Little Strength
Revelation 3:8 NLT
8 “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.
Jesus is saying the church in Philadelphia had a small amount of strength. This was also the only church that Jesus did not rebuke. So they had a little strength, yet they kept His word and did not deny His name. Other translations imply that the reason Jesus set before them an open door was because they had enough strength to keep His word and not deny His name.
So how can we apply this to our lives today? The first and most important thing is that we buy into the fact that it does not take extraordinary strength to obey God’s Word and to not deny Him. If we make obeying God this major endeavor, this almost insurmountable challenge, then we position ourselves to opt out. We can adopt an “I can’t live this life” mindset. The danger with that type of thinking is that we won’t attempt or stop trying. Jesus did not say the church in Philadelphia was doing something easy that took no strength. If obeying God, keeping His Word, and staying faithful to Him was easy, everyone would do it. Strength is involved; it’s just not superhuman. But remember we have supernatural help in the person of the Holy Spirit.
The same apostle John wrote in 1 John 5:3-4 NLT, “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.” So adding these verses together, we see that God’s commandments are not burdensome, severe, heavy burdens. We get the picture of someone having to carry a load that is just too much for them. But we are God’s children, and He did not ask too much of us. We overcome through our faith. Not amazing, extraordinary faith, but simply the faith that we had when we made Jesus our Lord. So we have the means, and the task is not too much. We can do this.
A couple of tips regarding strength. Don’t ask yourself if you have enough. Just begin to act on what you know to do. Just taking a step of action is strength in action. Don’t feel for strength; just act and put God’s Word into practice. We don’t wait until we are strong and then go to the gym; we build strength with action. The same principle applies to our putting God’s Word into practice; we build strength as we go. Remember, we don’t need a boatload; just a little strength will do.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, that I have the strength to obey Your Word and stay faithful to You. And by faith, my strength in You is growing stronger.