No doubt it sounds strange, but in order to love God with all your strength, you have to admit you are weak.

By doing this, you acknowledge God is the true source of your strength, and that in your weakness, he is strong. You become strong as you become totally dependent upon him, allowing his strength to work through you.

As you allow God to be your strength – to show his strength through you – you’ll find yourself doing things you never thought possible. God promises you can do all things through the Father as he gives you his strength. (Philippians 4:13) You’ll take steps of faith you never thought possible, and you’ll love others in a way you never imagined as God supplies you with supernatural strength and energy.

God is strong, and he wants you strong. He will change you in places where you cannot change yourself, and he will transform the broken places of your life in order to use them for his own glory.

God doesn’t ask you to take steps of faith alone; God is with you in every step, filling you with a grace-charged strength. God only asks you to take one step of faith at a time.

What does this mean?

· Tell God you need his strength – and really mean it this time – ha! When you try to love and serve others with just your own strength, you’ll inevitably fail. After all, there are a lot of frustrating, unlovable people out there. (Just ask some of my friends!) And that’s OK, because God wants you to fail in your own strength so you’ll start to rely upon his strength.

· You can’t love God wholeheartedly – Jesus knows you won’t be able to love God with your whole heart until you become dependent upon God’s strength to do so. You simply can’t do it through your own energy or strength. But Jesus also knows you’ll come to realize this yourself the more you attempt to love God, and others, on your own. At that point, you’re faced with a very clear, but difficult choice: Keep on keeping on in your own strength, wondering why this abundant-life thing doesn’t work, or take the Nestea plunge into deep-end dependence on God’s strength. You don’t have to prove your whole heart; just give your whole heart to him.

· One step of faith at a time – Relying on God’s strength doesn’t mean he will require you to take giant leaps of faith. He’s taking you on a lifelong journey, and my observation is that God only asked for one step at a time. The so-called leaps of faith that you see some people take are the culmination of a lot of little steps of faith you may not be aware of. The first step, however, is to ask God to be your strength as you take your first steps of faith. A willingness to rely on him is a step of faith.