Mark chapter 12, verse 30, and it says, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and thy strength.” This is the first commandment. As It is a command. So we don’t have an option. You shall love. And Jesus loves us. God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. There was no more necessity when Christ died. So no more slaying of lambs, no more blood sprinkled on the doorposts. Amen?

Psalm 27 you know, we pretty much all know it: “The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” And even as Psalmist David ended that psalm, on the 14th verse, he said, “Wait on the Lord, and be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.”

Again, in Psalm 31, verse 24, “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the Lord.”

All of us are going to need this strength training. We need it. We need the Lord. That’s why we need to wait. He is going to strengthen our hearts. This is also a heart issue. We were commanded in the Word of God to guard our heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. So we need a strong heart. Not talking about the physical heart. I’m talking about our spiritual heart.

We need strength. When we think of people who are intellectual and very accomplished in business and multimillionaires, etc. and when the vicissitudes of life hit them, many of them take their lives because they don’t have strength in the inner man.

So the command Pastor Bev, it exposes our limitations, our weaknesses. Our natural strength is inconsistent, divided, and self-focused.

She said, “Love that does not move into strength is incomplete. Your heart, your mind, and your soul may be good, but if you cannot push through with the strength of the living for God, you’re wasting your time.”

We are encouraged in John chapter 15 to be connected. We have to abide in Christ because apart from Him we can do nothing. Right? Philippians chapter 4, verse 13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” In 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Word of God says, “My grace is sufficient.” That’s what God said to the apostle Paul. “My grace is sufficient. My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” So if we truly love God, we cannot do it through our human flesh and determination. That becomes performance. Whatever we’re going through, we need to know that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

What do other people see when they see you? What do they see? Do they see the joy of the Lord when you’re going through a very difficult place? What do they see?

We have to abide in the Lord so that the love, the light of Jesus Christ can shine through us when we’re going through a very hard place because we all go to these places from time to time. But if we wait on the Lord, if we love Him with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and we get that strength shift, the love of the Lord and the joy of the Lord will be very evident in our lives. Remember that we’re not empowered through self-effort, but we’re empowered by devotion. The progression does not end in self-exertion, but in divine enablement. It’s not about you pushing and me pushing in our own strength forward, but it’s through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 40 and 31, tells us “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” We cannot carry this in our flesh because, many are battle-tired, trying to hold it together. You try holding your family together when they are, out of order. You understand what I mean? No. We need a strength shift.

How do we accomplish this? You cannot live a supernatural life in your own strength. We must surrender. God is not calling for us to try harder. He’s calling for us to shift our source.

She gave us some guidelines that I’m going to list.

First, we need to shift from self-strength to God’s strength. Zechariah chapter 4 and 6. “It’s not by might. It’s not by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord. it’s not about your human ability, my human ability, not about how strong we are. It’s not about your talents. It’s not about your connections. It’s not about your charm or your charisma. It’s about the Spirit of God. It’s got to be about Him because when we come through, He’s the only one we can give the glory to. He is the I AM that I AM. Many of us are exhausted because we’re trying to do God’s work. But she said we need to move over and let God be God.

Secondly, we need to shift from weakness to empowered strength. Second Corinthians 12, again, I referenced it before. “My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” We know when Paul had that thorn, he wanted that thorn removed. Ouch. Some of us have different kinds of thorns that make us uncomfortable, painful. Sometimes they have long duration, and God is saying to us, “I’ve given you that, and in it I’m going to pour in My strength.” So your breakdown may be your breakthrough. Many times you say, “I rebuke you. I rebuke you.” And guess what? We rebuke weakness, but God takes that weakness, and when we surrender it, He empowers us so that in that weakness we can become strong.

Lord, I surrender. So when you think that thorn disqualified you, please, my dear brothers and sisters, know that God qualifies you through His grace. God does not remove the pressure; He replaces it with His power. And somebody say amen this morning. Amen. Amen.

So, yes, Lord, I want Your power. Do you want the power of the Lord today? Hey, look, we had power for Sunday, but this is Monday. We need power to face the day. I’m not talking about power to push a snow blower or lift a shovel. We need power just to face this day. So tell the Lord, yes, I want Your power. So when you get up, from being pressed, you will be walking differently.

Third, shift through waiting and not wrestling. Again, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Isaiah 40:31. Waiting in the Hebrew, carries the idea of being intertwined. When you wait on God, two things happen. Your weakness intertwines with His power, and your limitation connects with His limitlessness. Your weakness intertwines with His power, and your limitation, my limitation, connects with His limitlessness. God is limitless. We don’t just get improved strength. We exchange strength. You are making some exchanges, so listen to this. Bring to God your exhaustion and let Him give you endurance. Bring to Him your anxiety and let Him give you His authority. Bring to Him your weakness and let Him give you His power. Waiting is not passive but is positioning. Somebody identifies with this this morning.

Fourth, shift into strength by abiding. I mentioned that before. John 15 and 5. If we abide in Him and His Word abides in us, we will bear fruit. A branch does not strain to produce fruit, but because it remains connected to the vine, that’s how you bear fruit. We stay connected to Jesus through the Word of God, through faith, through obedience. We’ve got to stay in that place of abiding if we expect to bear fruit. Even the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5, 22 and 23.

Fifth, shift by putting on God’s strength. Ephesians 6 and 10. “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4. “The weapons of our warfare, they are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” So God has given us power through the power of the Holy Spirit, through prayer. Watch God pull those strongholds down. Practice some knee-ology. You understand? You know what that means. When pressure comes, it meets with divine reinforcement. Like she said, and our bishop says, we are not fighting for victory. We’re fighting from victory to victory.

What does a strength shift mean? It means praying without reacting, worshiping without worrying, resting before striving, declaring truth before accepting defeat. Tell the Word back to the devil in the name of Jesus, moving forward even when you feel like quitting. Admit your insufficiency. Come on, all of us. How many times do we have to tell God, “Lord, I’m depending on You? I can’t do this by myself.” Sometimes responding in love to somebody that’s being unkind to you, you can just whisper, “Lord, help me right now.” You can keep your mouth shut. A soft answer will drive away wrath. You don’t have to spew out anything. It shouldn’t be in you, but, you know, the old man does rise up every now and again. Come on. Admit your insufficiency and invite the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Exchange panic for power. Wait intentionally in worship and speak the Scriptures over your weakness.

Pray that we will move into wholeness. We want to move into wholeness. So that’s going to be one of our initiatives.

So, Father God, we thank You, praise You, Lord, for a strength shift. “Lord, help us to make that strength shift by surrendering. Not my will, but Thy will be done.” Lord, think of Jesus on that cross. Before He got to that cross in Gethsemane, He said, “Nevertheless, not My will, Father, but Thy will be done.” I believe that when we say to God, “Not my will, but Thy will be done,” we get an immediate strength shift. Immediately. Because God sees our heart and our desire to surrender to Him.