Alex runs frantically. He is trapped, he’s hurt his friend, and he has run away to a barren, rocky place. He’s forgotten how big he is, and the foosa know that in his current state they can creep up on him. But Marty his friend has not forgotten him, despite being hurt and runs after him. He speaks out truth, but Alex is lost in his misery, until the foosa start to attack Marty. “A little help here!” Marty yells and Alex rises up. Together they defeat the foosa, and establish a victory on the island and more importantly within themselves. The foosa know they will be whooped if they ever try that again.

Alex had to rise up in the truth his friend declared over him.

A similar scenario plays out in Piglets Big Movie. The beginning shows scenes of calamity and catastrophe and little things Piglet does are the reason no one is seriously injured. But his friends can’t see it, until Piglet disappears for a while and they go on a journey to find him and remember all the amazing things he did, and later find him and affirm him in these truths. At the end of the movie he has to rise up in the truth that he is valuable and once again saves his friends lives.

We need friends around us that speak life, encourage, and prophesy God’s truth over us, and yet at some point we have to make it our own.

From studying the early church where they were all encouraged to prophesy and bring hymns and psalms, I wonder whether prophesying over each other regularly was something that they all did?

I have a friend who turns every gathering we have into a holy moment of encouragement and prophecy and recently another friend who had never experienced that came to my daughter’s birthday party…I feel that level of encouragement should be a regular part of church life, along side with being accountable to others through deep relationship.

Sometimes we can run from church to church hoping that a certain prayer will cause a breakthrough in our situation, our mindset, etc and I’ve certainly seen this take place. It is wonderful to have people stand with us and pray with us, and other times we need to establish a truth in our lives through time with God and in His Word.

Lisa Bevere shares about this in two of her early books, Out of Control and Loving It, and Be Angry But Don’t Blow It. She was seeking deliverance for anger after throwing multiple things at her husband and nearly slamming her toddler into the wall, and God spoke to her and led her to the Scripture in Isaiah 52

1Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you. 2Shake off your dust! Rise up and sit on your throne, O Jerusalem. Remove the chains from your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.…

She built a stronghold of Scripture in her heart around who God said she is.

Two pages of Strength Scriptures with meanings from the Strongs Concordance

FREE STRENGTH SCRIPTURE PRINTABLE

Psalm 27:1 NIV The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

The NKJV version says the Lord is the strength of my life.

We can see deliverance, one cup of tea, and one Bible passage at a time.

Another friend of mine shared a story with me, of how her parents used to scream at each other in the evenings while she was trying to study for her Grade 12 exams until they eventually got a divorce, but it left her afraid of the dark and would always need a light on, even after she was married and had a child. But she kept reading God’s Word and one night God gave her a dream of picking a sword and defeating a monster hiding under the car in their garage and as she spoke out God’s Word over herself it defeated the fear and she no longer needed the light on.

As famous tennis player, Margaret Court says in her book Train Your Brain, we can create positive strongholds of God’s Word in our hearts.

We build these strongholds by searching out what God has to say about a matter, and we speak those words over our lives as a weapon against the enemy and we surround ourselves with people who will say what God has to say about us, in truth and encouragement, and sometimes with a kind rebuke.

God has much to say about being our strength. Psalm 73:26 – But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And while I believe of course it is talking about this in an eternal sense, after staring at this Scripture on and off for 5 years, the thought came to me, what if looked at it with the eyes of, What God has said over this situation is the strength of my heart even when everything else is screaming the opposite.

There’s a beautiful song by Don Moen about God being the strength of our heart.

Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24

We have to keep choosing to come back to what HE has said and He will strengthen us to defeat our enemy, whether that is fear or an illness, or oppression.

A classic passage around this is from 1 Samuel 30:6 where it says, “Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”

David’s whole family and those of his men had been taken by a raiding enemy and their hearts were sick. In another passage it says David wept until he could weep no more, He didn’t not show emotion, but then he chose to stop and remember all the victories God had given him in the past and all the prophetic words he had that had not been fulfilled yet and then he sought the Lord, when his heart was built up and they pursued the enemy and recovered all.

For Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy Name. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. Psalm 139:2b-3

Strengthenedst—râhab raw-hab’ (H7292)   A primitive root; to urge     severely, that is, (figuratively) importune, embolden,  capture, act insolently: – overcome, behave self proudly, make sure, strengthen.

Sometimes I think that strength can be dramatic to see things shift instantly and sometimes I think it’s strength to face another day and perseverance to not give up.

The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Isaiah 58:11

God even has a promise for our physical bones, and as we meditate on that I believe it literally infuses strength into them even as it says in Proverbs 3:8 It (turning away from evil) will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.

God says, “Fear not, for I AM with you; be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” Isaiah 41:10

A few years ago I did a study and free printable on God’s right hand Scriptures and it is quite fascinating.

And while there are so many more strength Scriptures, I will end with this famous one from Isaiah 40:29-31

He gives power to the weak, and those who have no might, He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

There’s a promise that as we wait on God, spend time with Him, and the word wait can mean to entwine ourselves with Him and His Word that our strength shall be renewed and we shall rise up on wings like eagles. I believe this is also a promise that as we spend time with God we will begin to see things how He does.

If you have enjoyed this study I invite you to print out the FREE STRENGTH SCRIPTURE PRINTABLE to meditate on.