Passage: Ephesians 6:10

The Big Idea

“Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Not strong in yourself, but in Him. You can’t lift weights to get strong against spiritual enemies; they’re far too powerful. Instead, God gives us access to His might, and we draw on it through humility and faith. Every weakness, need and failure becomes an invitation to dive into Jesus and find His grace sufficient. That’s why we’ll never stop talking about grace.

Be Strong

Paul writes that, finally, we’re to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10).

Strength is big. Bodybuilding is big. Being big and strong really appeals to guys. You never hear a mom say, “Eat your dinner so you’ll grow up skinny and weak!”

Being strong means you can do stuff and succeed: lift a boulder, climb a mountain, throw a football a mile, win a fight. All very important things for a man!

But can the strongest guy you know punch the wind? Picture an action-movie hero in an all-out brawl with a breeze. Get to the choppa!

In the Bible, wind is often a picture of the Spirit and spiritual things (John 3:8). You can feel its effects, but you can’t control it or force it.

We can’t lift weights to get spiritually strong, and God isn’t asking us to. The enemy you’re up against is vastly more powerful than you. It’s a total mismatch.

It’s like the movie Pacific Rim, where enormous monsters invade from another dimension. Humanity didn’t send out its strongest man to fight them. People climbed inside giant machines powerful enough to win.

Might and Power

To understand this verse, we need to see the difference between might and power.

Might is a reserve of strength, like a bodybuilder’s muscles: the ability to be strong.
Power is might put into action, like the bodybuilder actually lifting something heavy.

David Guzik explains that God has vast reserves of might that can become power in our Christian lives. But His might doesn’t work in us while we sit passively. It works as we rely on it and step out to do the work. We can rely on it and do no work, or do the work without relying on it, and both fall short. We must rely on His might, and then do the work.

That’s how grace, the New Covenant, works. God gives us access to His might.

This isn’t you getting stronger, becoming a better person, reforming a heathen or rehabilitating a sinner.
It’s an outside source of life and resources that you dive into by faith in Jesus Christ, like diving into the ocean.
Then your life is hidden in Jesus, and you’re equipped, made alive and enabled by Him.

So how do I get this grace? How do I access His might? How do I dive into the ocean of Jesus?

Through relationship. God gives grace to the humble (James 4:6), and we have access by faith into this grace (Romans 5:2). Humility and faith.

What Saps Our Strength?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones listed things he believed drained the strength of Christians:

Committing to too many spiritual activities.
Too much talk.
Arguments, debates and wrangling.
Laziness.
Too much time in the wrong company.
Too much foolish talk and joking.
Love of money and career.
A desire for respectability and image.
Being unequally yoked with an unbeliever.
Ungodly entertainment.
A wrong attitude toward, or doubt about, the Word of God.

Basically, anything that grows our pride or our doubt makes us spiritually weak. We can talk a big game, but there’s no spiritual power engaged.

Strong in Weakness

Paul knew what he was talking about. He was a spiritual powerhouse. How did he get that way? Exactly as I just described: humility and faith.

The Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” So Paul said he would gladly boast in his weaknesses, so that the power of Christ might rest on him. He took pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties for Christ’s sake, “for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

God’s strength is made perfect, perfectly available and accessible, in weakness.

Every time I need something, Jesus is the resource I need.
Every time I need something, it’s so I’ll go to Jesus to meet that need.
Every time I need something, the amazing grace of God, His might, is waiting to be accessed by my little faith.

This is how to live by faith! Every weakness, need, insult and distress is an opportunity and a reminder to be in Christ, and His resources will flow toward us like an ocean of blessing.

Every failure, every hurt, every doubt and broken place in your heart is a place Jesus not only wants to fill and heal, but is supremely able to restore. He’s our only hope. (Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you’re our only hope!)

The world says, “Find what you’re good at. Minimize your weaknesses. Build your strengths.” The problem is, most of us don’t have many real strengths, and those who seem to are often just good at faking it.

Jesus lives in the light. He’s honest. And the honest truth, when everything is exposed, is that we need help in every area of life.

We all know Paul’s words that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him (Philippians 4:13).

It isn’t just that I can do all things through Christ. I must do all things through Christ, by His strength and resources, by grace. All things. There’s nothing we’re supposed to do in our own strength:

Every sin.
Every challenge.
Every opportunity.
Every betrayal.
Every hurt.
Every job.

Jesus is the only door to success in every one of these. There’s no other way. It’s Him or nothing.

Why? Paul prays that we would walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, fruitful in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy (Colossians 1:10-11).

When we live by the Lord’s strength:

Our walk will be worthy.
We’ll please Him.
We’ll be fruitful.
We’ll know Him more.
We’ll be patient and longsuffering.
And we’ll be filled with joy!

God is able to make all grace abound toward you, so that, always having all sufficiency in all things, you may abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).

Is there any lack in your life?
Any sin you’ve committed?
Any lack of joy?
Any lack of patience?
Do you feel you don’t know the Lord’s heart about something?
Is any part of your life unfruitful, not filled with love, peace, kindness?

Come to God through Jesus Christ! Run to Him in humility and faith! Ask Him for grace! He has the resources, and He’s offering them to anyone who will ask. He’s begging people to ask!

On the last, great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him would receive (John 7:37-39).

Paul told Timothy, his beloved son in the faith, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1).

The Church isn’t about growing in rules, in the Law, in our own performance, or in trying harder. It’s about growing in grace: God’s strength freely given to all who ask in humility and faith. A people who renounce dependence on the flesh, trust only in Jesus, and run to Him at every turn.

When will we stop talking about grace? Never. Or when it runs out, whichever comes first. He’s our only hope, and we’ll never stop running to Him.

For Discussion

What’s your favorite action movie?
Tell about a time you wished you were stronger.
Have you ever felt burned out, like you just couldn’t go on?
Read Isaiah 40:28-31. How does the Lord give strength? How does that relate to the two relational realities of humility and faith?
Make a list of things you think hinder your relationship with God.
How can someone become a “better Christian”?
Look at 2 Corinthians 13:4. How does Paul describe his ministry? Why does he say they were “weak”?
Read 1 Corinthians 1:17-18. Do you share the gospel with words of worldly wisdom, or with power? What would your life look like if you were always humble and trusting?
Do you feel pulled to surrender to grace, or to commit to trying harder?

Grace Takeaway

You were never meant to fight spiritual battles with your own muscles. God’s might is an ocean, and you enter it through humility and faith. Every weakness is an invitation to say, “I can’t, but He can,” and find His grace sufficient. Be strong, not in yourself, but in the Lord and in the power of His might.

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Grace and Obi-Wan Kenobi