Luke 24:48-49 (ESV)
48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Ephesians 3:14-19 (MSG)
14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

Inner strength. We all like to think we’re strong enough to handle everything or anything that comes our way, until an earthquake comes along and we seek something bigger than us. Once the earthquake is gone, we go about rebuilding. Why do we go back? Why don’t we stay where there’s real strength? What is it about us that keeps us going back to what works most of the time until we really, really need it? Why don’t we stay where we run to find peace?

We have been sent the Holy Spirit who will dwell in us, clothed in the power from on high when we ask for it, when we agree to let it happen. Paul’s response – to get down on his knees before the Father – shows the steps we have to take.

Submit to a higher power. Not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength, that Christ will live in us as we open the door and invite Him in.

This is an eternal strength, not temporal. This is rich, intense, perfect, eternal love, not the temporary emotional love we generate. This is the solid, perfect building stone that the world rejects out of hand – until the next earthquake.

If you have to wait, the next time you have an earthquake in your life, consider what you might rebuild on.

If you don’t have to wait, what are you waiting for?