Our God Is An Awesome God!

“With wisdom, power, and love our God is an awesome God.”

Rich Mullins

It is throwback Thursday! I can’t write this without giving a shoutout to my Sardis United Methodist Church Youth Group!

It was 1993, I was on a church retreat with my church youth group to Branson, Missouri. We went every year to Silver Dollar City for Young Christians Weekend. It was one of the highlights of my year! My parents were the youth leaders and they led our group there each year for fun, fellowship, and to grow closer to God. They allowed us to roam through Silver Dollar City on our own and meet back up at designated times. Don’t you remember when you were a young teenager? Every little bit of freedom was the best feeling in the world. Well, that is not the only thing I remember about those years of going to Young Christians Weekend. We went to several shows throughout the day that were encouraging Christian speakers for teenagers and at night we would go to Christian concerts. I remember one year in particular when Strike Force was doing a nighttime show in Silver Dollar City’s ampitheater. I can see the ampitheather and all the people bustling in anticipation, taste the frozen cokes and popcorn we were eating, hear the worship music booming through the speakers, and smell the mineral aroma of cement blocks as I’m sitting here writing this. I will explain the cement blocks in a bit.

That year I saw something I had never seen before. There was a group called Strike Force performing. Strike Force is a group of men that travel around the world telling and displaying their story of how God has given them strength, courage, and determination. I saw ordinary men, extremely handsome and strong but still ordinary, using their strength for God’s glory. They were breaking stacks of 2x4’s that were taller than me in two with their fists. They were linking thick chains around their wrists and snapping the chains like twigs. They were pounding through cement blocks that were on fire. They would shatter blocks of ice. With this amazing display of strength they were giving testimonies of how God had provided their strength, power, and the drive to do what they were doing. As they were doing this, the song “Awesome God” was blaring through the speakers. It was the first time I realized that through the power God gives me, I could do anything.

We grew up hearing and we raise our children telling them that we can do anything we set our mind to do. We hear it over and over but do we really believe it? We doubt that we can do it. We tell ourselves we don’t have time, we’re not smart enough, we’re not strong enough, we’re not pretty enough, we don’t have enough money, or it’s just too hard. No matter what it is that you are putting off doing, you can make one of those excuses stop you from trying. I was 13 years old at the time and that is a hard time for all young teenagers. We haven’t fully grown into our bodies. Most of us have braces. We don’t quite know how to fix our hair or put on make-up but for all that’s holy we are going to try. Well, I was extremely skinny, extremely tall, and flat our awkward at that age. Let’s just say confidence was not something that ran strong in me. I did not want to try anything new because I might be noticed and my perfectionist mentality told me I might fail.

“When He rolls up His sleeves He ain’t just putting on the ritz

There is thunder in His footsteps and lightning in His fists

Our God is an awesome God

He reigns from heaven above

With wisdom, power, and love

Our God is an awesome God.”

I saw that God is the one that provides everything I need to accomplish what He is calling me to do. I saw through a group of men breaking stone and wood that my God is awesome, I can be too. My God is powerful, I can be powerful. My God is wise, I can be wise. My God has unlimited time, I can make time. Through everything God has, He gives to me through the Holy Spirit. God’s strength is not just for show, He wants to share His gifts with us. Do we have confidence in Him that He will do that? Can we trust God with our dreams and goals? It doesn’t matter what age you are, fear can take over but we can be strong and brave because God gives us these attributes. We are made in His image and He dwells in us which means we carry around His characteristics. God never runs from something, He runs toward it. May we run forward knowing that God has gone before us and knows what is ahead. He has prepared the way and wants us to succeed and meet our God-given potential. Don’t live in doubt but in trust in the One taking care of you.

Digging Deeper:

Scriptures on strength - Judges 6:14, Judges 16:28, 2 Samuel 22:40, 1 Chronicles 16:11, Psalm 28:7, Psalm 46:1

Scriptures on wisdom - 2 Chronicles 1:11-12, Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 2:6, Proverbs 4:5, Luke 21:15, Acts 6:10

What are you afraid to try because you doubt you can do it?

What is your biggest stronghold that keeps you from meeting your God-given potential?

How can you put your trust in God as you set out to accomplish what God has asked you to do?