Whose Strength?

"You have eaten the fruit of deception, because you have depended on your own strength."
Hosea 10:13b

If there is one thing I hear God speaking to me as I enter the new year, it is this: "Stop depending on your own strength." I have been doing this very thing for the majority of my life and I have found that doing so is a miserable failure. I have believed the deceptive illusion that my strength is absolutely necessary to be successful in life. But the truth is exactly the opposite. To be successful in life requires me to lean on and fully receive the strength of God. My strength is not sufficient. It never has been, and it will never be.
    There have been times when I have believed I was depending on the strength of God, only to find out that I was really filtering it through my own strength. This too, fails me. There is a great step that I must take. I must forsake my own strength for the sake of his. Once I do this, I need to exercise my faith to know that He is more than enough for me. Sometimes I think God's strength is not being exerted properly. He doesn't seem to be doing what I need him to do. So I engage myself into the situation and begin to live by my own strength. I think things like: I can get more money. I can be a better husband and father. I can make the necessary changes to my life. But reality strikes me like a hammer: On my own, I can do none of these things.
    Let me make this clear: I am not shirking responsibility. I know that ultimately, I must make the choices that will change my life and circumstances. This is the way God has ordained it. It is not responsibility I must give up, it is the false pride of my own strength that I must forsake.
    God has given each of us an incredible gift. The gift is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he (the Holy Spirit) would be our Helper. This is where the strength of the Lord comes from. When I was young, I sometimes helped bring bales of hay into the barns for winter food for the animals. The bales weighed 70 to 80 pounds. It was difficult to hoist them over my head to the hay loft above. In some barns there was a pulley system. It consisted of ropes wrapped around moving steel pulleys that rolled as the rope was pulled. One person could easily pull a bale of hay into the hay loft. The rope pulley did the majority of the heavy lifting. The person simply provided the initial momentum. It was a help that made the job much easier. I think of this often when I think of the Holy Spirit. Although I must do my part to recognize the areas that need to be changed or corrected, I cannot do it myself. My strength will fail. But the Holy Spirit will come alongside and allow me to be successful with the help of the Lord. he provides the strength, I provide the willing hands.
    Ask yourself this important question: Whose strength are you depending on? If it is your own, you are destined to fail. But if you will allow the Holy Spirit to provide the strength of God, you will be successful. You must have the desire, he will provide help in your weakness. It is a question we must all answer. It is key to our Christian lives. We must have the courage to surrender. His strength will bring success!