Strength in Him

By Doug Cook

This epistle is only intended for those who have sold out completely to the Lord Jesus Christ, who have the Spirit of Truth dwelling in them evidenced by the ability to speak in tongues, and have previously been through perfecting fires of adversity and have personally witnessed the Lord pull them through them all.  Those babes in Christ who have not had a long ongoing relationship with the Lord or those who have not been able to distance themselves from their denominational Tower of Babble religions will not understand what is brought forth here nor be able to endure the persecution that brings forth the death of self required to experience the type of strength that only comes from the Lord.

I would like to closely examine the scriptures below to see what the Word of God says about operating in our own strength.

2Corinthians 1:8-10 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

2Corinthians 12:9-10 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Amos 3:11 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.

Daniel 10:16-19 And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.  For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.  Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.

So how much of their own strength were the apostle Paul, Daniel and Amos operating in when the Lord was using them for His purpose?  These powerful men of God were brought so low by Him they not only had no strength, they were at the point they thought they would die.

Clearly the Lord does not want us depending or operating in any of our own strength, especially those that have known Him for a while.  He Himself will bring us to the point of even despairing of life itself until we realize we can do nothing except trust in the Lord to revive us.  Are we at that point yet?  Are we truly that dead to self that we are ready to die?  I THINK NOT!

Another example of a Godly man is the composer George Friedrich Handel who lived in England back in the early 1700’s.  He was a Christian and a brilliant composer and was very popular in his time.  He was a friend of the King of England and rose to a prominent position in the public eye and made a lot of money during His life.  But during the latter part of his life he fell out of favor with the public, the king, and all the society people and over a short period became a poor pauper towards the end of his life.  His health began to fail and he had a stroke.  God had brought him to the end of his dependence on money, people and even his health (might) and he was at the point of even despairing of life itself.  When he was at the end of himself God then strengthened him to be able to compose one of the most renowned masterpieces in music ever created called Handel’s Messiah which is his most celebrated oratorio and the piece that he is most well known for.  The oratorio is over two and a half hours long and when he was at his weakest point in his life he worked diligently day and night and finished the composition in three short weeks (that length of composition usually took months to complete).  Every Christmas season a five minute segment of Handel’s Messiah called the “Hallelujah Chorus” is performed in innumerable churches around the world and everyone stands while the Chorus is performed.  You would know it instantly if you heard the Chorus.  Mr. Handel was a Christian his whole life, but until he fully suffered a complete death to his flesh, the Lord could not use him to complete the work he had created him for from the beginning of time.

I use Mr. Handel as an example because he begins his two and a half hour masterpiece by quoting the first few verses straight out of Isaiah chapter 40.  All of the words used in the whole oratorio are quoted straight out of several books in the bible, but Isaiah 40 is the chapter I was going to utilize to encourage those that are dying to self and the losing of our own strength. Let’s examine this chapter.

Isaiah 40:1-4 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

If anyone understood these word’s he began his oratorio with it was Mr. Handel because God was now speaking comfortably to him because his “warfare (with his flesh) was accomplished.”  His iniquity was pardoned and he was at that time receiving from the LORD double favor for any and all of his past sins.  In his life he had been on the mountain top of society and was made low to the lowest pit in the valley and now he was being exalted and set on the straight path.  Paul and Daniel went through the same process until the Lord was able to speak comfortably to them.  Anyone who is in the remnant today and will humble themselves enough, will go through the same process.  We must loose all our own strength and die to everything we hold dear in this life to be able to walk this straight path the Lord designed for each of us to walk individually.

Isaiah 40:5-8 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.  The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

At some point in the near future the full glory of God will be revealed and ALL flesh shall see it together.  We will all see His glory at the same time because God said so.  And when the glory comes, wherever we are in our walk with Him is where our walk ends.  There will be no more time to die to more flesh nor change our position from evil to good.  Compared to that glory, ALL people are grass and that grass is going to wither.  There are too many people that have huge “mountain top” ministries and make it look like they are doing so much for the Lord, yet they haven’t humbled them selves to go through the valley.  That huge ministry is nothing but grass and the spirit of the LORD is going to blow on that grass and it will wither away.  The glory of the LORD will reveal how much flesh was still in those type ministries.

Isaiah 40:9-11 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Anytime we see the word Zion in scripture we need to think spiritual Zion, not literal Mt. Zion in literal Israel.  Zion is the spiritual place where the Lord dwells with His people.  Psalms 91 refers to “under His wings” as the place we trust in, this is the same as dwelling in Mt. Zion.  He states here to “get thee up into the high mountain;”  What God is telling us is to come up to the higher calling of dwelling in Mt. Zion with himself and the other believers that are completely sold out to Him.  “His arm shall rule for him” is literally speaking of Jesus ruling for Him.  Jesus reward is with Him (King of Kings) and the work Jesus already did on the cross goes before Him.  Jesus is going to feed the flock and gather the lambs.

Isaiah 40:12-18 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?  Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?  With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.  And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.  All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.  To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

He takes the next several verses to remind us of just how small a blade of withered grass we all are compared to HIM!  While He is putting us through the trials of dying to self, who are we to counsel the Lord on how deep we need to go in the valley before he exalts us, and do we know just how much of our own strength we need to loose to be dead to all our desires?  Read these verses again and tell me where any person rates in comparison to His power, strength, wisdom, glory, and might!!!

Isaiah 40:19-20 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.  He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

So what do most believers do when they don’t want to follow the true gospel that says we must take up our cross and die to self?  They create their own denominational (divisive) graven images and call them “Jesus” that says God wants them to follow man made doctrines and traditions (gold and silver) and wants them to be rich, fat and happy.  Most become “impoverished” (poor in spirit) and don’t have an “oblation” (offering of their own burned up flesh for the altar of the Lord) and seek a “workman” (pastor) that tickles their ears with false doctrines and sings their favorite hymn every week “We Shall Not be Moved.”

Isaiah 40:21-26 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?  It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth (so much for those Christians that still believe the earth is flat???), and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:  That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.  Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.  To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.  Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

The Lord has told us from the beginning of Genesis that He created the earth in a circle (not flat) and made the sun, moon, and stars (70 sextillion at last count) and stretched them out throughout the heavens and ”calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might.”  He brings princes and judges to nothing as vanity because every one of the inhabitants of this earth are grasshoppers.  Again He will blow on them and they shall wither (as grass) and be taken away as stubble.  Who are we grasshoppers in our pea sized intellect to create denominational graven images with man made doctrines and traditions called “Jesus” that is anything like God, much less His equal.

Isaiah 40:27-28 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

Why sayest thou churches, “the Lord can’t see our secret desires that we only want to be part-time carnal Christians so we can still be part of the world.  We don’t want to face the tribulation it takes to die to self, so we created a pre-trib rapture to escape the coming judgment.”  The only problem is we can’t comprehend the depth of God’s understanding of every heart He created and we will all be judged by the deepest hidden secrets of our souls.  And most don’t understand there is no amount of religious sounding man-made doctrines that will conceal us from the coming judgments.

Isaiah 40:29-30 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

The LORD has spent a lot of time in this chapter reinforcing who He is and His point in doing this is to bring us to the point of realization that we in our selves, “that is in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” (Romans 7:18)  Even strong young men that have great strength and stamina will fall like withered grass before Him.  However, this scripture says God gives power, but who does He give it to?  The FAINT!  And who does He increase with strength?  Them that have NO might!  Are we completely exhausted?  Are we completely without strength (might)?  If not, we may not be dead enough yet to receive strength from the Lord.

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

The last and most important verse in Isaiah 40.  Who does it say is going to have their strength renewed?  Those that beg God for it?  Those who are only part of “our” denomination? Those that have 50 prayer warriors in constant intercession for them?  Those that are tired from working all day?  Nope, it says those that wait on the LORD, they are the ones that get their strength renewed.  Look back at the earlier verses, did Paul or Daniel of even George F. Handel beseech God for strength.  Nope, the LORD gave them the strength when He had brought them to the end of themselves and was ready to use them to fulfill His purpose in their lives.

Any believer who is truly seeking to follow the Lord knows that He has delivered us from many of our bad habits and false doctrines over the years through tribulation and taking up our cross to follow Him.  Most of us have shed many tears while going through some of these trials the LORD put us through.  There is no other way to perfect us in Christ, but He is not done yet.  There are still parts of our flesh that continue to rule and reign in our lives.  In order for us to be without spot and blemish at His coming, these parts must be overcome where our old flesh is completely dead.  As this passage says we will get weary and faint and all our strength will be spent, and most likely a few more tears shed, only then will we be at the point that we can do nothing in our self, but will have to wait on the Lord to move in our lives.  Many times that means removing ourselves from ministry to anyone for a season while we allow Him to work in us His righteousness.

We as remnant believers must be brought to the end of ourselves before the LORD can truly work through us to fulfill our purpose in this life.  This is the point we must be at enabling us to undeniably fulfill Galatians 2:20:  “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  Many are the believers that proudly quote this verse from memory, few there be that actually grasp its implication, but hardly any endure the sacrifices to live it.

As usual, this is a trust issue and we are not trusting Him completely yet!  But comfort ye my people in the fact, “that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” when you will hear Him say “your warfare is accomplished.”

Your servant in Christ