Have you ever had a period during your walk with God when your feet felt like bricks… when you could barely walk, let alone ‘run the race with perseverance’, as Hebrews 12:1 asks? Where rejoicing a little felt too much, and it was a struggle to even start praying, never mind ‘rejoicing always and praying without ceasing’? (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Has the scripture reassuring you of God’s presence ever seemed so foreign, because you honestly felt so alone? It is fair to say that most of us have encountered such times over the course of our journey with Christ. Even great prophets such as Elijah and Jeremiah had their moments (1 Kings 19, Jeremiah 20). It is not a great place to be, the place of feeling mightless and worn out. Most of us don’t want to stay in such a place. Still we feel stuck. As such, during such times, how can we regain the strength to persevere in our race, get unstuck and keep moving? I hope to share some ways from scripture below, which have been of immense help to me.

1. Waiting On The Lord

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to 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 faint” – Isaiah 40:28-31 (NKJV).

I know that sometimes it can be a hard ask to keep holding on, but I do hope this passage brings encouragement, because the way to renew our strength is to wait on the Lord. That is, to trust in Him, to keep hoping in Him against all circumstantial odds, and to continue to believe His promises even when they seem blurry and far away.

How can we attempt to do this? By praying. Continually. Even when we don’t feel like it. Especially when we don’t feel like it. Jesus knew the kind of horrible death He was going to die, and the suffering and pain He would endure. Luke 22:41-43 records that He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from Heaven appeared and strengthened Him. The cup of suffering was not taken away, but God sent an angel to strengthen Him. Even then, He was still in such agony of spirit that He was sweating blood. What did Jesus do? He prayed more fervently (v. 44). Sometimes God may not take away the trial immediately, but if we rely on Him, God will make sure we are strengthened. God can send human angels, He can also send heavenly angels. “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14).

The enemy knows that it is prayer that will strengthen and fix you. That is why he will do all he can to attack our prayer life during such times. Whether it is through thoughts telling us that we are wasting our time praying, or through various distractions. The devil will try to use what he thinks will work best to distract or discourage us and keep us in a weakened state. We know that trials and tribulations are inevitable in this world (John 16:33). It is during such trials that we may need strengthening the most. Sadly, it is then that we feel like praying the least. The devil knows how vulnerable we can be during such periods and he capitalises on this. Prayer is what enables us to resist the devil and the temptations he brings our way during such vulnerable moments, and to stand firm (Luke 22:46, 1 Peter 5:9, Ephesians 6:13, 18).

However, even in our weakest moments, when our feet feel too heavy to keep running the race, we can be strengthened by faith-filled people around us who can encourage us, pray with us, and minister to us. It is like running a marathon and having people by the side of the road cheering us on, each cheer adding a boost to every step we take. We need the kind of friends the man on the mat had. When he could not walk to Jesus on his own, his friends carried him to Jesus. (Luke 5:18-25). We can ask people to carry us to God in prayer. Prayer is something we all need. In fact the stronger someone is spiritually, the more acutely aware they are of their need for prayer. This does not mean we give up on praying, assuming that our friends will do the job for us. There are some battles that we need to fight ourselves, to strengthen our spiritual muscles. But, when the words are not forthcoming anymore and we are struggling to connect, even with guided prayer, we can still have that prayer time set aside, and practice seeking God even in the silence.

2. Multiply The Joy Of The Lord

“Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!” (Nehemiah 8:10b, NLT)

If the joy of the Lord is my strength, then I can be strengthened by living a life that makes God joyful, by bringing pleasure to God in how I act, what I say, how I relate with Him and with others. Sometimes when it’s my birthday or Mothering Sunday, my kids get really excited about it and think of all sorts of ways to make me happy. It is heart-warming when they give a thoughtful, meaningful gift… for instance including something that they know I will like/enjoy. Similarly, God’s Word tells us what God likes, so we don’t need to guess. Faith in God (Hebrews 11:6) and obedience to His Word (1 Samuel 15:22, 1 John 3:22) are two main examples of how we can bring God joy. What I find even more interesting though is how pumped up my kids get in the process of planning and creating surprises or gifts for me. They get up earlier than me on my birthday (sometimes a bit too early 😊), because they can’t wait to wish me happy birthday and present their gifts/creations to me. In the process of trying to bring me joy, the joy and excitement on their faces is really something special to behold. Likewise, as we seek for ways to bring God joy, we may find that our waning excitement for life is fired up again, and that we are strengthened in so doing. For how can we give someone a gift of joy while dressed in dejection? When we get caught up in bringing joy to God and others, we will usually find that joy eventually catches up with us.

3. Remember Your Source

Recognise the source of your strength. We should never lose sight of who our source is. One of God’s names is El Shaddai. He is The Almighty God (Genesis 17:1). In other words, He has all the might, all the strength that is ever needed. He is also a generous God, and when we ask, ‘He will give might to them that have no might’ (Isaiah 40:29). “I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16, NIV).

We cannot depend on our own strength, as sometimes the battles that we are called to fight are not battles that human strength can help us win. God does not even want us to depend on our strength, so that we don’t get proud and start boasting (Judges 7:2). As I heard Apostle Joshua Selman say recently, “the moment a situation looks too difficult to fight physically, it means physical strength is not what you will use to defeat it.” Trying to use physical strength for such a battle will be like trying to fetch water with a basket. Not only will it be a waste of time, it will also exhaust the little strength we have. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6b, NIV). This is something I’ve been learning over the last couple of months, to let go and let God, for it is God’s hand that upholds us, not ours. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT) says “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

This knowledge humbles me, which is great because God resists the proud (James 4:6). You cannot be strong if God is resisting/opposing you. It will be like trying to climb up a slippery, forceful waterfall. This knowledge also encourages me though, because it frees me from the burden of trying to depend on my own limited strength, and opens me up to the endless strength I have in The El Shaddai! Because of God’s great faithfulness, I can be sure that He will provide me with “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”*

In addition, during such periods, we can learn more about God’s character on a personal level. When we have storms in our lives, we get to know God as the one who calms storms. When we face sickness, we get to know Him as Jehovah Rapha. When we don’t know what to do, we get to know Him as an Omniscient, Wise God. Knowing who our God really is can infuse us with strength beyond our wildest dreams. As Daniel 11:32b (NKJV) notes, “the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”

Consistency

If you’ve ever had to do physiotherapy, you may know that it is done to help restore strength, movement and function when recovering from an incident that has caused weakness or impacted functionality in one’s body. As part of physiotherapy, there will be exercises that need to be done to strengthen these weakened muscles. Not only does physiotherapy aim to strengthen muscles, it can also help reduce the risk of injury or weakness in the future. In the same vein, there are exercises that we need to carry out to strengthen our spiritual muscles and reduce the risk of injury in the future. They include word, worship, prayer, and they can be both individual and communal. Furthermore, just like physio needs to be done repeatedly and regularly to be effective, so it is with our spiritual muscles. One-off exercises will probably not do the trick. Consistency and dedication are therefore needed to bring about the required result, to see our muscles regain their strength once more.

Proverbs 24:10 (NKJV) says that “if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small”. One is more likely to faint during a race if they have not taken enough nourishment beforehand. We get spiritual nourishment by drinking from the fountain of life, and eating from the Word of God (Psalm 36:9, John 6:32-35). Even if our strength is currently small, it doesn’t have to stay small. I mentioned seeking God in the silence earlier. Focused meditation can be very helpful. Dwelling on a particular passage and letting God speak to us through it as we read it over and over is one way to do so. With God’s help, we refrain from letting our minds wander to a place where the devil’s voice is so loud that we can’t hear God’s voice. As much as possible, we should aim to keep up spiritual disciplines, as stopping or even pausing them is a slippery slope. If we start falling down that slope, it can be hard to climb back up again. It may be harder to do so during periods of weakness, but these disciples are even more crucial then, and can be just what sustains us and enables us to regain our strength.

I pray that when we reach such times in our lives, when it feels we can’t go on anymore, we will remember the source of our strength. When it feels like we are falling, may we not fall into the devil’s evil traps but into God’s loving hands. Even when our feet feel like bricks, let’s keep moving. The song Go ahead by Ron Kenoly has a line that really captures this: “If you catch hell don’t hold it, If you’re going through hell don’t stop”. I sometimes think of this in a visual way and assume hell is like a tunnel. If I stop in the middle of ‘hell’, I am stuck there. However if I keep walking, I will eventually come out of the tunnel of hell. Dear reader, keep on keeping on. Keep on moving. Not in your strength, but in the strength of Our Heavenly Father, The Almighty God, The El Shaddai. This too, shall pass.

* From the hymn, ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’

Image source here.