A Prayer for Strength (A Bite of Bread Excerpt) and Giveaway Winner

 

“I pray that from the treasures of his glory he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit, so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through your trusting.”

~Ephesians 3:16, 17 CJB

Let’s dig in. Let’s find what the ancient  Greek words mean.

[Word Study]

Inner strength was translated from:

Dunamis: force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself):- ability, abundance, meaning, might, (ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracles, power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work.

 

Trusting was translated from:

Pistis:  Faith, trust, firm persuasion, a belief in the truth, veracity, reality of any person or thing.

 

 

This prayer verse makes me think of trees.

I love trees. Maybe it’s because I’m from a part of the country where there weren’t very many of them. Anyway, this verse made me think of how apple trees only produce apples.  They could never make a pear. They simply yield what they were created to give. And well, that makes me think of us. Just like the fruit trees, we can’t produce what we don’t have in us.

But God never demands what he does not supply. So, not only did he provide the way for our salvation through Jesus, he continually delivers inner strength, dunamis, (miraculous power, abundance, ability, meaning, might, a worker of miracles, power, and strength) by his Spirit as we pistis, trust or believe.

[bctt tweet=”God never demands what he does not supply.” username=”wordsbyandylee”]

There’s a big difference between trusting and believing. When I think of the meaning of “faith” or “believing”, I think of my mind at work, but “trusting” someone involves my heart. I want to do more than believe in Jesus, I want to trust the Lord so that his Spirit flows through me with more power everyday.

The more I trust him–the more we trust him, the more his Spirit can work in me and you and strengthen us with ability, abundance, meaning, and might, making us workers of miracles, power and strength, a wonderful work.

That’s what we are with the Spirit of Jesus in us.

“I pray that from the treasures of his glory he will empower us with dunamis by his Spirit, so that the Messiah may live in our hearts as we trust God. Oh help us trust you Jesus! Fill us with your Spirit! Make us a force of love and strength together.  Amen.”

 

Chewing on . . . trusting God and becoming aware of his miraculous Holy Spirit inside. (excerpt from The Bite of Bread book- a new project.)

and. . .

 

as promised . . .

The Winner of Streams in the Desert Giveaway!

Drum roll please. . .

Congratulations goes to my friend Sandy Chambers! Thank you Sandy for all of your encouragement and comments! I think you’ll love Streams!

Happy Friday, my friends!