Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-125 (Devotional)

PRAYING FOR STRENGTH

by Peter Kennedy

“They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.’ But I prayed, ‘Now strengthen my hands.'” – Nehemiah 6:9

On April 22, 1527, a dizzy spell forced Martin Luther to stop preaching in the middle of his sermon. For ten years, since publishing his 95 Theses, Luther had been buffeted by political and theological storms; at times his life had been in danger. He now was battling severe depression.

On July 6th, as friends arrived for dinner, Luther felt an intense buzzing in his ear. He went to lie down, when suddenly he cried, “Water or I’ll die!” He began to shiver and he was convinced he was on his deathbed. In a loud prayer, he surrendered himself to God’s will. Luther partially regained his strength. But this depression and illness overcame him again later that year.

Looking back on one of his bouts, he wrote his friend Melanchthon, “I spent more than a week in death and hell. My entire body was in pain, and I still tremble. Completely abandoned by Christ, I labored under the vacillations and storms of desperation and blasphemy against God. But through the prayers of the saints, God began to have mercy on me and pulled my soul from the inferno below.” Weeks later Luther penned “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, for he knew it was God’s strength that had spared his life.

Are you feeling weak? Today in prayer, turn to the Lord and ask for His strength and know that He will graciously provide it to you.

“Did we in our strength confide, our striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing: Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle.” – Martin Luther

God’s Word: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” – Psalm 46:1

DEVOTIONS IN EZRA, NEHEMIAH, AND ESTHER

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2002, Devotional E-Mail

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