We need strength from God like never before

With the quiet revival in full swing, we’re in exciting times, but we need God’s strength to seize the opportunities it’s creating, says Mark Pugh. Here, we bring you nine lessons in strength we gleaned from him during a recent talk

A few months ago, Mark Pugh met three young guys at the back of the church he was visiting.

“One had a face covered in tattoos, the other two didn’t look like they were used to going to church, so I asked them, ‘Have you been coming long?’”

It was their first Sunday, they told him, so Mark asked what had brought them there.

“They said, ‘For a few months, we’ve been looking online about things to do with Jesus and two weeks ago we decided we’re going to visit a different church every week to find out more about Him.’”

This was one of several examples Mark shared during a talk at the UCB Foundation which demonstrate that all over the country non-Christians are actively seeking faith.

There’s something stirring, he said, the opportunity of a lifetime is before us, but are we making the most of it?

“What we need like never before is strength in order to engage with the possibilities of what God’s doing,” he says.

But what does that strength look like and how can we find it?

1. We need God’s strength, not ours

“God calls us to be a people of strength, but not our own,” Mark says.

“If we’re full of our own, we’ll be too weak to step into the opportunities God’s got for us.”

The strength God is calling us to is beyond anything we could generate ourselves, not least when we’re facing pressure and spiritual battles or lack experience or emotional capacity.

“Most of what we’ve called strength is more likely to be adrenaline with a cute Bible verse attached. God wants us to acknowledge where we’ve been faking strength and learn about the kind that only He can bring.”

2. Strength isn’t built on our own successes

When ministry is going well and we’re seeing fruit we can feel invincible, says Mark. The problem in this case, though, is that all the enemy has to do is damage that fruitfulness in some way and suddenly we feel failures.

“We cannot build our strength upon our successes, accolades of ministry or CVs. God wants us to know that true strength is found in Him alone.”

3. Strength comes when we choose God

When everything around you seems to collapse, that’s when you begin discovering the strength of the Lord, says Mark.

“Look at David. His city was burnt, his family was taken, his men were ready to kill him. That would be categorised as a total leadership failure.”

But how did David respond? 1 Samuel 30:6 tells us he strengthened himself in the Lord, not waiting for a prophetic word to make him feel better or for his conditions to improve, but by finding a strength that went beyond the wisdom and convention of the world.

“He forced his soul to look at God instead of the mess. Strength is forged when every other support disappears and at that moment, you choose God.”

4. Strength lies in surrender

Mark tells the story of following God’s lead to merge his church’s multiple services into one, then seeing chaos ensue from lack of seats.

“We prayed, ‘God, You told us to do this and it feels like You’ve led us to the edge of the Red Sea with the Egyptians behind us!’”

Why did God back them into that corner? To reignite their lapsed prayers for a new building, he says.

“Sometimes God brings you into a tight spot because there’s a measure of faith He wants to grow in you for something more.”

For Rediscover Exeter those reignited prayers led to the provision, rent-free, of a 1,100-seater auditorium in a disused retail store.

“In a place of surrender God can do exceedingly, abundantly above anything we can ask, think or imagine.”

5. Don’t manufacture momentum

“Isaiah 40:31 says ‘those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength’.

“Waiting doesn’t mean lying on the floor humming worship songs. It means stopping manufacturing momentum yourself,” says Mark.

There is something very seductive about momentum that causes us to believe our own publicity that we have something to offer, he adds, but we’re meant to be people who offer something of God.

“Stop manufacturing momentum, confusing busyness with obedience and sprinting because you’re terrified of stopping.

“Wait on the Lord. Strength gets renewed only when self-reliance dies.”

6. Stop protecting your image

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that God’s power is made perfect in weakness, but do we live that out?

“We often feel we need to project strength, exert a sense of ability and hide our exhaustion and fears behind competence and strategy, but God’s power flows through the cracks of our lives, not the polish.”

As long as we’re protecting our image, we’re blocking God’s power, Mark adds.

“Strength rises when reputation stops being your idol.”

7. Strength is a command

“Be strong and courageous” isn’t a suggestion for extroverts or visionaries, says Mark, but a command for all.

“Fear can feel so reasonable at times, but Scripture calls fear what it is, hesitation dressed up as wisdom.

“If you and I are leading from caution, delay, committees and crowd approval we’re probably breaking this command.

“Strength is stepping forward because God goes with you, not because the situation looks safe.”

8. Strength comes from intimacy

Mark remembers travelling to what was expected to be a very difficult meeting. During the two-hour drive he prayed in tongues and worshipped, then felt God say, “I will make a way.”

“I got out of my car with a skip in my step,” he remembers. “The problem is we go into meetings like these thinking we know what to do, we’ve done this before and we need to show strength as a leader.”

Instead, through time spent building intimacy with God, we can see situations transformed.

“My strength came because I intimately invited the Lord to bring His strength to that situation, to show His way, reveal His purposes and bring His breakthrough.”

9. Pray for strength

Mark ended his talk with a prayer we can echo.

“I pray for a fresh revelation of Your Word and Spirit; that we will run with the strength and power of the Lord. I pray for an enlargement of vision and understanding of the possibilities, that we will grasp the prophetic possibilities of our lives when we partner with Kingdom purposes, and that You will have Your way in us and through us.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.