Being Strong in the Lord

Ephesians 6:10 (AMPC)
¹⁰ In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].

Have you ever been in a situation where you just don’t feel that you are up for the fight? Too many times to mention, probably. Ephesians 6:10 is a go-to scripture for times like those. Yet, for of many of us the phrase “be strong in the Lord” is a battle cry without much punch.

One of the wonderful things about God is that He never tells us to do anything without first providing a way of doing it.  Such is the case with this scripture. Note that Ephesians 6:10, starts out, “Be strong in the Lord…” That is a command not a suggestion. So, the provision is there to do it and the “how to” is found in the rest of Chapter 6 where the Armor of God is discussed.

For the sake of this posting, let’s remove the weapons themselves and focus on what they represent. In doing so, we find the answer to the question, “How do I become strong in the Lord?”

Truth: The starting point for being strong in the Lord comes by accepting God’s Word as Truth.
We become strong in the Lord when we receive His Word into our hearts. That means we take it personally and when we do that it opens the door for all God has for us.
Righteousness: Understanding and receiving righteousness – being in right-standing with God – is a second factor in being strong in the Lord. Without an understanding of righteousness, we are subject to constant harassment by the devil, whose number one weapon is to constantly remind us of all the things that are wrong with us.  We become strong in the Lord when we receive this gift of righteousness (meaning we did nothing to deserve it) and wrap ourselves in Romans 8:1, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Peace: One of the last things Jesus said to His disciples was in John 14:27 (KJV): “²⁷ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” We become strong in the Lord by not focusing on “our” peace (which is all over the map during times of difficulty) but His peace – which never changes. His peace keeps us grounded during difficult times.
Faith: Faith is the foundation of our relationship with God.  Where we miss it is when we make it all about “our” faith, rather than focusing on the fact that our faith is really God’s faith that has been deposited in us. We become strong in the Lord when we realize that we don’t have to work up our faith during difficult times, but rather rest in His faith within us.
Word: The spoken Word of God creates. We become strong in the Lord when we use God’s Word to contradict the words being spoken over us during difficult times. We release the power of His Word over our situation, as well as bring strength to our body and mind, through the hearing of the Word and the releasing of it over our situation.
Praying in the Spirit: Praying in the Spirit (in tongues or your prayer language) enables us to pray God’s perfect will when we don’t know what it may be or how to express it in our natural tongue. We become strong in the Lord when we pray in our prayer language because instead of asking God to come into agreement with us for what we are praying, we are praying in agreement with what Heaven desires because we are joining with Jesus and Holy Spirit as they intercede for our situation.

Take away the actual weapons used to describe the amor and what remains is simply a compilation of Bible knowledge. Being strong in the Lord is in direct relationship to the amount of God’s Word that we have revelation of and operate in. The battle cry of “Be strong in the Lord” will carry a powerful punch when we realize what God has given us in His Word to overcome the challenges of life.

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