How to Be a Strong Christian

How do we have a strong faith? While it starts in trusting in the gospel of grace (1 Cor 15:1-4) and subsequently receiving the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13), how do we go through life with spiritual strength and not weakness? The answer is prayer. As we renew our minds after God’s truth (Rom 12:1-2), it is easy to get disheartened by the difficulties of life and our own fleshly shortcomings. Prayer is our response back to God after He speaks to us through His word. Knowledge of God, while necessary, if left alone produces self-righteous Pharisees and puffs us up (1 Cor 8:1). Prayer on the other hand, starts with thankfulness for what He has done for us already and affirms His truth in our hearts and minds. It ultimately changes our inner man not to just know God’s truth, but to care about it working in us and in other people. That’s the essence of Biblical charity (1 Cor 13).

Life is tough, but fortunately we have a loving God who not only died and rose again for us, but wants to continue to grow and strengthen us in Him. Let’s recognize our own insufficiency (2 Cor 12:9-10) and trust in His strength and peace to keep our hearts and minds through Christ this week, and not our own, because we can’t (Php 4:6-7)!