One of the quickest ways to get discouraged is to try living the Christian life in your own strength. It’s like trying to lift yourself up by your own bootstraps; it cannot be done. Indeed, God designed it that way. Jesus said: ‘If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17 NKJV). God’s commandments are never too difficult for us to follow – if we do them through Christ’s indwelling strength. And you must learn to draw on that strength daily. He is in you and with you at all times to enable you to do what you cannot do and to do with ease what you would otherwise find hard to do without Him. Paul talked about the constant struggle between his flesh and his spirit. At times it drove him to despair. Then he gives us the key to victorious Christian living: ‘I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency]’ (Philippians 4:13 AMPC). Learn from the light bulb; it cannot illuminate itself. But when it’s connected to an electrical power source, all that’s required is to flip a switch. So, do it in Christ’s strength, not your own.
