July 2014- Supernatural Strength for Increase

A Note from the FM South Asia Leader’s Desk:

Good morning!  My prayer for you today is that God would give you his grace and strength in supernatural abundance.  It’s the hot and humid season now, but the monsoon rains have started.  It can be a time when we get easily frustrated.  Or, at least, I do, when Im hot and sticky and uncomfortable. 

This last few months I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, praying and learning about the issue of strength.  Where do we get the kind of supernatural strength we need for the race God has called us to be running?  To see supernatural increase, to bring in a supernatural harvest, we need supernatural strength and energy.  We also need to learn to be excellent managers/stewards of the strength God gives, rather than waste it or use it up in ways that leave us empty with nothing left inside. 

This morning in my quiet time I was reading from Psalm 84.  Verse 5 says “What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs.  The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.  They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.”  The Jewish practice of going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem was vital to their faith.  The Hebrew word for pilgrimage means “going on foot”.  Even kings would get off their horses and go up to Jerusalem on foot as a sign of humility.

One of the keys to receiving joy and strength from the Lord, that supernatural strength we need for what we do, is to become a people who “set our minds on pilgrimage.”  We need to set aside the time, money, energy and effort to regularly go to His Presence for renewal.  Jerusalem represented the place where God’s Presence was most felt, where He dwelt.  This month, let’s pray for ourselves, and for each other, that in the midst of working so hard to bring in the harvest, we will carefully guard our energy source- and realize our strength comes from Him.  We will press in and make necessary sacrifices to get away with God, so that even our places of sorrow can become refreshing springs (vs 6).  When we are full of Him, His joy, His strength, and His love, bringing in the harvest will become easy and fun, not exhausting!