We have 3 types of spiritual strength to indicate 3 stages of our spiritual life
Spirit life = relationship with God
1) We have no strength (broken bone)
- It’s like a broken bone or snapped tendon
- totally unable to control/move any body part after the break
- no matter how hard you will or try, you just can’t
- because it is disconnected.
- all of us were born disconnected from God
- no matter how hard we try to be good, we just cannot.
- all of us when we were born with sin.
- we will always end up doing something bad, misbehave or not following instructions.
- thank God he can fix us:
2) We have new strength
- Jesus is like the doctor who put the broken parts back together
- our relationship with God is now connected, but the re-connection is weak on its own
- need something to isolate the part so it can heal and not be put at risk of damage again, needs to be plastered.
- Jesus puts on a cast so the broken parts can heal properly.
- He gives us the Holy Spirit to wrap around our joint so that it will be protected during the healing
- the cast is also a security and helps us to be confident that we won’t accidentally knock the injured part.
- The cast like the Holy Spirit also gives us the ability to function our body part like normal, how it should be.
- After saved, but still unable to be fully independent without the cast. This new strength from the Holy Spirit helps the injury to start repair but also gives a chance for the injured arm or leg to start being used again.
- Can start to use fingers to hold, toes to balance.
- When disconnected we cannot do any good on our own. Now we have help to be good.
- Paul says when I am weak, He makes me strong.
- Cast stays on our entire earthly life.
- Taking the cast apart early before it’s time is like removing the Holy Spirit from our earthly life.
- We expose ourselves to further injury.
- The cast is meant to be on until the body part is fully healed (meaning until we leave this earthly life). – The Holy Spirit is like our helper here on Earth, but once we leave the Earth, we don’t need the Holy Spirit’s work of being a “cast” but now we are in full communion and union with Jesus the doctor.
3) We have little strength
- After some time, we develop our life with the cast on, we learn how to go about our daily life with it.
- We carry it wherever we go and start to return to our usual activities.
- We now have more strength at the injured limb.
- But you will at some point come across circumstances that you know will be a challenge because of the injury that you now realize that you have little strength.
- When you see a need, when you sense a call, when you carry a burden for a certain person, you realise you cannot do it all by yourself, you realise you have little strength
- Therefore you need wisdom, you need a double portion of anointing.
- Despite your injury and the cast you carry, you summon whatever strength you can, and the Holy Spirit’s work then takes over and does whatever it does best.
( Incidentally Ps David’s sermon talks about this the next day, Eg. Young David vs Goliath, 17 Aug 2014. Could “borrow” some points from there. )
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