but by my Spirit,’
says the LORD Almighty.”
Over-thinking can render us exhausted. We can use our mental power to summons all our tenacity and might hoping to overcome certain situations. Our plan: to fix it, outwit it or out-maneuver it. Yet we end up empty-handed and dumb-founded, realizing we have expended our hopes and dreams and used every human resource yet found neither a productive path nor a beneficial outcome. I’ve spent years doing this. Literally years.
When we set out to set things straight we usually have our own agenda; we know what needs to be done and we’re on it. We believe we can conquer it so we gear up. We believe we can master it so we educate ourselves. We believe we have the mental and even physical agility to get the job done so we push and challenge our capacities just to prove we’re self-reliant. Our heart is in it; we’re deeply invested. Unfortunately, there are real limits to human abilities and that which we deem do-able with our own power and might just is not.
Here we are, at the end of ourselves! We knew we were struggling but we refused to expose weaknesses so we hid behind the barrier of isolation filled with regret, embarrassment, shame, and heart-brokenness. Oh, the pride that refuses to reveal a weakness. It’s interesting, but being unwilling to reveal a weakness is in itself a weakness. Yet with a stealth agenda, we set out to prove our capabilities and, therefore, our worth using our wit to accomplish what only God can do.
Sooner or later we see the writing on the wall. Exhausted we drop our weary hands and re-think it. Winded we use our breath to pray and now we’re getting somewhere. There is a thought-provoking scripture that says, “How long will you waver between two opinions?” 1 Kings 18:21. We can either continue to press using our opinions, thought processes and man-power or stop and confess that we need to choose another way. Perhaps we need another opinion.
I am living proof that at times, we get in our own way. There is another way! In whatever state we find ourselves, whether it is disillusionment or sheer exasperation, we must let go and let God. If we don’t, we may never find the answer we seek. With our own power we can beat our heads against walls or simply wish on shooting stars. Still another path is to have hope against hope that thing will change, our answer will come, our dreams will be realized. But, until we come to the place on our journey where we know there is not one more inch of dirt to step out on, not one more physical thing we can do..... until then, we won’t recognize that we need the Holy Spirit to empower us with strength we do not have and do that which we cannot do. Until then, we will continue to generate the same ole results; Our vision will be limited, our faith will turn cold and even the personal tenacity that once inspired us will be ground out. It’s time to step into the spiritual.
Let’s go back to the scripture at the top of the page and use it as a prayer;
I cannot outwit this with my own power or sheer will.
I need an influx of understanding that is beyond me.
May your Spirit be my catalyst.
May my life and my deepest concern
Be attended to by your Spirit, O Lord.
Fill me with your knowledge.
Lead me in Your ways.
Open my mind to your wisdom
And strengthen me in my inmost being
That I may know that you have rescued me this very day.”
Don’t wait till you’re on the edge of a metaphorical cliff that is disintegrating into an abyss. Let’s just take this one moment to admit that some things are beyond us. This one thing of which I write about is beyond me. That one thing that you’re deeply concerned about-it’s beyond you. Let’s now seek the Spirit of God to attend to us right now, in this moment. Our faith makes this possible and His power makes it so!
We have the choice to stubbornly hold to our current course or we change the premise of our plan from the physically complex to the spiritually omnipotent, tapping into God's unlimited power, with one quick change of the mind; “Not by might, not by power but by your Spirit Lord.”
Your Spirit
By: Tasha Cobbs Leonard
