Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

1 John 4:4

Recently, I came across this statement: “If an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. If an egg is broken by an inside force, then life begins. Great things happen from the inside.” Isn’t this the truth about our lives? If you apply too much external force on anything, it is bound to break, but a force that comes from within births new life.

Every so often, we encounter challenging situations and events that threaten to break us. These are the experiences that come at us from the outside; marital discord, parenting struggles, financial struggles, cultural struggles, political tensions and on and on it goes. This is the reality of our human existence. We struggle as we grow and as we grow, we get stronger.

But the Bible reminds us that there is a greater and opposing force within us. This is the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit gives us an inner power to love those who hate us and to forgive those who hurt us. The Holy Spirit is the force within that gives us the ability to be extraordinary in an ordinary world.

As this New Year unfolds, I pray that we will experience this inner force in our lives in new ways that bring glory and honor to our Father in Heaven.