He Is Series Day #8 Elohei Ma’uzzi (God of My Strength)

He Is Series Day #8 Elohei Ma’uzzi (God of My Strength) Psalm 105:4 “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually.” Today’s name for the Lord is Elohei Ma’uzzi, which means God of My Strength. I thought this was a great one because I know a lot of people who could really use some strength right now. When we are going through a difficult time, we can often turn to things other than the Lord for strength. We might start having a drink when we get home from work, or after a busy day with the kids. We figure that will give us just enough strength to get through the night until the kids go to bed, or it will relax us enough to forget about work. However, oftentimes one drink turns into two or three, creating another problem. Sometimes we turn to our friends and family for the strength we need. However, they can only provide so much strength, as they are human and have a finite amount. We also might try to rely on our own strength to get us through. This is not enough. We need to seek the Lord’s strength. How can we seek the Lord’s strength? First and foremost, we can ask for it. That may sound so simple, and it is, and yet so many of us forget to start there. We look everywhere else first. We get upset with the Lord for not giving us the strength we need, and yet we never asked for it in the first place. God wants to help us. He is ready and willing. All He asks from us is for us to ask Him. Yes, he knows you need help, and also, he is willing to let you try to fix it yourself if that is what you want to do. Have you ever done this with your children, co-workers, or siblings? You can see them struggling, and you know they need help, but you don’t help them until they ask? You give them the chance to figure it out on their own. God does not do this to punish us, or because He doesn’t care. Quite the opposite, He does it because he cares. He cares about what we want and need. He cares about our growth, and we grow when we do difficult things. However, He will step in as soon as we ask him to. Another way we can seek his strength is by using the tools He gave us. We can dig into His word and find strength in the scriptures. We can also seek the various prayers He has given to us. There are so many prayers out there. You can say your own prayers or find ones for your specific needs. Sometimes we don’t know what to pray, especially if we are really upset. Finding a prayer that someone else wrote and praying it can take a lot of the pressure off. If you are struggling and you can’t find the words to say, you can also just sit with the Lord. He doesn’t need us to say the right thing. He just wants us to seek Him. It says in Matthew 6:7, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.” Our prayers don’t have to be long and drawn out, they don’t have to be perfect and eloquent, they don’t have to be exact. What God wants is for us to speak from the heart. Another way we can seek strength from the Lord is to attend Mass or a church service. Being part of a community is great because when you surround yourself with others who share your beliefs, you feel freer to be yourself. You don’t have to worry that people will mock you or persecute you for your beliefs. You feel safe. You have people who will speak God’s truth into the lies that the enemy is telling you. Also, Mass is great because you get to worship God and participate in a sacrament. Mass is the ultimate way to seek God because you actually receive Jesus, through communion, into your body. At church services, you get to hear the word of God, and then the pastor gives a sermon on that word to make it more personal to each and every one of us. These sermons help us to take the word of God and apply it to our lives. The sermons help us understand the Word of God more. Oftentimes at Mass, there is also praise and worship music, and that is another way to seek strength from the Lord. I have found so much strength from the Lord through the lyrics of these songs. I love to listen to praise and worship music. If I think back to the one thing I have done consistently since I discovered praise music in 2011, it is listening to it often. When I am really struggling, I will find a few songs that speak to what I am going through or to who God really is, and I will play them on repeat to remind me of the power I have through Christ, who strengthens me. (Phillipians 4:13) Another way to be filled up with strength by God is to just sit with the Lord. At Catholic churches, you can go to something called Eucharistic Adoration. This is the worship of the Eucharist outside of the Mass. The Eucharistic Host is displayed in a monstrance on the altar so that all can see and pray in the presence of Christ. The Eucharist contains the body and...