bt Erwin McManus on Youversion

THE WARRIOR HARNESSES STRENGTH

The warrior knows their power. Even in defeat, the warrior is never powerless. Even when they are weak, the warrior knows their true strength. The warrior has learned how to harness their strength, focus their power, and replenish their energy. You must be mindful of what makes you feel most fully alive.

Nothing will steal our strength like living lives we do not love. The way we store energy is through our desires, values, passions, hopes, dreams, and aspirations, and ultimately our greatest capacity for energy storage is through what we love.

If getting up in the morning is a struggle and you find yourself lacking the energy to engage life fully, you can be certain that you are not living the life you were created to live. The warrior knows their energy flows out of their passions, that their passion must flow out of love, that it is love that gives them ultimate joy, and that it is joy in which they find their strength.

Negative emotions pose as fuel or passion. And although they do cause you to burn, they do not lead you to create but rather to destroy. There is a default mode we can surrender to where we simply just exist, paralyzed by apathy or despair or discouragement. Worry consumes your energy without productivity. It may seem as if fear is a fuel to the fire that burns within you, but in the end, all it does is diminish. Fear consumes our energy, while faith restores it.

You must find the why in the battle you are fighting. Choose the right people to fight next to. Remember that your tribe will shape your identity and your identity will shape your future.

Those fueled by greed and hatred will always prevail if their only opposition is those living in apathy and indifference. The future will be created by those with the courage to create it. A better world will happen only if we find the strength and energy to give our lives to it. The warrior knows they were created by God who is Spirit. All our energy comes from God. What we do with our energy is up to us.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

What is it that ignites your passions? What are the moments in which you feel most energized? Have you been letting negative emotions fuel you? What is the ‘why’ you are fighting for? Imagine the warrior you want to be – do you see that warrior in the people you surround yourself with?

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9