We visited Ghana, West Africa for the first time when our second born daughter and her family lived there for a season. At the end of our stay, we spent a couple of days on the coast of Ghana at a resort with a swimming pool. When our Ghanaian driver/friend saw our grandchildren swimming, he asked them to teach him how to swim. Our granddaughter and grandson began by trying to demonstrate the concept of floating. They tried to get our friend to understand that if he relaxed his body the water would actually hold him up. The only trouble was, when he got into the pool every muscle in his body tensed up and he flailed and fought against the water. His own strength became a liability. He couldn't let go of his need to be in control enough to just lay back in the water and relax. Meanwhile, our grandchildren were completely confident and relaxed, floating and swimming circles around him.
Too often, we can be like my Ghanaian friend. Our circumstances become the water that we are fighting and flailing against. We wear ourselves out, foolishly fretting about and struggling against things, many of which we have no power to change.
When we need wisdom, instead of trusting God and asking Him for it, why do we wear ourselves out trying to reason and figure things out on our own? (James 1:5)
When we need endurance, why do we do our best to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and make it through another day instead of admitting to God that we can't go on without His help and that we need the ability to endure that He supplies? (Romans 15:5)
When we run out of our own strength, why do we give into hopelessness and despair, instead of letting God infuse us with His strength? (Philippians 4:13)
May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality. Ephesians 3:16 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
God's Holy Spirit dwells in the innermost being and personality of every born again believer. He is our inner supply of everything that we need to be able to rise above the waters of life's circumstances instead of flailing against them, or worse, drowning in them. The Holy Spirit wants to infuse us with His strength when we are weak. However, sometimes it's our own need to be strong and in control that is our greatest weakness. It keeps us from being able to let go of the things we can't change, to trust God and rest. It keeps us fighting and flailing though life. It's exhausting and it's no way to live. It's time to let go. Lay back. Relax. Let God keep you afloat for a change.
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