To Make Us Strong — #3 Renewing Strength

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of every grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, stabilize, strengthen and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10

Peter knows from experience that this promise is true. He is able to write about it here because God caused it to come true for him. Remember? Satan had demanded to “sift” Peter; so Jesus prayed that his faith would not fail. When Jesus warned Peter, he also predicted Peter’s survival, and he gave him a task — to strengthen the other disciples. The fellowship of wounded healers makes possible the healing of wounded fellows. To accomplish this healing, we must become strength coaches for each other. Since faith is like a muscle, it grows when we use it to resist Satan’s efforts to devour us; because at the end of a particular struggle, God works to repair and add to the exhausted fibers of our faith. Our job as coaches is to exhort each other to keep resisting, to advise each other of any change in the direction of Satan’s force, and to help each other maintain appropriate levels of spiritual nutrition, which God uses internally in the growth process. God’s glory is not for weaklings. So he gives us everything we need to become strong enough to enjoy it.

God of grace and God of glory, “I need you every hour” to restore and renew my strength. Keep my eyes on your glory in Christ, so I will endure the pain of resistance in his name.