Where does our strength come from?

Philippians 4:13 – “I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Do you remember the “Got Milk?” commercials? It was usually some famous athlete with a milk mustache, and the implication was that if you drank milk you could have strong bones, run fast, and be healthy like them. Have you seen shows that begin with the message “Made Possible By” and then the sponsors are named? 

What if we looked at Christians like this? Where does our power, witness, testimony, and strength come from? Who are we? I think Philippians 4:13 does a good job of answering that question. 

Unfortunately, most Christians misuse this verse, and tattoo it on themselves thinking more of how “I can do all things” instead of where the power comes from and who made it possible. Another misuse is to only think of what they can do for themselves with this strength, instead of the powerful witness this is meant for the Kingdom of God and the power of Christ. 

If we want to understand Philippians 4:13 deeply we must give credit where credit is due. We are infused with strength from within originating from Jesus Christ. There is no other source from which to get the strength to do the amazing feats Paul is talking about. Because of Christ strengthening us we can; be content in any circumstance, bear any trial, do anything we are called to, resist any temptation from within and without, and meet any adversity with hope, faith, and love. There are innumerable other blessings, and other unbelievable deeds that we are capable of only because of strength supplied by Christ. If we will truly try to live this verse out people will ask us why we are the way we are, and then we will be able to tell them about our Savior unashamedly and unreservedly. 

Our country and many of our churches have forgotten who Jesus is and who we are supposed to be, because we are not living this verse out. We look too much like the world in thought, in feelings, in responses and reactions to situations and circumstances, and there is no light shining in the darkness. Christians, this must change. Do you want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”? We will not hear those words if we never follow, never testify, never grow into maturity, or just do nothing. Do you think God hands out participation trophies for doing nothing? 

Let us answer the question of who we are in Christ. We are those who build a boat years before it rains. We are those who set out on a journey, not knowing where we are going, and end up one day in the Promised land. We stand up to giants when no one else will. We do not bow down when others do. We get thrown in a furnace and get to take a walk with our Savior in the flames. We walk by faith and not by sight, because we know what is unseen. We do not fear when the rains come down and the floods come up, because we are firmly established on the rock of ages. We are those who know every word of scripture is true and will come true. We are those who do not compromise our spiritual disciplines even if it means we are lunch for lions. We are those whom King and Country describe in their song, “Fix my eyes”. “We love like we are not scared, give when it’s not fair, live life for another, take time for a brother, fight for the weak, speak out for freedom, find faith in the battle, and stand tall and above it all. How? By fixing our eyes on Jesus. Sounds like the focal verse of this column.

That is supposed to be who we are. Unfortunately, there can also be innumerable other reasons why we are not this way. If only we would believe there is one strong enough to banish every foe, temptation, adversity, feeling, thought, or circumstance we will face before we are with him forever. Our enemy loves to use pain, shame, regret, doubt, and fear to short circuit our power as well. If we would just realize self must die, and Christ must rise. No more self-esteem, sufficiency, or so many other self-absorbed issues. Christ-sufficiency must be realized, grown, matured, and depended on. 

Lastly, an illustration from the fair. My son Benaiah, who at the time was three years old, got to go mutton-busting. If you do not know what that is, it is where young kids get a taste of the rodeo. They lay down on the back of a sheep, hold on as tight as they can, the gate is opened, the sheep runs fast, and they fall off when they cannot hold on any longer. Benaiah and I practiced for days before the event, and he got very good at holding onto me while “daddy sheep” ran and bucked until he fell off. The big day came, he got on the sheep, and he did not make it very far until he fell off. We were all so proud. 

That night tucking him into bed I told him how proud I was of him, and how brave he was to ride the sheep. His body language immediately changed, and tears came into his eyes. He whispered, “But I fell.” I was shocked and perplexed. I tried to keep encouraging him, but it only seemed to make it worse. I scooped him up in my arms and got him to look in my eyes. I told him, “Buddy, you were always going to fall, what’s important is that you did it.” 

Most Christians never take that first step, because they fear “falling”, which in essence is just failure. Instead of focusing on our shortcomings or any negatives, real or imagined, try fixating on Jesus, and find out that your strength comes from Him. 

 Cody Biby

Worship That Doesn't Look Like Sunday Morning

I used to think I was doing faith wrong. 

Everyone around me seemed to have it figured out-hands raised, tears flowing, voices lifted in perfect harmony. And there I was, more moved by the way the morning light hits my garden than by anything happening inside four walls on a Sunday morning. 

For a long time I wondered if that meant something was missing in me. 

For the record, it doesn't. And if you have ever felt that quiet guilt of loving God deeply but not always connecting with Him the way church culture says you should-this is for you. 

-What We've Been Taught Worship Looks Like-

1. A building with a stage and a sound system

2. A specific playlist of songs sung at a specific volume

3. Hands raised, eyes closed, the right emotional response at the right moment

4. Sunday morning. Dressed. Present. Participating. 

And listen-none of that is wrong. Corporate worship is real and it matters and God absolutely meets us there. But somewhere along the way, a lot of us quietly absorbed the idea that THAT is what worship is. The whole of it. The "real" version. And if we don't feel it there, we must not be feeling it right. 

-What Nobody Told Us-

Worship was never meant to live only in a building. The Psalms were written in caves, on the run, in the middle of grief so heavy the write couldn't see past it. Paul and Silas worshipped in PRISON-at midnight, backs bleeding, chains on their wrists. The woman in Luke 7 worshipped at Jesus' feet with tears and perfume and the wreckage of her own reputation on full display. 

None of that looked like Sunday morning. 

Worship, at its core, is simply this: turning your attention toward God and acknowledging who He is. That's it! And that can happen anywhere. In any moment. In any condition. 

-What Worship Looks Like in My Actual Life-

-In the garden. -Hands in the dirt, watching something grow that I didn't create, feeling the sun on my shoulders. That is worship. Every seed that pushes through soil is a sermon about resurrection if you are paying attention. 

-On a walk outside, -When creation is doing what it was made to do and something in me just KNOWS-this didn't happen by accident. This has a Maker. And He is good. 

-In the quiet of an empty house. -No music, no service, just stillness. Learning that God doesn't need noise to be present. 

-In hard gratitude. -Thanking Him for things that were painful but grew me. That's an act of worship that costs something-and those are often the most honest ones. 

-When I pray over my boys. -Before they fall asleep. Something sacred happens in those ordinary moments that no stage could replicate. 

-In sobriety. -Every single day I wake up clean is an act of praise. My life is LIVING TESTIMONY. That counts. 

-For the Woman Who Feels Like She's Doing It Wrong-

Maybe church feels hard for you right now. Maybe your faith looks quieter than everyone else's and you've started to wonder if that means it's smaller. 

It doesn't. 

God is not confined to a worship set and a sermon series. He is in the early morning before anyone else is awake. He is in the beauty of something growing. He is in the mundane Tuesday and the long drive and the moment you notice something that stops you in your tracks and makes you feel, for just a second, that you are not alone in this universe. That moment-THAT'S WORSHIP. 

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."   -John 4:24

He's not looking for a performance. He's looking for you. The real you-in your garden, in your kitchen, in your car, in your mess. 

Show up THERE. That's enough. 

Let me invite you to try a few things:

-Take your next quiet moment outside-and just pay attention. What do you notice? What does it tell you about the One who made it?

-Let ordinary things  become alters. Your morning coffee, Your drive to work. The garden you tend every season. Ask God to meet you there-and the watch Him do it.

-Release the guilt about what your worship DOESN'T look like. You are not behind. You are not broken. You are just a person learning that God is bigger than the box we put Him in. 

*Worship is not a performance for God's approval. It's a response to who he already is-and it doesn't need a stage to be real.

I'm Beth-boy mom, trucker's wife, podcaster, waitress, and a Jesus freak who has found God more often in the dirt than in the pew. If this resonated with you, come find me on the Transparent Christianity Podcast where we live a real faith, in the middle of real life, with no mask. 

So glad you're here!

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus”

I am not as young as I once was, and I am starting to notice that things do not quite work as well as they used to. My knees will hurt after a run, and even just a steady jog. My neck or back can hurt for the good part of a day, after just sleeping on them wrong. My son is the one my wife goes to for help at times, because Dad might get hurt doing that. When I think about the future, I wonder if the “golden years” are truly golden. Although, the one thing that bothers me the most is my memory. I will go into a room to do something and forget why I went in there in the first place. I will call my wife to tell her something and be dumbfounded when I cannot recollect what I wanted to tell her. It is a most annoying, and embarrassing trait of growing older that I am told will only get worse with time.

An important aspect of our faith as Christians is remembering. In the Old Testament men, women, and the Israelite nation at times freely made memorials to God for remembrance, and at other times God commanded them to build something or tell the future generations all about an important event that had happened so that it would never be forgotten. I believe we all need a reminder to not forget what God has done, who God is, and what the future holds according to the Bible to navigate what this life holds for each and every one of us.

Many times we make the mistake of highlighting the wrongs done to us, the evils in the world, fears, anxieties, and the great unknown which results in extensive damage done to us as Christians. Our faith will falter, our inspiration and motivation to live out what we believe will be doused with cold water, our thoughts and feelings will be overwhelmed to the point we forget who God is, and we will stop running the race we were called to run. A teacher at seminary once said, “We have a problem that needs to be switched. We gaze at our problems while only glancing at God. We should fix our gaze upon God, and only give a glance to our problems.” This was true in that day, and rings truth even louder currently.

When and if I remember to fix my gaze on God, so many things come flooding in. What stands out most clearly are how faithful He is even when I am unfaithful to Him, how loving He is when I am unloving and fail to share that love with others, how He has always been there for me whether I realized it at the time or did not recognize it until later, and how strong He is compared to how weak I am. I challenge you to start gazing at God, and glancing at your issues. I promise the raging waters will be stilled, that hurts will be healed, perspective will be given, and darkness will turn to light.

If you are hurting, feeling lost, abandoned, defeated, or anything else along those lines I hope that you will at least try to commit to memory verses from God’s Word. They will be like a searchlight that shines out to you that will guide you back home to safety, to peace of mind, and to a place where you can rest in the everlasting arms of your God. Isaiah 41:10 states, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Our God is the God who saves, who renews your strength, who causes you to soar on wings like eagles, and who shepherds you through the good and the bad times of life. Remember this, and fight like someone whose life depends on it when the enemy tries to make you forget it or just not even believe it.

Some verses for you, or someone else in your life. Isaiah 49:14-16. John 14:27, Romans 5:8, 1 Peter 2:9, Psalm 34:18, Psalm 23, and Matthew 24:35. May God bless you, keep you, and may His face shine upon you.

Cody Biby

Miles Between Us: Faith, Marriage, and the Road That Tests Both

There is a particular love story that nobody writes songs about. 

It doesn't look like candlelit dinners or lazy Saturday mornings. It looks like a phone call through a bad signal somewhere past Amarillo. It looks like praying over an empty side of the bed. It looks like two people committed to each other across hundreds of miles, held together by something stronger than proximity. 

My husband drives over the road (OTR). And our marriage? It's good. It's real, and it's solid, and I'm proud of what we have built. But I know that we aren't everyone's story, and if you are reading this with an ache in your chest because the distance has done more than put miles between cities, this is for you. 

Because every road tests marriages. And not everyone comes out of it feeling close. 

It's not easy. I have become the default parent. The default decision-maker. The default everything. Not because he is absent in heart, but because he's absent in time zone. The mental load lands entirely on me. All the school forms, the discipline, the broken appliances, sick kids at 2 AM. I handle it because I have to. And then there are nights where the house is so quiet, it's loud. I have learned a specific kind of loneliness. Not the loneliness of being unloved, but of being UNWITNESSED. Nobody sees how hard I am working. And for some couples, the coming-home moments feel almost awkward, like two people who love each other but have forgotten the rhythm of being together. 

That last one is worth sitting with because it is more common than anyone admits. 

If your marriage feels strained by the road, if you feel more like co-managers of a household than husband and wife, you are not alone, and you are not failing. 

The OTR life, if you aren't careful and intentional, can quietly do this:

-Shrink your conversations-It's now down to logistics, bills, kids, and when he will be home. Real intimacy gets crowded out.

-Create two separate worlds-His stories are from the cab. Mine are from the carpool line. The gap between them grows without either of us meaning for it to.

-Make you feel like a stranger- Even in the same bed on his days home. We are polite and genuinely glad to see each other, but out of sync in ways that are hard to name. 

-Breed resentment-Neither of us asked for this. He misses home, and I'm overwhelmed. Both of us are right. And somehow that makes it harder. 

This doesn't mean that your marriage is over. It means it needs tending. Like a garden that has been neglected in a hard season, it's not dead. It just needs water, attention, and time. 

Here is what I keep coming back to: God sees this marriage. He sees YOURS-whatever shape it's in right now. 

He sees the wife going to bed alone for the hundredth night, whispering prayers for a man somewhere on a dark highway. He sees the husband gripping the steering wheel and missing his family. He sees the couple who loves each other but can't quite find each other anymore. 

And He's not wringing His hands about it. 

Scripture doesn't promise us easy marriages. But what it does promise is a God who restores. He rebuilds what has been worn down. He makes a way, even when we can't see one. 

-Pray for your husband when you can't reach him. - Not just for his safety, for his heart. For yours. For the marriage itself

-Let God be the witness to what no one else sees. - The sacrifice, the loneliness, the daily faithfulness of holding it together-He sees it. Every. Single. Day. 

-Ask Him to close the distance. - Miles can create this. Only He can knit two hearts together across hundreds of them. 

-If your marriage is struggling, bring it to Him first. - Not as a last resort, as a first response. He is not surprised by where you are. 

"And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."  -Ecclesiastes 4:12

That third strand? It's not just a nice sentiment for wedding decorations. It's the whole point. A marriage built on two people alone will buckle under the weight of this life. But a marriage woven through with God-that's a different thing entirely. 

Now I won't pretend it's all effortless. But here are some of the things we have learned along the way:

-Intentional conversation over logistics. -Some calls are just for us. Not the schedule. Not the boys. JUST US. Period. 

-Grace for the gap. -He doesn't always know what I have carried this week. I don't always know what the road has cost him. We ask instead of assume. 

-Protecting the homecoming. -No heavy conversations the first night back. Just be glad. Let the rest wait until we have found our footing again. 

-Prayer-separately and together. -When I pray for him, my heart stays soft toward him. That matters more than I can explain.

-Remembering the why. -On the hard days, I come back to the man behind the wheel and why he's out there. That's enough to carry me through.

To the Wife Who is Struggling:

Your marriage may feel like it's running on fumes right now. The distance may have done real damage. You may not even remember the last time you felt genuinely CLOSE. 

Can I say something gently here? This is not the end of your story. 

Hard seasons in marriage are not proof that you chose wrong or that God has forgotten you. They are an invitation to fight for something worth fighting for, to reach toward each other even when it feels awkward, and to let God into the space between you. 

He is good at restoring things that look beyond repair. That's practically His signature move.

To the Wife Whose Marriage is Solid:

Keep tending it. Don't take the good for granted. Keep praying. Keep reaching. Keep choosing each other, mile after mile after mile.

-From a boy mom, a Jesus lover, and a woman learning that love-real love-is less of a feeling and more of a daily decision to stay.

Beth

Breathe

I recently preached on Jude 1:1 and the part that stands out to me for this column is this, “To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.” It is interesting how deep an introduction to a letter can go, but that seems to be the way of our God, and His Holy Spirit. The picture here is that you are preserved for Christ, protected by Christ, and kept in Christ. There could be so many illustrations, and explanations just by one of the mercies Jesus provides us. I like the image of His grace guarding us, while we are surrounded and walking through a thousand snares. I love the fact that we are promised that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, which can be found in Romans 8:38-39. Nothing in the physical world, and nothing in the spiritual realm can separate us from Jesus. You will not get a better deal anywhere else, no matter what an insurance or car salesman may tell you.

It makes me think of a difficult time in my life. At the age of 15 I had to have major back surgery to correct scoliosis (curvature of the spine). It was quite the ordeal that no one could prepare you for, and you only can truly understand after you actually go through it. I woke up in the Intensive Care Unit. It was a scary experience. I did not know where I was. I was confused by all the things hooked up to my body, and uncomfortable. I was not entirely myself as well, because of the high dosage of painkillers I was on. It seemed like everything was foggy, and I was not thinking or feeling as I normally would have.  

What surprised me the most was trying to sleep. I would fall asleep but be suddenly startled awake at the sound of multiple alarms going off all around me. I would hear my mom say, “Breathe, Cody.” I did not understand until it was explained to me that it was my oxygen alarm going off, informing everyone that I was not getting enough oxygen. It happened so much that I wanted to give up and did not want to admit that I was kind of scared. I told my mom to leave me alone because I was tired. Furthermore, I was sure I did not need to breathe that much. What I did not tell anyone was that since everyone was making such a big deal about this, I was afraid that the next time I fell asleep I thought I might die. Sad thing was I was in so much pain, uncomfortable, scared, and not feeling like myself that I thought it might be a good thing to not have to go on anymore like that.

Oh Christian, if today you feel anything like I felt above Jesus is telling you, “Breathe.” In your darkest nights, He is watching over you at your bedside. When the worries of this life seem to be suffocating, He says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” If you are going through the worst pain in your life, turn to the Great Physician and watch him administer just the right medicine for your soul. If you are tired and want to give up, Jesus will heal your heart, refresh your soul, and lift you up. If you feel like death would be better than this life, start listening to the One who created you for a purpose and that significance will one day result in you agreeing with Paul, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” One day we will be in a place for eternity that has no more sickness, no more crying, no more separation, and no more pain. If you do not know any of the peace, love, or salvation that comes from Jesus Christ you can. If you are a Christian, maybe you just need to breathe. Prayer, daily bible reading, following God’s will for your life, and being part of a body of believers are how we breathe Christian.

Cody Biby