Equipped To Stand - Session 1 - Ebenezer Asiamah

If you’ve ever felt pressure to appear strong while carrying grief, uncertainty, disappointment, or exhaustion beneath the surface, this session offers a biblical perspective on where true strength is found. Speaker Ebenezer Asiamah explores Ephesians 6:10, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might,” challenging common assumptions about strength and inviting us to see it through the lens of God’s grace. Strength in the Lord is not a personality trait, emotional toughness, or the ability to hide weakness. It is a deep, inward steadiness rooted in our position in Christ and sustained by God’s power at work in our lives.

Throughout this session, we examine why Paul’s use of the word “finally” in Ephesians matters, how spiritual warfare can become confusing when we are not grounded in the gospel, and why Scripture consistently points believers away from self-reliance. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 1 and Romans 5, we trace the pattern of God choosing the weak, sustaining the weak, and receiving the glory so that no one can boast in themselves. We also explore the connection between spiritual strength and intimacy with God through abiding in Christ (John 15), cultivating fellowship with Him, and discovering how the joy of the Lord becomes a genuine source of resilience that grows through worship, prayer, and allowing the Word of Christ to dwell richly within us.

The session also focuses on David’s experience at Ziklag, a defining moment marked by loss, fear, blame, and uncertainty. Faced with circumstances that could have driven him to panic, David instead “strengthened himself in the Lord.” His response provides a practical model for believers today: pause before reacting, seek God’s presence, inquire of Him for direction, and trust Him to provide both the wisdom and strength needed for the path ahead. Through David’s example, we discover how God meets His people in seasons of weakness and equips them to move forward in faith.

Whether you are navigating personal challenges, spiritual battles, difficult decisions, or simply seeking a deeper understanding of what it means to be strong in the Lord, this session offers biblical encouragement and practical insight for building a life anchored in God’s strength rather than your own.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Transcript

A Verse To Hold Onto

Ebenezer Asiamah 0:10

Very simple verse to memorize. It says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. I want to thank God so much for the elders here at Trinity Community Church for their vision and this opportunity they have given us to just release what God has given us and to grow in the gifts that the Lord has for us. And I also want to use this opportunity to thank Trinity Community Church for the love, great support you showed us during our time of grief. And your love made our pain bearable. So I want to take this opportunity and say thank you. Thank you. We feel the love so much, it's so deep. Says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his

Why Paul Says Finally

Ebenezer Asiamah 1:15

mind. And the first thing he said, he said, finally. And Paul loves to use the word finally. And in the book of Philippians, he used finally twice. And I had a story about a boy who went to church with his mom. And there was a speaker speaking, and he said, finally, and he spoke for 30 minutes. And then he said, finally, and he spoke for another 30 minutes. So the boy asked the mom, Mom, what's the meaning of finally? He wasn't sure what finally meant. So what Paul meant by finally was he was going to address the final things. The finally means finally. He's addressing some important things that as believers in Christ, we need to be equipped with. And I love the theme for this study, equipped to stand. And the teachings that he presented here is so important. But he started from somewhere before he got to finally. And I'm thankful so much for Trinity Community Church, how for eight months we've been delving into the book of Ephesians, and we've learned a lot. When I became born again, I was told that I'm in a warfare and I need to fight. And I knew that there was warfare going on because where I grew up in Ghana, you don't need to be told that there is warfare going on. Because sometimes I can be sleeping and you can literally feel that you're fighting with something. And so I knew there was something going on. But all that I was taught was to fight. So I wasn't really anchored in the truth of the gospel, my position in Christ, and all of that. But here at Trinity, the elders take their time and they've been teaching us where we stand in Christ and how we ought to walk in Christ and grow into

Warfare And Being Anchored In Christ

Ebenezer Asiamah 3:20

Christ. So it's so important that we are anchored in the truth of the gospel, in the unsearchable riches of the gospel, even as we engage in warfare. Tonight I want to share what being strong in the Lord is now. And then I'll move to what it actually means to be strong in the Lord. So, first of all, being strong in the Lord is not based on our physical or emotional state. So one can be physically weak and emotionally very weak, yet strong in the Lord. So being strong in the Lord is not an expression of our physical or emotional state, but an inward disposition based on our position in Christ. And we all know that Paul, in time of his great weakness, he said, his grace, God said to him, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Another thing is that being strong in the Lord is not a denier of our of our state. It's good to be positive, but sometimes we may be going through something, but if you try to express it, they may say, Oh, you are not very strong in the Lord. But being strong in the Lord is not denying our state, it's not denying what we are going through. Paul didn't deny his weakness. He said he was weak and he had a ton in the flesh that he was dealing

What Strength In God Is Not

Ebenezer Asiamah 5:25

with, and he prayed to God on three occasions that that weakness would be taken away. So he didn't deny it. And so being strong in God is not denying our weakness. Also, being strong in the Lord has nothing to do with our ability, our giftings, or personality. It is not based on our gifts or our ability or our personality. But what then is being strong in the Lord is number one, being strong in the Lord is the work of grace. Because without the grace of God, we cannot be strong in God. And I want us to read First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26 to 31. This is Paul speaking here. Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish, the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty. And the base things of the world, God has chosen. He has chosen the despised, the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That as it is written, he who glories, let him

Strength As Grace And Intimacy

Ebenezer Asiamah 7:35

glory in the Lord. And so from this scripture, we know that it is not about our strength or our weak uh our ability, it is just the work of God's grace. God chose us. I love this word in Romans 5. He says, While we were weak, Christ died for the ungodly. God chose us even when we were weak. It is the work of his grace. And so being strong in the Lord is the work of the grace of God. And as I mentioned before, what God told Paul, his grace is sufficient. Being strong in the Lord flows from intimacy with God. And one of the verses that I love so much from the book of Daniel, chapter 30, chapter 11, verse 32, the B part. It says, The people who know their God, they shall be strong, and they will do exploits. And so being strong in the Lord, in the Greek word, it says in dunamo, it means we are growing, we are becoming something. It is not just a permanent state, it's growth. We are becoming strong. And so being strong in God flows from our intimacy with God. When we know God, when we love on God, when we fellowship with God and fellowship with the body of Christ, we are growing in our intimacy with God. And from that, he says that we will become strong. So it's based on our relationship with God. And Nehemiah said it, he said, the joy of the Lord is our strength. And how do we get joy? It is the fruit of the spirit. And as we fellowship with God, he cultivates that spirit of joy that the world cannot explain. And so David, joy was so important to him in his prayer of repentance. He said, Restore the joy of salvation. Because he knew that when he loses the joy of God, the strength is gone. And the moment we have the joy of salvation, we have the strength of God. And so tonight I pray that God will restore to us the joy of salvation in Jesus' name.

David At Ziklag Strengthens Himself

Ebenezer Asiamah 10:13

Also, being strong in the Lord is abiding in Christ. We need to abide in him. Without him, we can do nothing. John, the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 4. We need to abide. As branches, we need to abide in the vine. And once we abide in him, we get our strength from him. And anytime I think about being strong in the Lord, when I was reflecting on this and I looked at David, I love David so much. And he was in a very difficult place. He was living in a place called Ziglach. And that place was given to him by King Archish of Gath. The Philistine came, gave him that place. When David was fleeing from Saul, Saul wanted to kill him, so David said, Well, if I go to the enemy's country, Saul will stop pursuing me. So he fled and went to the land of the Philistines. And truly, Saul didn't pursue him again until Saul died in battle. But the King Arkish gave David Ziglag, and Ziglag means winding. It's a place of winding. And it also means enveloped in grief. And so David lived in Ziglag for a while. While he would go out and he would destroy the Philistine towns and destroy everything so that they won't go back and tell Akish that David has been destroying your people. So one time David went out and they came back. Many of us know the story. The city Ziglag was burned down. Nothing was left. And the men of David, about 600 mighty men who were with David, decided that they were going to stone him because they were blaming David for their predicament. Everybody was grieving for their children. Sons and daughters, wives are all gone. Where are you going to find the enemy? Who did this? They didn't know what to do. But in the midst of the difficulty, the Bible says, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And when I when I was looking at the Hebrew word for strengthened, it means that he repaired himself. When all was against him, when his own people were against him, David decided that I'm just going to rest in God for a minute. I'm just going to seek the face of God. I'm just going to inquire of God. David, he said, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? He said, When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and they fell. Though one who should encamp against me, my heart will not fear. Though war should rise up against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after. That I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For in times of trouble, he will hide me in his tabernacle. In the secret of his tabernacle, he will hide me. And David sought God and said, God, should I pursue the enemy? And God said, Pursue. And you will surely overtake, and without fail, you will recover all. And we all know the end of the story. David pursued, and David recovered. And David got the spoils, got the wives and the children, everything back because he prioritizes relationship with God. When we are hit with a circumstance

Pause And Inquire Before You Move

Ebenezer Asiamah 14:25

that we don't know what to do, pause and reflect on God before you take a step. Before we take a step, before we decide whether to go left or right, he says, your ear shall hear a word from behind saying, This is the way. Walk in it. When you turn to the left or when you turn to the right. And that is exactly what David did. And so be strong in the Lord. Let us be strong in our relationship with God, in our intimacy with God, in our fellowship with God, in our abiding in God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your heart to God. Being strong in the Lord is resting in his love. Our powerlessness and God's powerfulness can coexist. Our weakness and God's strength can coexist when grace is in operation. Paul was weak, but in his weakness, he had the assurance that God's strength will be made perfect and in his weakness. Tonight, I know that many of us are going through different situations, but I came with a word of encouragement that the Lord is our strength. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Our abiding in Christ is our strength. It is not our own making. We have no power of our own. There's this song in Ghana that I love so much. Said, I have no power of my own. I depend on you, Holy Spirit. I have no power of my own. Says that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And from there, from our relationship with God, we become strong. We become witnesses and we express the joy of God. And people ask us, wow, there's this something about you. There's this

Resting In Love And Closing Prayer

Ebenezer Asiamah 16:55

light in you that is from the relationship with God. It's only God that can supply that strength that we need to fight our battles, to face our enemies, to recover what the enemy took from us. Shall we pray? Dear Lord, we thank you so much. Your word says that we should be strong in you and in the power of your might. We acknowledge that we have no power of our own. We acknowledge that we need you. We acknowledge that, Lord, you are our strength. Father, we ask tonight that you fill us with your spirit. You will empower us, oh God, so that we will be strengthened in our relationship with you. We will grow in our knowledge of you. We thank you so much for your work tonight in Jesus' name. Amen.