I have a 14 year old son who is a prep-er. He thinks about emergency food and water supplies and prepping for power outages and that kind of thing. We have talked about getting one of those hand cranked radios. Turning the handle creates the power necessary to listen to the weather report, etc.

This morning as I was praying, some folks came to my mind to pray for that are in need of some peace and some joy. The trouble is that they think they can get it on their own. That they can create the kind of life necessary to find these things in their own power. Sometimes I fall into that trap too. Kind of like that hand cranked radio…if I just work hard enough I’ll have the power I need. But it never works like that. When we live in our own power we are actually treating God as a crutch. It’s not until we realize that God IS the power that we can be empowered to live a life of joy and peace. And at the end of the day, those are the 2 things I want most.

A hand cranked radio can be a fun experiment….for about 2 minutes and then I’m tired and want to quit. How much better is it to plug right into an outlet with uninterrupted power? That’s how God is. Uninterrupted power. When we stop trying to live in our own power and just turn our lives over to His power, the difference is outstanding. And our strength is increased. Depending on God is not a crutch. It’s the key to a powerful life.

Before I got out of bed this morning I was thinking of all the things I had to do and all the responsibilities that fall to me today and seriously thought about just covering up my head and quitting this day before it started. And then this verse came to my mind. Isaiah 30:15 says: “This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it”.

It is in repenting of our weakness and confessing our lack of strength and resting in the power of the Creator of the universe and being quiet before Him instead of rushing around and working like crazy, and living in complete dependence upon Him instead of ourselves that we find strength. That we are empowered to live full, abundant, peaceful and joy filled lives. But the verse ends like this: “but you would have none of it”.

It’s completely your choice. You can have the power needed. Stop working so hard trying to turn the hand crank and plug into the source.

 

Photo credit: edkohler via Visual Hunt / CC BY