God is the one who gives us encouragement and endurance. (Romans 15:5.) There is no such thing as pulling ourselves up by our boot straps as Believers. If we really understand who we are as human beings and who God is as our life saver and only hope, we know we don't even have bootstraps!
"The giant step in the walk of faith is the one when we decide God is no longer part of our lives. He is our very life."
"...so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then He told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."
~ II Corinthians 12:7-10 (The Message)
"Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin, complete self-confidence is a weakness."
"Self confidence should not even be a part of our vocabulary as Believers." "We put no confidence in the flesh."
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path's straight." ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
" We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please Himself but, as it is written: 'The insults of those who insult you have fallen on Me.' For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." ~Romans 15:1-5&13 (NIV)
"Our focus should be off of ourselves and on others."
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." ~Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)
Blog by Melody Joy King
