Faith and Infusions

I can do all things {which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me {to fulfill His purpose–I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.] Philippians 4:13 Amp

Do you need this reminder today? I know I do. I actually was reading in one of my older journals from 2011,when I came across this reminder. These past few months, my sister has been enduring Chemo therapy. It hasn’t been easy, especially since this is her second bout with cancer. It has been a joy to help encourage her and ease some of her tasks. After she has surgery next month, she faces additional therapy they call infusion. They take off the chemo drug that has been addressing the cancer cells and give her another drug which is supposed to help with her healing. Both the chemo drug and the infusion meds are delivered into her blood stream via a port. Sometimes they give her extra hydration or magnesium through the same access point. This speeds her meds through her body. But how does the Spirit infuse us with inner strength and confident peace?

There are some fairly basic steps. We turn to Him and ask. When we turn to Him and ask, we must believe that He can and wants to help us. But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 Amp. I admit (and I have watched others too) get tripped up on the earnestly and diligently part. Sometimes, it does take a moment for Him to respond. That is when we must choose to trust Him and His character. Will there really be a reward to my diligently seeking Him?

Last week our church held it’s annual Seek Week. It is a time where our church body is encouraged to take time to pray and fast for ourselves and the church. There was four nights of worship and prayer, that we were encouraged to attend. We were given a guide with special emphases for each day of the week. This guide contained not only the focus, but also compatible scriptures to that focus. People were hungry to spend time with God. Speaking for myself, I looked forward to attending each night, especially after I had spent time with the Lord before I came. It wasn’t hard to earnestly and diligently seek Him (the fasting part, was another story!). Once we settle in our hearts that seeking Him and His Presence is worth the energy put in, it gets easier to do. My body was tired, but my spirit was infused with Him.

One of the other basic steps is pairing worship with prayer. We sang songs that made our God big and reminded us of His power and might. They also reminded us of His great love and mercy. Worship softens our heart and helps us renew our mind to who we are trusting. Worship is part of our arsenal tool to allow HIs Spirit to infuse us in our inner man.

I felt many distractions, of course. My mind wandered. Negative thoughts tried to encroach and take over. I fought Satan’s lies, as well. They may be familiar to you–this is dumb, you would rather be home resting. Nobody cares if you show up. You can pray just as well at home. You know those kinds of thoughts. However, I was already bolstered by daily scripture reading. Which is another way we are infused with His strength–reading and studying His Word. My daily reading path had me in 2 Chronicles for this week. As I read through both the strengths and the weaknesses of Judah and Israel, I found myself once again determining to finish my course well.

Paying attention to each transition between one king and another, I discovered God’s faithfulness to His promises, no matter how people acted. I believe as we pray for our world situation, God is moving. Keeping our heart turned toward Him is imperative. We will be able to accomplish every assignment that He has given us because He will strengthen us and empower us. We are not a weak and wimpy people, but we are strong through His might. Do you believe that part of Philippians 4:13, as the Amplified says: I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace? I pray so. In our partnership with Him to bring light to this world, God needs us to be strong and trust Him, no matter how weak we may be feeling at any particular time. When I copied that verse, I was the fulltime caregiver for my disabled husband. I was so tired and weary of fighting. But I declared, “I choose to be strong in You and in the power of Your might”. My dear ones, it often comes down to a choice. Choose to believe you can do all things through Him, because you can, even those things that are hard and you don’t want to do.

Father, I thank you for infusing us with your power and strength as we choose to trust you. Help us turn to you and believe your word. I pray for every person who is feeling weak and overwhelmed today, that they will turn to you and find confident peace that inner strength to face their difficulties. Please remind them they are not alone, but You are with them. In Jesus’ Name, amen.