Heart Strong: Is God My Strength?

Is God really my strength?… Really?

We can spend plenty of time trying to act and appear strong instead of developing strength on the inside.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73: 26

God is the one who makes us strong. God doesn’t value outer strength—he wants us to be heart-strong. It’s wasted energy for us to try to act strong instead of relying on God and finding true strength.

A Strong Heart Is Honest with God

4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
he saved me from all my troubles.
7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

Psalm 34:4-7 (NLT)

v.4 Am I praying to God or praying to myself? Praying to ourselves doesn’t work!

Are you honest with God? If we’re not honest with God in prayer, then God can’t answer those prayers. What fears do you avoid praying about? The future? Your relationship with your spouse? Finances?

v.5 Our level of joy is a sign of how much help we are receiving from God. Would your friends describe you as joyful? Then how well would you say that you are relying on God?

Self-reliance is the enemy of joy. I need help can feel like painful for some of us to say, to God or to our friends. If we’re not being honest with God and people about how much help we need, the pressures of life will crush us.

v.6 David allowed himself to pray from a place of desperation. Do you pray honestly about negative emotions or do you suppress them?

When we aren’t being honest with God about our fears, sins, and hurts, we lose our strength because we lose our God.

A Strong Heart Trusts God

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
9 Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
for those who fear him will have all they need.
10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,
but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.

Psalm 34:8-10 (NLT)

Are you pressure-filled and anxious? Then you must have a hard time trusting in God. It seems so simple, but the decision to put our trust in God is transformative. Sometime we need to stop ourselves and admit that we are putting extraordinary pressure on ourselves to be perfect, instead of slowing down and remembering that it’s God who gives us success and lead us everyday.

Reminding ourselves of what God has done in our lives increases our faith that God will come through for us again.

A Strong Heart Has Been Healed By God

17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.     He rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;     he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
19 The righteous person faces many troubles,     but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. 20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;     not one of them is broken!

Psalm 34:17-20 (NLT)

God is close to the brokenhearted. If we avoid the emotions that come from being brokenhearted, then we can’t be close to God. Our sins, fears, and hurts make us feel brokenhearted—but are we taking those to God?

They say that the hardest thing about being a lifeguard is trying to rescue someone who is flailing around in a panic and trying to save themselves. We can do the same thing to God when we are flailing around in pools of anxiety, anger, or depression instead of being still and focusing on the God who will rescue us.

Only God can heal a broken heart. And that’s when we become heart-strong.

1. A Strong Heart is Honest with God
   • A Deceitful Heart is a Weak Heart
2. A Strong Heart Trusts God
   • A Controlling Heart is a Weak Heart
3. A Strong Heart Has Been Healed By God
   • A Sick Heart is a Weak Heart