Joni Eareckson Tada - Secret Strength: For Those Who Search

SECRET STRENGTH
1994 by Joni, Inc.
published by Multnomah Books

eISBN: 978-0-307-80554-6

Contents based on material that appeared in a previous book entitled Secret Strength

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

Scripture references marked NIV are from the Holy Bible:
New International Version, 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Scripture references marked TLB are from The Living Bible, 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Ill.

Scripture references marked Phillips are from J.B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, revised edition. J.B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972 by Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

Scripture references marked NKJV are from the New King James Version, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publisher.

Scripture references marked GNB are from the Good News Bible; American Bible Society 1976

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

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v3.1

For
Mom and Dad Tada

I wish I could remember all the times and the places where Ive learned those unforgettable things. A lingering phrase from someones long ago sermon that has stuck with me. A poem, a catch phrase, a memorized paragraph that hasnt shaken itself from my mind.

Like you, I read a little here, gather some ideas there, and somehow the Lord weaves these flashes of thoughts into the fabric of my own study of God and His Word. I wish I could exactly recall each author or speaker, pastor or friend from whom Ive gleaned so much. I would want, here and now, to give them full acknowledgment and my special thanks.

A few names come immediately to mindSteve Estes, Elisabeth Elliott, C. S. Lewis, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, Phil Yancey, John MacArthur, Kay Arthur, Bill Gothard, to name a few. I beg the indulgence of others whom Im regrettably unable to list here. My hope is that if they see the fleeting imprint of their original ideas in my book, they will be pleased that those ideas are having an impact for the Lord Jesus on new and different readers.

I especially want to thank Bev Singleton, our Media Coordinator here at Joni and Friends for the years of tirelessly helping me research, write, compile, and organize my radio programs. Also a word of thanks to our friends at Ambassador Advertising Agency who keep giving me deadlines so I can research and write more. For this book I have chosen those radio messages that have touched my heart the most.

Also, I have occasionally drawn from some of my favorite parts of A Step Further.

And my lasting thanks remain with Larry Libby, my friend and editor at Multnomah. From him I am learning to slow down, enjoy words, and write with my heart.

You will
seek me and find me,
when you search for me with
all your heart.

JEREMIAH 29:13

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love himbut God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

1 CORINTHIANS 2:9-10, NIV

W hats so secret about God?

Nothing. And yet everything.

Early on in my life with Christ I discovered that if I desired a deeper, more intimate knowledge of the Lord, I would be sent on a search. There were treasures to dig. Precious gems to mine.

If you are a believer, you already have everything you need for the journey. You have been initiated into the fellowship of the skies. You have His Word, the key to heavens hieroglyphics. You have the mind of Christ. Now you must find His heart! He waits, tenderly and compassionately, to reveal Himself to you.

Would you like a little help in your search? Then I invite you, my fellow seeker, to enjoy this book as a companion on your venture. You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

May you find that secret strength that is His to give and yours to receive.

God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:27, NIV

J ust whom does God delight in using to accomplish His plans?

Consider Gideon. Gideon was threshing wheatcrouching in a winepress to avoid detection by Israels enemy, the Midianiteswhen the Lord Himself appeared with a message. The L ORD is with you, mighty warrior (Judges 6:12, NIV).

You can almost visualize Gideons head popping up out of the winepress. Er, excuse me? Were you talking to me? Hed probably been called a lot of things by his friends and family, but never that.

Scripture tells us the L ORD turned to him and said, Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midians hand. Am I not sending you? (6:14).

Gideon, apparently, wasnt aware of any strength. He sputtered and stuttered and reminded this Stranger that he was the weakest member of the weakest clan of the weakest tribe in the weak nation of Israel. Definitely no West Point graduate. If God was looking for warrior material, He must have been peering into the wrong winepress.

But no, God wanted Gideon. The task was ridiculously large. The biblical account affirms the enemy soldiers filled a great valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore (7:12). Yet God accomplished His plans through Gideons little band of three hundred men, in order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her (7:2).

Perhaps you feel a bit like Gideon today. Your gifts arent many. Your talents are few. Like Gideon, you have to admit youre not the brightest or strongest member of your own family.

Take a look, my weak friends, at 1 Corinthians 1:26-29. Start chasing this theme through the pages of your Bible and youll be at it for months! It pleased God to pick the unlikely, unlovely, and unheralded to get His job done. He picked weak and ordinary me. Hes even picked you with all your weakness and inadequacy, in spite of your mistakes and fumbled opportunities.

Then, when the task is completed and Gods work has been accomplished through your life, guess who gets the glory?

Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Take heart knowing that if God did such great things through a man who often trembled in weakness and fear, He can surely use you!

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.