Floodgates of Heaven Devotions: What you call a weakness, may be your greatest strength!

Today’s Reading: 2 Chron. 10-12, John 11:30-57

Today’s Reflection: 2 Chron. 11:11 And he fortified the strong holds, and put captains in them, and store of victual, and of oil and wine.

As often as possible, I like to shed New Testament truths to Old Testament passages in an effort to make practical application for the New Testament saints. This will be no exception.

After reading our selected verse above, consider also what Christ spoke to His church in Sardis in Revelation 3:2, where He says, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”

Just as King Rehoboam was having to deal with a divided (and therefore weak) kingdom which threatened his ability to maintain peace and order, the church of Sardis was also struggling to remain strong and influential in their location with the Gospel message due to some of their spiritual flaws. In both cases, the remedy for such disarray was to fortify the strong holds, or in other words, to strengthen those things which remain.

In King Rehoboam’s case, to fortify the strong hold would mean to reinforce what was already deemed strong. In essence, it carries with it the idea of focusing on one’s strengths in order to survive.

In the church of Sardis’ case, to strengthen those things which remain which are ready to die, means to reinforce what was already deemed weak, and on the verge of dying.

Now, the reason I believe we can compare the church of Sardis to King Rehoboam’s kingdom, is the fact that the church of Sardis was actually fortifying their strong holds as well. Why would I say that? Because Jesus’ instructions to them were to strengthen those things which remain, implying that all else was already dead.

Now to my point; if there’s any life at all, and if there’s any breath at all; if there’s any hope or faith at all, strengthen THAT! You may be weak, frail, faint, and ready to give up and die, but the fact that there remains some strength in you at all (though small it may be) means that you can survive if you will strengthen what remains!

To let the weak say, “I am strong!” is to recognize your weakness AS strength when put into the hands of God. It is to understand that our definition of weakness is really just a smaller measure of strength. And all God wants us to do with our weakness (aka small measure of strength) is to give it to HIM and watch HIM rise up in strength for us!

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Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 150 of 365

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