"Faint Not; For He Is Our Strength"

Okay, here is the deal: The Lord is our Strength! Now then; because He is our strength, we are expected to be strong. So then, what gives us the ability to be Strong in the Lord? Anybody...You got it yet??? It is our Faith!!! In order to facilitate the Strength of the Lord through a trial, we MUST Believe that He is able to accomplish the good through our situation. Does that mean that He won't if we don't? No! What it does mean is that we will not stand through our trial if we don't, but He will still see us through it, regardless of our actions; we will just be made to look weak (sitting on the ground, covered in ashes, and scraping our boils). However, what should take place is that He is glorified during our trial; not just at the end of our trial. Which brings me back to 'The Talents' and 'The Slothful Servant'; What is to say that our trial is not a Talent? We are given an opportunity to Let Our Light Shine by our circumstances, as we are going through them. A slothful servant will take that opportunity and waste it by burying it, and waiting for the outcome to give God the glory; instead of investing that testimony which is made available to demonstrate during the trial. Yet when we have the faith to believe that He will accomplish good though our situation, then we should be demonstrating that faith as we are going through it. And how do we do that? By counting it all joy! As odd as that may sound, it is true. The Joy of the Lord is our Strength; that means exactly what it says; We Must Choose Joy! For example: Acts chapter 16; in verses 22-34, Paul and Silas are imprisoned after being beaten. In verse 25, it says, "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: And the prisoners heard them." This was an opportunity to rejoice through a trial, and as they did, God showed up. In verse 26, it says, "And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: And immediately all the doors were opened, and every man's bands were loosed." And what was the outcome of this? Many came to the Lord and were saved; even the Jailer and all his household! This is the True Power of God; and it was brought forth through a trial. Now, imagine what would have happened had Paul and Silas just sat there in that cell and cried, complained, and anguished over their situation; Do you think there would have been the same outcome? Well, I can tell you one thing for sure: The fellow prisoners that heard them, would have heard something else. God may have still shown up, but the testimony that they had given their fellow inmates would have been lost. In fact, there may have been some jailbreaks; but there were not; Why? Because there was Joy! As odd as that may sound! "I will love Thee, O Lord, my Strength. The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my Strength, in Whom I will Trust; my Buckler, and The Horn of my Salvation, and my High Tower." (Psalms 18:1 & 2)