There’s an old religious cliché that used to be especially popular among ministers: “We’re just going to burn ourselves out for God,” they’d say. That’s not what God wants for any of us. That’s what the devil wants! He would love to see you work yourself until you “burn out” and die. He’d kick up his heels at your funeral!

Don’t give him that opportunity. Take time to feed your inner man so you won’t burn out. Keep feeding your spirit until you increase in strength. Burn brighter and stronger every year.

Be transformed from Glory to Glory by “beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Increase the wattage of your spiritual generator by spending time focusing on the Lord. Begin to work with Him instead of just for Him. Take your focus off the things of the world and look at Him.

Where must you look to see Jesus? First, in the Word. Second, in your own spirit.

We can see Jesus great and magnificent in the Word. We can envision Him sitting grandly in heaven at the right hand of the Father. But we haven’t developed our ability to see Him living inside us. And that is the key.

You must have that ability to survive the pressure in these last days. You’ll need to be able to see Jesus within you just as clearly as you can see Him in the Word. You’ll have to know—not just with your brain, but with every fiber of your being—that He Who is within you is greater than he that is in the world.

Never forget this: Once you truly see that the very Spirit and power of Jesus resides on the inside of you, nothing—no amount of debt, no disease, no problem of any kind—will be able to defeat you. When your inner image of the Jesus Who lives in you becomes bigger than your image of the problems around you, you’ll conquer any challenge the devil brings your way.

The answer to everything is inside you right now. Everything you’ll ever need is in your spirit. All the money…all the health…all the strength…all the wisdom…all of it is in you because that’s where Jesus is!

Remember, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us!

Speak the Word

I have this treasure…that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of me. (2 Corinthians 4:7)