Tag: Pure heart

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 46:1-3 “God 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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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.

How to Pursue and Achieve Godly Character

Have you admired people who were excellent at what they did and do? How can we achieve excellence of character? The first discipline is to train to be excellent, and the second discipline is to pursue your goals. I have been writing a series of posts on how to achieve the goal of godliness. Why should we pursue the goal of being godly and holy? 2Peter 3:10-11 explains, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness.”

The first post in this series covered what being godly was. The second post explained how to train to be godly. The third post described how contentment with godliness increases independence, time, and wealth. The fourth post admonishes us not to seek riches and how being rich distracts us from pursuing the character of God. In this post, you will learn what and how to achieve godliness; God’s divine nature.

Why Should I Pursue Godly Attributes?

To accomplish the objective of being godly, we need to pursue God’s virtues by striving for or seeking to acquire moral excellence, which is right thinking and acting. I want to finish where I started in the last post. 1Timothy 6:10-11 states, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Through this craving, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs [griefs]. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.” And In 2Timothy 2:21–22,the Apostle Paul explains, “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the Master, ready for every good work. So, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” To be a vessel of honor and have a pure heart, you first must pray to put off (repent of) dishonoring lustful passions that contaminate your heart and then pursue and put on righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

  • You pursue righteousness by putting your faith in Jesus Christ’s ability to help you do what is right because He is your righteousness (Rom. 1:17; 3:22).
  • Pursue faith by reading God’s Word and memorizing Scripture (Rom. 10:17; Heb. 13:7).
  • Pursue love by putting off pride and forgiving those who sin against you (Mat. 6:12–14; 1Cor. 13:4–7).
  • Pursue peace by giving all your problems to God, trusting Him, and forgiving. If possible, you are to also live peaceably with everyone (Rom. 12:18; Heb. 12:14).

How To Pursue and Achieve the Virtues of God

The Apostle Peter’s instructions in the following passage give us hope for achieving godliness, excellence, and holiness. Read 2Peter 1:3–11 slowly and meditate on each prepositional phrase.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire [lusts].

For this very reason, make every effort [diligently pursue] to supplement [add to]your faith with

virtue [moral excellence; goodness], and virtue with

knowledge [of God and His truth], and knowledge with

self-control [self-rule or self-discipline], and self-control with

steadfastness [perseverance, patience, and endurance], and steadfastness with

godliness [be like God], and godliness with

brotherly affection [kindness], and brotherly affection with love.

8) For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.

For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A promise is an assurance we can claim as ours. This passage promises we will never fall if we diligently pursue and practice faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, kindness, and love. Verse 8 guarantees that if we possess these qualities, we will not be ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Peter tells us to be diligent, which means to apply ourselves to accomplish something. 2Peter1:3–11 is full of many incredible truths. I encourage you to read a conservative commentary of this passage for a better understanding. Memorize these verses, so you don’t forget to do them because they are vital to being victorious over the unseen battles for your mind. Remember, God has given you His divine power through Jesus Christ, and you can partake of His divine nature through the promises found in the Bible. How fantastic is that!

Conclusion

To be excellent at anything, you need to train yourself to improve and then pursue your goals. Also, pursuing godliness makes us a vessel for honorable use. Thankfully, we have God’s divine power to help us achieve the virtues of God and His divine nature. Achieving godly character and excellence should be our number one priority because one day, we will stand before God and what will He find in you? Will you be ashamed?

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

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, salvation for non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. Please leave your name so I know you are a person making the request.