People like to talk about God’s power and speak of the greater one living in us and declare we are more than conquerors. If we really do have the greater one living in us, why are Christians giving up? Why are they fainting and ready to give up? Some can look back now and see when they were ready to give up; it was a turning point in their lives. They were ready to throw in the towel of self-effort and picked up the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s sad that we often come to this point before we trust in the Lord. If you are one stuck in the boat of self-effort, you need to come to the realization you can’t do it yourself. You could not be saved through self-effort. You had to cast yourself totally on the strength of the Lord. He made you what you are. Galatians 3:1 says, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, having begun in the spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” The answer is no. Having begun in the Spirit, stay in the Spirit! Having begun with the strength of the Lord, stay with the strength of the Lord. You may say, “Oh yes, but I’m more than a conqueror.” Finish the verse, “…through Him that loved us.” You’re not a conqueror in yourself; you are a conqueror through the power He has infused into you. If you’ll walk in line with His power, you’ll find this mortal body will be quickened by the power of the Holy Spirit in you. The Word says pride comes before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18) If you’re about to fall, it means you are in pride. You took your eyes off the Lord and put them on yourself. You started operating in self-effort. Under our own strength, some of us might be able to go further than others. This is true with athletes. A group of sprinters might run well around the track and eventually the stronger runners will end up in front. But even the strongest runner can only run so far. Eventually he’ll fall. Even the strongest have their limits. In the natural, you are limited. If you will allow yourself to be connected to the eternal One who has no limits, you can rise up into the supernatural realm of the limitless, infinite power of God. Isaiah 40:29 says, “He giveth power to the faint.” That certainly describes some of us, doesn’t it? Faint. The Bible is filled with the word “faint.” But notice, He gives His power to the faint. Jesus said in Luke 18:1, ”…that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” We’re told in Hebrews 12:3, “For consider him…lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” Those who faint are those who fall, but what came before the fall was pride. You took your eyes off the Lord and put them on yourself. When you do this, you eventually will faint. There is a difference between faith and stubbornness. Many people are accomplishing things because of stubbornness and calling it faith. Yes, they are getting things done, but it won’t last. You can sprint for awhile, but eventually you will fall. The best human effort has limits. However, when you depend on God’s strength there is no way you can fall. Verse 29 says, “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” Notice, “to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” The world says, “God helps those who help themselves.” The Bible never says that. He gives help to the helpless. He gives strength to those who have no stength. He increases might to him who has no might. And to the faint He gives His power. Verse 30 says, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” Even those in the prime of their lives, who are the strongest, whose muscles are the largest, whose coordination is the greatest, will faint, become weary, and fall. Every human has a limit. Verse 31 continues, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” This verse says, “They that wait upon the Lord…” Christians are always asking, “What can I do when I’ve done everything?” Try doing nothing. You have probably gotten into self-effort, and the Lord is waiting for you to turn the situation over to Him. When I say, “do nothing,” I don’t mean to just sit and stare at the wall. The Word says waiting on the Lord is doing nothing. That is the answer. Jesus said, “That men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” The opposite of fainting, is waiting on Him through prayer and study of the Word. Too many people are acting when they have not yet received an answer from God. Communion with God puts us in a position to recieve the answer from Him. That’s the time when we are doing nothing physically in our own strength and might. The Old Testament Sabbath day is an example of resting and waiting on the Lord to gain strength. The children of Israel were commanded, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” What effort is there in remembering? None! They were to remember the good things the Lord had done for them. This time of reflection brought strength for the upcoming week. Communion is also a time of reflection. Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of Me.” Remembering brings the answer. Communion looks back to the cross, remembers the work of Jesus, and renews our strength. In Isaiah 40, the word “renew” actually means exchange. “They that wait upon the Lord shall exchange their strength.” They shall exchange their strength for His. Our strength is limited, but God’s power is unlimited. He is the omnipotent, all-powerful God. He knows no limit. When we wait upon Him, we exchange our strength for His. Where we once ran but fell down, walked but fainted, we can can now move eternally in His power. We can know no limits now when we become engulfed in the limitless power of God. Did you ever see an eagle fly? He soars effortlessly. The eagle does not depend on his own strength. He takes advantage of the strength of the winds around him. He depends on an outside source for flying. The Bible says, “They that are led by the Spirit of God they are sons of God.” When we learn to be led by the Spirit, it takes all the effort out. We’re floating on God’s currents of the Holy Spirit. We can run and not be weary. We can walk and not faint. If you’re about to faint, now is the time to wait upon the Lord. We need to show God is worthy to put our trust in. The word for “wait” means trust. It means to use faith. “They that trust in the Lord, shall exchange their strength for His.” The Hebrew word for “trust” means to lean upon. We can lean on the Lord because He never changes. Trusting means we’re depending upon the strength of whatever we’re leaning against. He will hold us up if we lean against Him. Isaiah 40:12, speaking of the Lord says, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” This verse is telling us of the omnipotence of God. He is all-powerful. When He created the universe, He created it with a span. A span is the distance from your little finger to your thumb. We’re told in Psalms 8:3, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars, which thou hast ordained.” He literally created the universe with His fingers. Do you think that might be a little more power than you have? Would you like to exchange your strength for that strength? It says He can take all the water of the earth, all the oceans, rivers and lakes, and place it all in the palm of his hand. Glory to God! I’m connected with Him! Can you see how useless it is to lean to your own strength? Why not lean to His arm? Isaiah 40:13 says, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him?” When people come for counseling, much of what we share comes from other sources. The Spirit of the Lord reminds me of sermons, teachings and knowledge others have given. Counseling is simply knowledge that is passed down, but the source of all wisdom and knowledge is the Lord. Who taught God? Who’s big enough to teach Him? If you wait upon the Lord, you’ll exchange your wisdom for His. Verse 14 continues, “With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?” The answer is no one! When you go to the Lord, you go directly to the source of all wisdom and knowledge. Verse 15 tells us about the ruling power of God. You might have trouble ruling your own household. Why not exchange your ruling power for His? “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.” God could rule every single nation of the world, and each individual person in those nations and it would be no strain at all to Him. Our president has difficulty ruling one nation, but God could rule every nation and calls it a drop in the bucket. He says all the nations are as a particle of dust on the balances or scales. That’s how insignificant the nations of the world are when compared to God. Are you having trouble ruling in your own household? Why not wait upon the Lord and exchange your leadership for His? Verses 16 and 17, “And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity.” When you try to give your self-efforts to the Lord, they are as filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:16) If you could take all the wood of the earth and burn it before Him it still would not be a sufficient sacrifice. If you could take all the animals of the earth and offer one large burnt offering to God, it still would not please Him as much as one person worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. He doesn’t want yourself-effort. He wants you to return to Him the things He has freely given to you. In praise He wants you to put Him in remembrance of His Word. He wants you to worship Him from your own spirit, which has been recreated by His own Spirit. He wants you to offer Him a sacrifice of praise in that unknown tongue which comes from your recreated spirit and not your carnal understanding. Isaiah 40:18-20 says, “To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a grave image, that shall not be moved.” The rich man in one verse molds an image to the Lord. He fashions it into the shape of his god, then has someone pours gold over it. Finally he “casts silver chains.” When men in the ancient world made large gods, they had difficulty making them stand up because they could not make the base perfectly flat. To solve the problem they attached chains to a wall to hold up their gods. Do you see what this verse is saying? Your best self-effort will need help to stand. In and of itself it won’t stand. It doesn’t matter how beautiful and golden it looks in the natural, if your sacrifice is not offered through His Word and His Spirit, you will fall flat on your face. Then you will need to find something else to hold it up like silver chains to prop up your golden image. Verse 20 tells us about the man who is impoverished. He can’t offer gold so he finds a tree. He must first find one that will not rot. He can’t have a god that rots. He carves the tree into the image of his god and then he bows down and worships it. You say, “I would never do such a thing.” If you are leaning to the arm of the flesh, that’s exactly what you are doing. We need to bow before the One in verses 21-23: “Have ye not known? ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.” When the children of Israel saw the inhabitants of the land of Canaan,they said, “We are as grasshoppers in their sight.” They forgot to look at the giants in comparison to God. If they had, those “giants” would appear as grasshoppers in comparison. In the natural, the circumstances of life look bigger than you do. Next to inflation you can feel like a grasshopper. With wars and rumors of wars, you may feel helpless and powerless. But standing next to God, all of these circumstances appear as grasshoppers! When it’s all said and done, the princes of this world will come to nothing under the mighty hand of God. I’ve read the last chapter of the Book and the grasshoppers will be destroyed. Isaiah 40:24-26 continues, “Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” God knows the names of all the stars. We are more precious to Him than stars. If they don’t fail, neither will we. We are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. We are of His body. He loves us more than He loves all the nations of the world. His greatness and His love are bestowed on us. He has chosen us and set us apart. He loves us more than the whole universe. One of these days there will be a new universe and a new earth, but we will continue on. Verse 27 says, “Why sayest thou, Oh Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faintest not, neither is weary?” No wonder we don’t faint; we’re leaning on the One who never faints and “…there is no searching of His understanding.” (verse 28) Wait upon the Lord and He will exchange His strength for yours.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 04:24:52 +0000
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