Strength...

Image courtesy of zirconicusso

"You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it;"--Deuteronomy 11:9.  Moses, giving them yet another reason they need to obey God's commands and especially now.  The reason is so that they might have strength.

Strength.  If you have ever worked out or done a regular amount of exercise, you know that even when it beings to hurt a little bit, you need to push on because that is when your strength is really being built.

Strength.  Of course the concept of strength is not restricted to exercise.  Strength is also applied when we are simply going through a hard time in our lives.  Maybe it's a difficult time on the job or at school or worse case scenario it is the death of a loved one.  Times like these all require strength.

Strength.  So how does the concept of strength fit in with our Christianity? Well like the Israelites here in Deuteronomy 11:9, we too have a Promised Land and whether we realize it or not, we too "are about to cross to possess it."  This is true because the fact is we don't know when we will go on to our reward.  It could be tomorrow, it could be today and it could even be by the time you finish reading this blog.  For that matter it could be by the time I publish this blog and only a handful of people have the chance to read it.  This is where strength comes in.  We need to have the strength to follow God's commands in order to "go in and possess the land."

Strength.  There is no doubt that during the 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelite's faith in God was challenged in all sorts of ways.  A whole generation died off and now it was time to go in and take the land.  The adversity would continue as they fought the inhabitants of the land but strength would be given them to conquer these people under one condition; that they would keep the commandments.

Strength.  If following God's commands was always easy, strength would not be needed.  If Christianity were always easy, everyone would probably be Christians.  Just like when we work out or go through a tough time, following God's commands might sometimes hurt a little bit.  But like working out or going through a hard time, we become stronger through the experience.  The same is true in following God's commands.  Following God's commands trains or disciplines us to push on.  Hebrews 12:11 tells us that "discipline for the moment is not joyful but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."

Strength.  With all this being said in regards to strength, my encouragement to you is this.  Here in Deuteronomy 11:9 we see that the benefit of following God's commands was to have the strength to possess the land.  Our promised land is eternity with Christ.  I encourage you to have the strength to follow His commands as found in the pages of the New Testament.  Doing so will make this life better (1 Timothy 4:8-9) but ultimately you will reap eternal life.

Therefore, keep every commandment so that you may be strong. Go out and encourage others to do the same.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!