Strengthen the Things Which Remain Rev. 3:2 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
When something is crumbling in your life, strengthen the things which remain. There is a tendency when something is going awry to devote all of your attention and strength to the problem. And then here’s what happens. The things that were strong in your life begin to weaken. To prevent this, you need to strengthen the things which remain.
Strengthen your family. Don’t neglect them. You assume that they will continue to be strong even though you aren’t devoting any attention to them. Women neglect their husbands and their other children when they are dealing with an incorrigible child. The thing to do is to strengthen the things which remain. I told a mother one time, “Don’t lose the one you have [your husband] for the one you may never have.”
Strengthen your strength. Don’t deplete your own strength. You need sleep, moderate exercise, balanced nutrition, and good spiritual strength that comes from Bible reading, prayer and church. You need to be emotionally, spiritually and physically strong during trials. You can’t let yourself get dragged down. Strengthen the things which remain. In other words, devote added attention to your needs.
Strengthen your friendships. Don’t exhaust your friends. You usually get so stressed out about the situation that you turn for comfort to anyone who has a willing ear. The trouble is that they also have problems and they get tired of hearing about yours every time you see each other. This kind of dependence will strain good friendships. A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. Strengthen the things which remain. Good friends are hard to come by; keep your friendships strong.
Strengthen your relationship with the Lord. Don’t drift from God. In dealing with a high maintenance situation, your mind is consumed with it. Everything you read in the Bible somehow relates to your situation. Everything you hear in preaching has to fit your situation somehow. Every time you pray your earnest prayer is devoted only to your situation. In all of this trouble you drift from the Lord. You are “worrying him to death.” [if you could you would]. When all is said and done the Lord is going to be there for you. So, strengthen the relationship you have with him. It’s the only thing you are sure will remain.
Conclusion: there is very little you can do to turn around a prodigal child or a bad situation [consider how helpless Job was]. If God hasn’t done it what makes you think that you can? In times like those, keep your family strong, keep up your own strength, keep your friendships strong and keep a good relationship between you and the Lord. You’re going to need all of these things to help you get through it.