Showing posts with label inner man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inner man. Show all posts

Inside Out

Some days are easier to bear than others, for whatever reason. It could simply be our emotional state, how we feel physically, series of good or bad things that happen, or just dealing with the day to day grind of the caregiving situation. During the times we are stretched beyond our strength we can become tired inside and out! When weariness sets in there is really no one who can help but God!

Ephesians 3:16 in the old King James Version of the Bible Paul prays that they will be strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit in the inner man. The New Living says that He gives you mighty inner strength through the Holy Spirit. Either way since we are believers, Holy Spirit is living in us and He can give us strength from the inside out. It must be part of the Holy Spirit's overall job description because in Acts when they were told to go wait for the Spirit, they were told that they would receive power from on high.

 So it should not be surprising to know that He can fill us up with the Lord's strength for whatever lies ahead of us today or behind us from tomorrow. I say it that way because it may be yesterday's tragedy that brought us to today. But no matter where we find ourselves today He can give us strength to walk it out and since He lives inside our being this strength comes from the inside and strengthens our whole being body, soul and spirit.

I think the key may lie with us in that we must learn how to wait on God. That's a lot more difficult than it sounds. Especially for caregivers as we are many times having to motivate ourselves to keep going, not lose heart and press on into today. But verse 11 may also give us a little help on releasing His strength inside to strengthen our outside. In this verse Paul is still praying the same prayer for the Ephesians and he prays that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts...I love that! We already discussed how we all have the same Christ and no one has any more of Him than another. But the last part of this verse tells us how to let Him be more at home in our hearts - as you trust in Him.

Isn't that the key? We must learn to trust Him more - not that we get more of Him but so that He is more comfortable in our hearts. Today I will put my energies to work to trust Him more so that He will be comfortable in my heart and I will be positioned to receive His strength.


Renewal Sounds Good

2 Corinthians 4:16 is on the when I get in trouble list of first scriptures. It's easy to find ourselves facing situations that press us to give up. For the caregiver this can be many times throughout one day! It can be so tempting to lose heart...Even our "good" days can be full of trials and it the loneliness experienced by many can push us into a corner of despair.

 But Paul is instructing the Corinthian church here to not lose heart...even if the outer man is decaying, or seems to be losing strength.The book of 2 Corinthians (is really the fourth letter to the church in Corinth) was written during one of the toughest times in the apostle's life. He has been through the ringer (check it out in chapter 11) and yet he still picked up his pen and wrote to them that it was no time to lose heart! Wow, what spiritual stamina the man must have had. Or perhaps it was just  a genuine loving care for the church there at Corinth. This helps me see a softer side of this great spiritual warrior; a fathering side..he loved the Christians so much that he laid down his own situation, his own discomfort...to write them and encourage them to continue in their walk of faith!

 I hope it's okay if I say this (of course it is - it's my blog! lol)...but haven't we done the same? Do we not lay down our own lives every day to see our loved one cared for properly? Have we not turned out sites from our own discomforts to ensure another's comfort? Yes, we have.

So do not give up, and don't lose heart. You are full of God's wonderful compassion just like Paul was. God will renew our inner man day by day as we continue to take care of His people. He will give us the strength to carry on this journey (He knows we cannot  do it on our own!) So smile. He is renewing you today. Remember Isaiah 40:39 - as we wait on Him (for our strength) our strength is indeed renewed.

Renew can mean several things:
  • to begin again or to take up again
  • to make effective for  a longer period of time
  • to restore/re-fill
  • to make again
  • revive or re-establish
  • to make as if it is new again
 
He is renewing our inner man while our outer man is on this troublesome journey called life!

The Stare

  Do you ever just find yourself sitting and staring at the wall? It doesn't really happen too often because, quite frankly, who has tim...