Topic: By My Spirit [Joyce Meyer Devotional 19 August 2020]
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‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.— Zechariah 4:6b (NKJV)
“I’m a nobody,” my friend Gary said to me one day. “Besides, God has millions of people to look out for, and compared to theirs, my problems seem so petty.”
His words shocked me. Of course God has millions to care for—but He’s more than able to care for all of them at the same time.
Gary had missed something very important. God wants us to ask for help—and to ask often. Too many times we think we can do it ourselves. In some instances, that might be true, but if we’re going to win the battles in our minds consistently, we have to realize that willpower alone won’t work. Our biggest weapon against the enemy is actually crying out to God for help. More than anything, we need the humility to turn to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to strengthen us.
Many of us don’t fully grasp how the Lord lovingly operates in our lives. Not only does God love us as His kids, but He also has caring concern for every part of our lives. Our heavenly Father wants to intervene and help us, but He waits for an invitation to get involved. We issue that invitation and open the door for God’s help through prayer. God’s Word says, “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2 NKJV).
Perhaps we can think of it this way. God is watching us all the time, and He’s aware of the temptations, struggles, and hardships we face—and we all face them. If we think we can do it by ourselves, God lets us try to handle it, but He’s ready to jump in and rescue us the moment we cry out, asking for the power of the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives.
Our victory always starts with right thinking. We have to be convinced that God cares, wants to help, and goes to work when we ask Him to step in. When we cry out, we understand that it’s not by force or power, but by God’s Holy Spirit that we overcome and have freedom.
For example, let’s take personal devotions—daily time spent in prayer and reading the Word. As Christians, we know this is both something God wants, and something we need if we’re going to grow spiritually. At one time in my life, I tried to maintain spiritual self-discipline on my own. I determined that I would pray and read my Bible every single day. I would do well for two or three days, and then something would interfere—sometimes my family or something at our church, but mostly little things that took my attention away from daily time with my Lord.
One day, I cried out in desperation and said, “Without Your help, I’ll never be faithful in doing this.” That’s when the Holy Spirit came and gave me the self-discipline I needed. It was almost as if God watched me struggle and allowed me to become frustrated and angry with myself, but as soon as I sincerely asked for help, He came to my rescue. Oftentimes we experience a lot of unnecessary frustration simply because we try to do things without His help.
With the Spirit’s help, I am learning—yes, still learning—that I can choose what I want to think about. I can choose my thoughts, and I need to do that carefully. If I don’t know the difference between healthy and unhealthy thoughts, Satan has an open door to sneak into my mind and torment me. But when I’m in regular fellowship with Jesus, I have the discernment to know the difference, and the discipline to reject the unhealthy thoughts. In the same way, when you spend plenty of time studying God’s Word and listening to Him speak to you, you’ll be able to quickly recognize each lie that Satan tries to sneak into your thoughts and replace it with the truth of God’s Word.
Prayer Starter: Holy Spirit, I want to think thoughts that honor You, and to be free from every lie of the enemy. I know that can’t happen unless I spend daily time with You, so please help me to be consistent in this area, and to be quick to ask You for help when I’m struggling. Thank You for being faithful! In Jesus’ Name, amen