Standing Firm When You are Limping

Some days you limp along. You know days when your friends’ son is in the hospital and you aren’t getting much sleep and then you go into worship and ugly cry through every song. Those days when everyone needs something from you and you have nothing left. When you look around  and people are self-destructing as the enemy attacks and you just want to yell at them to get it together because at this point your filter is completely gone and your mercy is nonexistent. No one seems to notice there isn’t any more room in your arms to carry one more burden because your arms are FULL. You are SPENT.

I keep asking the Lord to carry me. When I have nothing left I know I can stand firm in what God has already done for me. Ephesians 6:10 says “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” I hear the Lord quietly whisper, hold on tight, stand firm in me because I am strong and I am Mighty. 

And I am just so grateful.

I’m grateful for the reminder that I can’t do anything apart from Jesus
I want to think that I can. I want to believe that I am stronger than I think and that I can handle so much. I just can't pretend anymore like I can hold things together. And it’s foolish for me to pretend like I can do it anyway. So in those days of limping along my Great Defender and Strong Tower reminds me to sit so close to Him. To hide myself within Him. To stand firm in what He has already done for me and continues to do within in me.

I’m grateful for how BIG my God is
I am grateful that because of what He has already done for me on the cross, because I am in Christ and with Christ I have access to His Strength and His Might. He is greater and bigger than anything that comes my way. He is in charge of all things. You know He spoke things into being. He created this world out of NOTHING. Nothing is too big for Him to handle.

I’m grateful His armor is better than mine
My fleshly body is so weak which is exactly why I need the Lord’s armor made up of His character. As I seek Him with everything I slip into His armor. As I dive down deep into the Word and focus on His Truth I buckle that belt of Truth around me. When I recognize how despicable my sin is and I need Him to cover my sinful self I pull on that breast plate of Righteousness. As I remember that I am nothing apart from Christ but have all things in Him then my feet are planted with the shoes of the gospel of peace. When I put my trust in Christ and His character (not in myself and what I can do) I stand behind the shield of faith that can extinguish all the fiery arrows of the enemy. I pull on the helmet of salvation when I remember I possess salvation in Christ and the enemy does not own me. When the Spirit exposes my sin and woos me back to Jesus I stand with the Sword in my hand.

You see the armor isn’t about being on the offense. The armor is about Christ fighting for you. It’s that He ALREADY HAS FOUGHT FOR YOU. That in Christ our debt is paid in FULL. We don’t owe anything, and don’t have to strive to be anything. We BELONG to Jesus and He cultivates His character in us. We must run hard after Jesus, sit with Him, soak up His Word, rest at His feet, hide ourselves in Him, and allow Him to carry us instead of trying to limp along on our own.

Photo by Duncan