Study provided by Joseph Bruno, Campus Minister, about what it means to be strengthened by God.
Sterizo: means to make firm or solid, to set fast, to fix firmly in a place, to establish (make firm or stable), to cause to be inwardly firm or committed, to strengthen. The basic idea is that of stabilizing something by providing a support or buttress (a projecting structure of masonry or wood for supporting or giving stability to a wall or building), so that it will not totter. The word implies fixedness.
1 Thessalonians 3:2
Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica to encourage and strengthen (sterizo) the church.
If Paul sent Timothy to strengthen the church, it would be great to find out what the biblical definition of the word strengthen means
The following verses have that word in them:
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13
- By increasing my love and others love, Christ will strengthen me (make me stable)
- To strengthen someone is to help them overflow in love for others
- Helping some one to grow in their love will help them to deal w/other sins, so it can overall strengthen them
- Imagine my love for everyone overflowing, how would that change my heart?
- If someone is weak spiritually, check their love for others
- It’s a great place to start
2 Thessalonians 3:16-17
- This just shows me how much God loves me eternally regardless of what I do
- By his grace I have everlasting comfort and good hope…that should strengthen me
- God doesn’t give me a temporary comfort, but rather an eternal comfort
- What kinds of things do I get comfort from besides God’s grace and encouragement?
- I cannot get strength and encouragement from outside sources, just God alone!
- If I find my strength elsewhere then it will not be an everlasting strength but only a temporary one
- If it is a temporary one then it will pass and I will long to be filled by those other things again and again leaving me w/out true strength and always weak spiritually
- How does God feel when I find strength from other places instead of him?
2 Thessalonians 3:3
- God’s faithfulness is what really makes me strong, so this is what I must always cling to and hang onto when I am feeling weak
- What will God’s faithfulness do for me?
- Make me strong and guard me from evil
- The more truth of God’s word I have in my heart, the more stable I will become
- If I am stable through Satan’s attacks, then it gives me a sign that I am firm in God’s word
- When my strength is failing and I feel weak, then I have probably stopped turning to God’s faithfulness
- God will never abandon his purpose of desiring to strengthen me!
- He is faithful in all that he does in our relationship
- What else do I need to overcome??
- I don’t need to baptize more people, share with more people or do anything like that to be and feel strengthened by God
- Just knowing that he is faithful and that should be enough!
James 5:7-8
- What strengthens a farmer?
- Knowing that his crop will harvest in the spring
- It gives him hope, comfort and strength
- The same must be for me as well w/the Lord Jesus coming
- That is what must strengthen me->having the hope that Jesus is coming back
- Does thinking about Jesus returning establish and strengthen my heart more?
- It seems so far away, but knowing he is coming back should wipe away all my fears and worries about this present life
- The reasons why I am not strong are b/c I have focused my heart too much on my problems and failures
- Then I feel weak and have started to lose hope
- My main goal should be keep looking ahead to Jesus->that will establish my heart more & more
- The thought of Jesus coming back…what does that do to my heart?
- Does it even affect me as much as it should? Does it strengthen me as it should?
1 Peter 5:10-12
- I have been called to eternal glory! Who am I that I deserve this?
- Eternal glory is nothing that sinful humans deserve…but it’s what I have been called to!
- Peter knows that everyone will endure suffering
- He also knows that after a little while, God will restore, strengthen and establish everyone
- What does it feel like to be strengthened by God alone? (Think about this)
- When I am being attacked by Satan, I am being perfected by God…is that how I look at it?
- God’s own active intervention and personal presence are with me
- To perfect (restore in NIV): put something in its appropriate condition so it will function well
- This is what God is trying to do with me!
- God promises to repair the damage that sin has caused in my heart
- What a promise to stand on!
- This is all a part of God strengthening me…he will make me what I ought to be
- It is through suffering that I am strengthened…is that how I look at it?
- That’s not the route I would take, but it is the path that God uses to strengthen me
- I cannot resist this path, but rather I must embrace it
- It’s amazing to think that this is a divine promise that amid suffering I will be given inner strength and resolve to continue to resist the temptations of Satan.
- God will place me on a firm foundation and make me solid as granite
- That is how solid I can be with God!
- Am I that solid? Suffering brings to the surface whether or not I am solid
- Suffering will either make me collapse or produce a solidity of character that I would never gain any where else
- If I meet them while trusting in Christ, I will emerge like toughened steel that has been tempered in the fire
- I must suffer, and then I will be established!
2 Peter 1:12
- What should strengthen me? My situation or just the truth of the word of God?
- It’s good to remind people what they have been established in
- Even though they are already established, I must still remind them of what needs to establish them
- I need to be reminded as well!
- The word established in this Scripture is in the perfect tense
- Which means they were established before and they are still established in the truth
- Bottom line, the truth should establish me alone and not thing things around me no matter how good they are
- The moment I get strength from things other than the word of God…I will begin to weaken
Revelation 3:1-3
- Even if I have a little strength left over, or if a little of me remains, I must strengthen those areas if I am going to survive a spiritual drought
- Again…the little I have left, I must strengthen!
- Even if a little is strengthened, it is enough to keep me going to strengthen other areas
- How do I strengthen those areas?
- Go back to what I heard and believed at first->hold to that firmly!
- It’s easy to get overwhelmed to look at every weakness in my life and strengthen it
- But I just need to take it one step at a time
- Simply turn to Jesus, hold firmly onto him and that will begin the strengthening process
- Basically if I want to be strengthened in any area of my life, I must turn to and hold onto Jesus
Romans 16:25
- Bottom line is that God is able to make me strong…He alone can do this
- That’s what I need to think about->God is enough for me to be strengthened
- God making me strong is a part of the message about Jesus and his plan for the Gentiles
- God’s plan makes me think of things that are fixed and firmly established
- As in Luke 16:26->the chasm is fixed ad cannot be moved either way
- Think about the chasm between heaven and hell->That is a firmly fixed chasm that can NEVER be moved…not even an inch!!
- That is how strong I can be w/God!
- Do I see myself that strong and fixed in my relationship with God?
- Only God is able to affect this result of being strengthened in him…is that my only source of strength?
- What else do I go to for that kind of strength in my life?
- It says that God is able…not my strength or how much I read the Bible and pray, not any of my actions…just God alone!
- God wants to bring me to a place where I am no longer rocking, shaking or unstable but rather solid and secure
- I need to be able to get to a point where nothing throws me off balance
- What throws me off balance now?
- The great thing is that I cannot bring this about…it is God who brings it about
