Tuesday, March 29, 2011

In Adversity, God’s Strength Abides


“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”


~Romans 8:26-27 (NRSV).


As I strode past a century-old cathedral the sign-board resounded:


“When adversity strikes, God’s already prepared the strength to get through.”


That speaks volumes for the power of God when we most need it. It’s when we reach for God — times when we’re rocked way past our own resources to cope.


This ‘power’ is the strength to cope, to live, to endure... even a minute at a time. That strength comes from prayers that are a million notches deeper than the spoken word.


When Prayer Comes Into Its Own!


Romans 8:26-27 speaks about the guttural utterances of a heart bank-rolled to emotional bankruptcy. We’ve been there! Times like it may resurface, and, without warning.


With adversity comes weakness — an ironically blessed set of circumstances toward a total reliance on the Lord, perhaps even for the first time. Most of us won’t esteem the power of the Spirit until we reach such a fraught depth.


The empathy of the Spirit’s intercession is known. It takes us, directly, to the will of God.


Words are overstated; they’re unimportant in the Spirit’s realm.


Forget about getting the words right — God knows.


The Lord has created power ready for use, according to our complete need. It’s prepared for us to partake of.


God’s Strength – Made at the Ready Due Our Weakness


Our Lord doesn’t make strength for the strong, but for the weak, and it’s made minute by reviling minute.


There is a remarkable presence of life when we experience loss or forlornness; access to God made complete.


It’s when we connect through sad music, or with a good friend who’ll just sit there with us, or go on a long drive, or when we just find a safe place and be. These times find us so bereft of the will to go on that God thrusts his grace toward us in compelling streams of life-giving, pulsating but invisible Spiritual energy.


It’s just enough to get through and somehow we do, still we don’t know how. It’s not pretty but it’s effective.


Safety is identified in the fact that we get through one full hour, then a day. A month like this builds our faith more than a lifetime of our old belief.


If this is not living prayerfully, we don’t know what is. Now, at last, we know what prayer is really about.


© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I sure loved this one..