His Power for Your Weakness​

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His Power for Your Weakness is a free devotional, evangelistic, and discipleship resource. It will help you understand God, yourself, others, and your world. Pastors in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia have used it to teach classes. They have led more than 2,400 people to faith in Christ in the last three years and grounded 4,002 people in the basics of the Christian faith. 

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The first seven chapters include His Trustworthiness for Your Trust, His Forgiveness for Your Sins, His Milk for Your Growth, His Teaching for Your Training, His Ear for Your Prayers, His Freedom for Your Bondage, and His Vine for Your Branches. 

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The next six chapters are His Light for Your Darkness, His Sight for Your Blindness, His Assurance for Your Doubts, His Peace for Your Anxiety, His Grace for Your Needs, and His Evidence for Your Faith.

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The following seven chapters include His Humility for Your Pride, His Reminders for Your Forgetfulness, His Life for Your Obedience, His Superiority over Your Substitutes, His Ways for Your Ways, His Majesty for Your Worship, and His Church for Your Belonging.

 

The final six chapters are His Virtues for Your Brokenness, His Energy for Your Fruitfulness, His Power for Your Weakness, His Resources for Your Service, His Purpose for Your Aimlessness, and His Enabling for Your Purpose. 

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Sample Chapter

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Introduction 

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 Christianity is about more than your salvation. Daniel wrote, “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3, NIV).

 

This resource helps you become more like Jesus and equips you to lead others to righteousness so they can shine like the stars forever and help others do the same! That involves sharing it, including passing the challenge on and on and on. For that, you need God’s power for your weakness!

 

Working through His Power for Your Weakness takes about nine months. I numbered daily readings from 1–260. Do one each day. You’ll also read one chapter daily in the New Testament, beginning with Matthew 1.

 

Your spiritual growth is more closely connected to your time reading and applying God’s word to your life than anything else. Dr. Thom Rainer says that daily Bible reading aids discipleship. More than mentoring, programs, or small group involvement.  That rings true in my own life.

 

Your devotional life is critical. Pro-Christ and anti-Christ forces battle for your soul. Ignoring its daily feeding has lasting consequences.

 

Personal devotions don’t guarantee spiritual fruitfulness without obedience. But their absence guarantees a spiritual crop failure.

 

Daily devotions are an essential part of following Jesus. There’s no substitute for first-hand spiritual experience. There’s no shortcut to Christian maturity.

 

God’s word is connected with cleansing (Psalm 119:9), delight (Psalm 119:16), life (1 Peter 1:23), strength (Psalm 119:28), hope (Psalm 119:81), direction (Psalm 119:105), understanding (Psalm 119:130), spiritual fruit (Matthew 13:23), stability (Matthew 24:35), sanctification (John 17:17), spiritual strengthening (Acts 20:32) and truth (Ephesians 1:13).

 

Like a mirror, His word shows you your spiritual blemishes. It transforms your mind to think and be more like Jesus. Input determines output. You’ve enough time to do God’s will daily, including inputting His word into your heart.

 

Choose a quiet place and a consistent time to meet with God. Spend time with Him when your mind is sharpest. Record what He’s teaching you and how you can apply it. The goal is personal transformation.

 

Focus on what God’s word is saying about loving Him, loving those in need, loving other believers, and loving your enemies.

 

Consider how it applies to your habits, work, witness, finances, and ministry. Choose a favorite verse from your reading. Write a personal application. Use it as a basis for prayer.

  

Chapter 1

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His Trustworthiness for Your Trust

 

God is faithful and has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:9 NIV

 

The Surest Thing

 

A sure thing has no doubt whatsoever. Very little in this world is a certainty--death, taxes, robocalls, spam, and fraud come to mind. The list is short because the world is full of uncertainty.

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Where’s the bedrock on which you can stand amid the shifting sand of an ever-changing, uncertain world? Old Testament characters frequently swore an oath, “As surely as the LORD lives...” to make their statements more believable (King Saul in 1 Samuel 28:10). “As surely as the LORD lives” appears thirty-three times in the Old Testament. The LORD’s living is surer than anything.

 

The good news is that the Lord lives and promises His presence to those who trust and obey Him. He will live with them. He promised Moses His presence and rest (Exodus 33:14). He promised His presence when two or three gather to deal with His sinning followers (Matthew 18:20).

 

He abides in those who partake in love (1 John 4:16). He promised He’d be with and keep Jacob, wherever he went (Genesis 28:15). He promises He won’t leave or forsake His followers (Hebrews 13:5).

 

He promises His presence in life’s darkest valleys (Psalm 23:4). Someday, He’ll dwell with His people. They’ll enjoy His company forever (Revelation 21:3). The Lord lives!

 

How did the LORD’s living certainty affect how you thought, felt, and behaved yesterday? Read Matthew 1.

 

Two Sure Things

 

Part of wisdom is separating sure things from pretenders. “Sure things” involving people are an endangered species.

 

Friends make promises but don’t keep them. Advertisers overpromise and underdeliver. Humans eventually fail you.

 

Even things you think are sure aren’t necessarily. Tonight, there’s a 100 percent chance of darkness (unless it’s June 21st and you’re at the North Pole!). One-hundred-degree temperatures make you sweat (but older folks wear sweaters!).

 

Rivers flow into other rivers or oceans (but the Jordan River ends in a landlocked lake). Most people twist the truth to benefit themselves, but very few don’t.

 

Can assurance that you’re a child of God be a “sure thing”? Absolutely! It can be because God doesn’t lie. “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.

 

Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19, NIV).

 

The assumed answer to both questions is “no.” Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

 

Assurance that you’re God’s child rests eternally and unshakably on God’s trustworthy promises. When you receive Jesus as your Forgiver and Leader, you become God’s child (John 1:12). When you invite Jesus into your life, He will enter and fellowship with you (Revelation 3:20).

 

You have eternal life now. God won’t condemn you (John 5:24, 1 John 5:13). Jesus suffered for your sins to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:18). He rose from the dead (Mark 10:34).

 

More than five hundred people saw Him (1 Corinthians 15:6). Your assurance isn’t based on your undependable performance. It depends on a dependable God’s keeping His promises! That’s a sure thing.

 

How does God’s keeping His promises being a sure thing make you feel? Read Matthew 2

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Photo: Joshua Earle/Unsplash

 

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