The Lord Our Strength
I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.

  - Psalm 18.1-3

You are my strength, Lord, I will love you, under the shadow of your wings protect me....remit the wickedness of my sin. If I touch the fringe of your garment, I shall be saved from my sin.

  - The Prayers of Moucan, Irish, 8th-9th century[1]

What does it mean to say that the Lord is our strength? What kind of strength? Strength for what?

At one level, certainly, He is our strength for anything. He upholds the universe and all things in it by the Word of His power (Heb. 1.3), so that would include everything that goes into our exerting physical strength for any purpose in any situation, every time!

The Lord, that is, is our strength to be.

By His unfathomable, mysterious, spiritual power, the Lord gives strength to exist to every created thing, and He does so continually and without fail. Thus, we never have a shortage of reasons to give thanks and praise to our Lord.

It is good to be reminded that we would have no strength at all were it not for the grace of King Jesus, in Whom the entire cosmos holds together (Col. 1.17). Here is plenty to occupy our minds throughout the course of a day.

All physical and material strength of any kind is from the spiritual strength of the Lord.

But in another sense it is important to know that the Lord is our moral and spiritual strength. His Spirit and Word exert real strength on our bodies to transform us in our words and deeds into the image of Jesus Christ. He enables us to go beyond where we are or have ever been before in obeying His Law, growing in grace, carrying out His will, loving our neighbors, bearing witness for Christ, and all the other moral and spiritual duties incumbent upon us day by day.

We have been created anew in Christ Jesus for just such good works (Eph. 2.8-10), and it is woefully evident how much such works are needed in our world today.

But we are deceived if we think we can perform any of these good works in our own strength. We need the Lord, and the strength He alone can supply; and the Lord is more than willing to help us go farther, so that we may improve in righteousness and overflow with grace toward others.

Exceeding abundant strength in the Lord is available for us to engage, which is why verse 3 of Psalm 18 begins, “I will call upon the LORD.” Prayer is the avenue along which the strength of God is sought and secured.

One more reason why prayer matters so much.

Let us not be so foolish as to suppose that we have any strength whatsoever for any physical, spiritual, moral, social, or cultural exertion. We can do nothing apart from Jesus Christ (Jn. 15.5). But all things are possible through Him (Phil. 4.13), even exceedingly abundant good works you’ve never dared to dream or seek (Eph. 3.20; Jn. 14.12).

Strength is available such as you’ve never known before. Seek it in prayer, then live in the Spirit by faith.

Psalm 18.1-3 (St. Columba: “How Sweet and Awesome”)
I love You, Lord, my Strength, my Rock, my Savior and my Fort;
My God, my ever-shelt’ring Rock, You shield my trembling heart.

My Stronghold, Lord, my Saving Horn, I call to You with praise!
From those who Your salvation scorn You save us all our days!

Strengthen me today, Lord Jesus, against everything that threatens my pursuit of Your Kingdom and righteousness. Adapted from “Patrick’s Breastplate”

Time for a prayer check?
Strength comes from the Lord, Who grants it as we seek Him in prayer. Poor prayer life, little strength for good works. It’s that simple.

Improve your prayer life, and you’ll be bolder to seek the Lord for daily strength, and more likely to secure strength for every good work. How about learning to pray the psalms? Would that be a good place to start in improving your prayer life? My book, God’s Prayer Program, can teach you how to begin praying the psalms consistently and with great effect. You can order your copy by clicking here. Two other books can move you along in your prayer life in specific directions. If Men Will Pray looks at Paul’s understanding of the tremendous power that men praying can unleash (click here). And Restore Us! will equip you – using the psalms – to seek the Lord daily for revival (click here).

And men, be sure to sign-up to receive Ralph Lehman’s weekly prayer letter, Men at Prayer. Go to the subscription box at the home page and register to read these weekly missives on the importance of prayer and how to pray more effectively.

The world needs the Lord’s strength flowing through the Lord’s people for more of the presence, promise, and power of the Lord’s Kingdom. And securing and exercising that strength begins in prayer.

T. M. Moore, Principal
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All Psalms for singing from The Ailbe Psalter. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.