Explosive Power

I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty.

Philippians‬ ‭4‬‬:‭13‬ ‭TPT‬‬

When you read this verse it speaks to a place in your heart, in your history, in your expectations. 

Yet, we often look to our own strength or wisdom to face the challenge in front of us.  We put aside the the secret we know, we ignore our training that God has carefully placed in our path, and we march forward.

God places much pain in our path.  It is for one purpose - the training.  Pain tests our character. It is a necessary element of the ultimate goal.  We come to understand this, not liking it, but understanding all the same. 

Man requires training for any success in life.  God’s training is difficult but man’s training is often not much different.  If you want to be good at a sport, a job, a personal goal, you must train and training can be difficult and often painful. 

When we lose, we learn.  Often the losses teach much more than the wins.  We appreciate the losses differently when the losses come at the hands of man, as opposed to the hands of God.  The losses that we experience in life that have little to do with man, typically leave a much deeper scar. 

Faith in God requires us to learn to appreciate the lesson learned from the pain. This is not easy. It can take years to wrap our minds around the pain to even glimpse at the fact that the pain might actually have been in our best interest.  When we moan at God, He hears but doesn’t seem to let up in the lesson that is being taught. 

In the bad times, we get the lesson again. Then again.  And again.

For what reason, only God knows.  His teachings, the important lessons, are repeated as is the pain that accompanies these tests. 

Looking to Christ for the strength to get through becomes the only objective in such times.  Then and only then can we experience the satisfaction of conquering a task that we had no hand in. We look at God at such times with a thankful heart. 

Rest today, knowing this test will be over. Your reward will be worth it.