Philippians 4:10-20

A friend of mine did not agree with the previous message. It made it seem as if Jesus is a quick fix. As if Jesus waves his magic wand and voila! All our problems disappear.

No, this is not what Paul and our Christianity stand for. We’ve all experienced too much to ever think that cares and problems disappear into thin air simply because our Jesus is part of the equation. Yes, Jesus is almighty and He can make our mountains of problems before us disappear into thin air – but that is not the way He does things.

If He took away the various uphill in our life journey, it would not benefit us much. Although it is often very hard, we need hardship in our lives in order to shape us, because you see, if everything always went well, chances are that we would forget about God somewhere along the way. That’s the way we are.

In one of their songs Disturbed sings (see https://youtu.be/_LypjOTTH6E): Sometimes darkness show you the light. This is so true. Sometimes God’s light is made visible by those dark times.

That is why it is so important that whatever happens, we get our strength from God: ¹³Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. Yes, we shouldn’t run to God only when the going gets tough, but also when everything is going well.

What I actually want to say is that we should spend more time on our knees when things are going well, because in times like these we become complacent and think we can deal with things on our own. Soon we are misled and try to go our own way. Then we’re no longer plugged into our source of power. Then our petrol tank is empty and we come to a standstill.

We must be plugged into God in good times and bad, because in Him we find strength and power to face each day. God gives us strength to tackle anything that comes our way and I’m not saying that God will necessarily remove all the obstacles in our way – maybe He would, but chances are much better that He would rather help and support us to tackle the hardship and break it down bit by bit.

God has huge energy reserves, all that we need to get through the day. He has stores full of charged batteries. We must simply go to Him and ask for it.

This reminds of the Duracell advert with the pink bunnies – as the race goes on more and more bunnies fall by the wayside because their batteries can’t keep up. The Duracell bunny just goes on and on and keeps on running.

We can’t live life on our own power. What a mess that would be! We must go to God so that He can give us strength for the day ahead. When we receive that power, it doesn’t mean that we have nothing more to do. No, now we really have to do our part, because without a driver so much energy will cause a lot of chaos.

Plug into God, get your strength from Him, because then you will be able to conquer your uphills for sure.

Reflection

Where do you get your strength?

Are you plugged into Jesus?

Are you using God’s power right?

Prayer

Lord, I heard about being plugged into You. I don’t always know exactly how to do that. I do know I need it. Please help me that I can sit at your feet and make your power part of my life. Amen