The child grew and became strong in spirit!
The child grew and became strong in spirit. (Luke 2:40)
Spiritual strength does not come from the public eye. As with Jesus, as with Moses (and so many more in Scripture) there is a divinely appointed absence from public eyes prior to their task beginning.
The darkness of a closet is their gym, the light of the classroom their enemy.
Spiritual strength must be hidden, multiplied and honed before it is set to work, lest hubris become a snare.
Spiritual strength carries no acquiescence or compromise. As with John the Baptist, there appears a spirit of boldness and grit that will swim against the current.
Spiritual strength is mirrored in a salmon's life cycle. It takes on the prevailing current to reproduce, then dies. So too he who would be strong for the Lord. (Who too was born against the current, lived, died and rose against the current, yet now His reproduction continues until His return).
The Last Word:
Those who preach words of spiritual power and truth have first visited the long and lonely depths.