How to Get Genuinely Strong in Christ

In 1933, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created a fictional hero perfect in strength except for a peculiar weakness when exposed to Kryptonite. If folks like them could imagine such perfect strength, so much so should Jesus believers do--they have the power of the Holy Spirit to keep them from spiritual powerlessness and sin. And that power is real, unlike Superman's.

The principle behind getting genuinely strong in Christ is getting genuinely weak in this world. Paul disclosed the secret in these words--God's power is made perfect in weakness. What kind of weakness is this? Is this what you hear some church folks say about not being able to do this or that when assigned a church ministry? Is it the propensity to fall into sin because "we're only humans" and "nobody's perfect"?

I've heard this excuse before--"Evangelism is not really for me because I don't have the gift for it. I'm just an ordinary, humble Christian." Is this the weakness that perfects God's power in us?

Weakness that Empowers

Jesus said it all in his Sermon on the Mount and it's embodied in the first teaching--blessed are the poor in spirit. There's a reason why he started with that: it's the most powerful teaching on earth! Second to that is "Blessed are those who mourn." Third is "Blessed are the meek." The Master drew a picture of the kind of weakness the world hates and called it "blessed" or powerful or strong. The world loves weaknesses that pamper the flesh, like imperfection ("I'm only human, nobody's perfect"), character flaws, immaturity (lots of immature believers get voted to church positions), and weakness in the Word. But it hates weakness that surrenders rights, ego, ownership, and recognition of achievements.

Church Revivals

Church revivals are mere useless rituals and programs as long as the weaknesses favored by the world reigns in church and in the lives of its members. It doesn't matter if you invite the best preachers and musicians for your revival services. True revival comes only if Jesus' Sermon attributes are given flesh daily in the lives of believers. In fact, to get genuinely strong in Christ--the type of strength that is always fresh and never stales or runs out--we don't need special programs like revival services or the best preachers or musicians. These are all hypes and entertainment.

Only the flesh gets stirred up by entertainment.

True strength in Christ is when Jesus, the Word of God, starts living your life everyday (you no longer live but it's Christ who lives in you), controlling your thoughts, emotions, and character, all by the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Sermon teachings become your life without self effort.

And true church is really a simple fellowship of simple and meek believers who live the Jesus LIFE and character everyday, so that their lives reflect the Sermon Kingdom principles through the Holy Spirit in them. That's how God wants everything to be. You have this, you get genuinely strong in Christ all your life, without dead moments, even amid crises in this world.