Colossians 1:11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.
If I were to ask you the name of the strongest person you know, you would probably think of someone who can impose his will on others or can express himself forcefully, someone who has an obvious strength of some kind. There certainly are people of such strength. However, the strongest people we know do not draw attention to themselves in that way because the strength they have is not merely the strength to overcome, it is the strength to endure.
Colossians 1:11 says, “Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.” It says, “Strengthened.” How much strength is available? The answer is, “All.” It says, “Strengthened with all might.” The word “might” here is the one from which we get our English word “dynamite.”
When you read in Colossians 1 of Jesus Christ Who is the image of the invisible God, Who created all things, Who is before all things, Who is the head of the church, Who is the beginning, Who is the firstborn from the dead, Who is to have the preeminence, you realize He is One Who has all might. So, be “strengthened with all might.”
How do we get this might? The answer is, “According to his glorious power.” “Power” here means “dominion.” Jesus is the One Who has the power because He has the reign, the dominion.
What is the purpose of the strength He gives to us? In this case, it is not merely the strength to overcome, but the power to endure “unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.” It is not just patience, but patience that suffers long and with joyfulness.
The point is that the power to overcome comes from the strength to endure. This is a gift from the Lord Jesus as we depend on Him for it. I think we ought to be overcomers, but it may be that the strength you need is just the strength to keep at it and do so joyfully.
At the end of the day, power is not an end unto itself. The purpose of the strength that is available today is to help us endure and eventually to overcome.