How can I be a strong Christian?

Mark 14:38“Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

1 Corinthians 10:12If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.

We need to be alert to our tendency toward sin. We should pray for God’s strength to empower us at our point of weakness. We must learn to trust God’s strength more than any strength we think we may have.

Isaiah 57:12-13“Now I will expose your so-called good deeds. None of them will help you. Let’s see if your idols can save you when you cry to them for help. Why, a puff of wind can knock them down! If you just breathe on them, they fall over! But whoever trusts in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”

John 15:5“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”

Placing too much faith in our own strength or in other things can become a great weakness. It leads us to detach ourselves from God, our greatest source of strength. We must stay connected to God, the only sure foundation for life.

Galatians 4:9Why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?

A confident faith in the omnipotent God is required to be a strong Christian and to resist the temptations of Satan.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

A profound awareness of our own weaknesses makes us more deeply aware of God’s enduring strength. God’s strength is best revealed when he uses us to do incredible things despite our weaknesses.

Ezekiel 34:2-6“What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? . . . You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal.

God’s people become stronger when they care for the weak. When we serve others in need, we share what God has done for us and reveal his care for others.