Day 2

Be Strengthened in the Lord

from the The Armor of God reading plan


Ephesians 6:10-20, Isaiah 40:9-31, Deuteronomy 31:7-8, Psalm 28:7-8, Psalm 68:32-35, 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

BY Bailey Gillespie

You will find Ephesians 6:10–20 repeated first in your reading each day as a reminder of the full context of the passage, and remaining passages will show how each day’s theme is present throughout the rest of Scripture. A short introduction that summarizes the day’s reading begins every devotional response.


God is the supplier of our strength and He equips us with His armor. We are called to depend on Him rather than ourselves or any other power. 


What are some things that come to mind when you picture strength? Storm winds capsizing old trees? Horses galloping across farmland? Today, we read and meditate on God’s strength and how it’s the foundation for the armor we’re clothed in as believers. 

One thing I see in these passages is a thread of divine generosity. God is generous to us with His strength. It is ours for the taking. The prophet Isaiah tells us, “The Lord GOD comes with strength” (Isaiah 40:10). That’s the deal. “The LORD is the strength of his people” says the psalmist, “he is a stronghold of salvation for his anointed” (Psalm 28:8). How differently we might live if we remembered—hour by hour—that God is our stronghold, holding fast to us. “The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people,” says Psalm 68:35. Here, we see God’s role as giver and ours as the receiver. All of life is this giveness. This divine generosity. God wants to strengthen His people for kingdom work. 

I’ll be honest with you. I do believe those verses above are true. But, very recently, I didn’t feel so secure in those truths after years of being soul-weary from trying to find medical answers with nothing but brick wall after brick wall. I didn’t feel strong at all. I felt weak. Sick, weak, and weary. I felt like I was being asked to carry these burdens alone and fight alone and muster strength from nowhere every single morning. Where was God? I distrusted Him.

Since then, and still now, I’ve begun to see how divine strength usually isn’t showy. It’s the way Christ sits with us in our sorrow as a close friend that helps us to believe another day. It’s the way we wake up again and keep going even when we don’t want to. It’s facing a mountain of a task, or a conversation, and being sustained even when we don’t realize it’s happening. It’s going to the same job each morning, or caring for someone, or taking our medicine, or coming to God in prayer when we’re at the end of ourselves. I don’t think we could do these things without the Lord’s strength. 

I long for Psalm 28:7 to be my constant prayer and state of being: “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him.” We will grow weary. But let’s choose to keep seeking God in the midst of it and remember that we already bear His strength. It is given to us, especially for these times, I think. 

Post Comments (174)

174 thoughts on "Be Strengthened in the Lord"

  1. Alicia Lopez says:

    The Lord is MY strength

  2. Marie Ramos says:

    Thank you Jesus for your constant generosity! Hallelujah

  3. Ciara Weatherspoon says:

    This hit a little different today! His strength continues to bring us through even in the MIDST OF IT ALL ❤️❤️❤️ Amen!

  4. Chelsea Clifton says:

    It was a good reminder that God wants us to come to him not when everything is together, but in our weakness. And that he freely gives us strength and strength can look like so many different things. So good!

  5. Makayla Joseph says:

    God gives me the strength to do big and small things

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *