2Chronicals 16:9a, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” To achieve a blameless heart, read my post called WHY HEAL YOUR HEART AND PURIFY YOUR SOUL? and Five Steps to Heal Your Heart and Purify Your Soul

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Pt. 2: Why You Can and Cannot Trust God?

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Yet Another Layoff—How to Rise Above Worry, Anger, Insecurity, and Grief

HOPE: How it Motivates and Inspires BUT God’s Sovereignty…


All verses are from the English Standard Bible. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share the links with your friends and family, at hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected, and no part of the posts or my book may be reproduced without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom.

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Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name so I know you are a real person making the request.

Yet Another Layoff—How to Rise Above Worry, Anger, Insecurity, and Grief

Tragic news sucks the life out of you, so how do you accept it and move on in hopes of a better future?

I am getting laid off because of the COVID19 pandemic. My husband found out, he is now furloughed with no guarantee he will return to work. Am I concerned, yes. Concern though is another word for worry and fear, but it sounds more sophisticated. Worry and fear are a trap, and when you get caught in it, it’s hard to get free. Grieving and anger are also a trap that keeps you longer than you want, and may even cripple you emotionally and spiritually. Since I have been through two other layoffs, I know God is faithful and will provide for all my needs.

Why does terrible news suck the life out of you?

You can’t help but worry, be fearful of the future, be angry, feel insecure, and grieve the loss. When you receive unpleasant news, your mind goes in every direction but on God’s promises. And if you are like me, you crave consistency, security, and routine. I hate change, especially losing relationships. And if our identity is in what we do, then we will become insecure. Losing a job is humbling, for some, humiliating. Layoffs take a mental, emotional, and physical toll in our lives and sap our strength when our minds focus on negative thinking. It is okay to not be okay when your world is changed.  It is natural to grieve a loss or losses and be angry at those who caused your loss. But if you stay there you will lose your life of peace and joy.  To change negative thoughts into positive thoughts, do the following three things.

Three positive ways to respond to tragic news.

First, recount God’s past miracles. God was faithful and helped me through many difficult days. My last lay off was no fault on my part but was because my new supervisor did not like me and wanted a staff change. I was devastated because I was the only one working full time and my son would lose his tuition break, plus I carried the health benefits. But God miraculously changed my husband’s job from part-time to full-time by the first day of the semester so my son could get the tuition break and to provide health benefits. Praise the Lord. Now, I need to practice my life verses in 1Theselonians 5:16-18 to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.

Second, forgive those who caused your loss, even if it you are not at fault, you still get angry and offended for one reason or another. I may need to forgive China for not controlling the virus in their country and for letting their citizens fly to other countries to spread the virus, which caused my hardships and resulting layoff. Forgiveness releases the power of the offense you feel and prevents it from controlling your beliefs and actions.

For example, I woke up in the middle of the night ruminating over the fact that the Department Head assured everyone that no one would lose their job and the department is okay financially. She said she cared about everyone in her department and that everyone mattered. So, why am I being laid-off? Did she lie? My husband gently reminded me to forgive her. When I forgave her and took the negative thoughts captive and put them out of my mind, then I could go back to sleep. I woke up the next morning with the thought that I am a child of the King of the Universe. Why do I need to be concerned? John 16:33 Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Third, trust God to keep His promises. Promise five of the 15 Promises post is God’s plans for you are for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). I have written many blog posts on keeping your thoughts on the things of God so you can have peace and joy. To be honest, I was taking the anger and worry bait but reminded myself to take my negative thoughts captive and think about those things that are true and good, etc. Read these posts to learn more:

How do you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness?

Psalm 91:1–How to Dwell in Heaven Now

Being Thankful During Hardships

ALL THOUGHTS ARE WITHIN OUR CONTROL

Thoughts That Create Peace Within and Without

Hope will help you get to the other side of awful news?

God wants to give you a future and a hope. 2Chronicles 16:9a tells us, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” God wants to support us through the sad times, but we have to trust and obey Him. Also, an often-quoted verse that comforts us during hard times is Romans 8:28. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” When we put our hope in God’s promises and purpose, then we will have strength, peace, and joy. The Webster dictionary says hope is a feeling that what is wanted will happen; desire accompanied by anticipation or expectation. Hope in God’s promises. The Bible says faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (see Hebrews 11:1). I have written a post on hope that goes well with this post, you can read it here and Hope for Lasting Peace, Love, and Victory.

Conclusion:

You can choose to think negative thoughts and allow awful news to suck the life out of you, or you can turn your thoughts toward the promises of God and have peace and joy. There is hope only in God’s promises. Choose a promise and hold on to it and remind yourself of it and stay in peace and joy.  When I was going through my divorce I held onto the promises in Isaiah 61:7, “Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. ” God fulfilled this promise in my life. He will be faithful to his promises you hope in as well.

Photo by nikko macaspac


If you find my posts and website helpful, then please share the link to my post and website with your friends and family, hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected and no part of the posts or my book may be reproduced without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom.

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. Please leave your name so I know you are a real person making the request.

P.S.: Experiencing lasting change in your life depends on having a right relationship with God the Father through believing in His Son Jesus Christ and obeying His command to love (1 John 3).

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