GodSprings - March 23, 2016

What All Can I Do Through Christ?

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

H.B. Charles in his book A Psalm for Giving Thanks tells the following story about a woman he knew who showed up at church and prayed the same simple prayer. "O Lord, thank you Jesus," she prayed week after week. The kids at church would start laughing every time she opened her mouth because they knew it would be the same prayer—"O Lord, thank you Jesus."

Finally somebody asked her, "Why do you pray the same little prayer?" She said, "Well, I'm just combining the two prayers that I know. We live in a bad neighborhood and some nights there are bullets flying and I have to grab my daughter and hide on the floor, and in that desperate state all I know how to cry out is, 'O Lord.' But when I wake up in the morning and see that we're okay I say, 'Thank you Jesus.' When I got to take my baby to the bus stop and she gets on that bus and I don't know what's going to happen to her while she's away, I cry, 'O Lord.' And then when 3:00 P.M. comes and that bus arrives and my baby is safe, I say, 'Thank you Jesus.'" She said, "Those are the only two prayers I know and when I get to church God has been so good I just put my two prayers together, "O Lord, thank you Jesus."

The context of this verse focuses on the God-given power to endure any circumstance, not the power to accomplish any achievement. The apostle Paul had suffered extraordinary hardships in his service to God. He experienced numerous imprisonments, beatings, stoning, and shipwrecks. He encountered weariness, sleeplessness, and hunger. And these hardships do not even begin to cover the emotional and spiritual frustrations and setbacks he faced. But, rather than looking at his circumstances, whether good or bad, Paul looked to Christ to satisfy his every need.

The result? Paul was able to say that when he reached the end of his strength, when he was at the limit of his own resources, he knew he could always rely on God’s strength and resources. He also knew he had the power to overcome whatever difficulty he faced because of all God had given him through Jesus Christ. In other words, as J.B. Phillips in his New Testament translation puts it, “I am ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within me” (Philippians 4:13).

God is not promising to make us superhumans with superpowers, but He is promising us that we will be given the strength and the power to accomplish all that He calls us to accomplish. God is also not promising us that we never will suffer or experience difficulty, but that we will be given all the power that we need to handle the difficulties and demands of this life.

God’s strength and power that is made available to every believer is sufficient to strengthen us and sustain us in any trial. What we must learn to do is to draw on the deep resources of God, made available to us by faith in Jesus Christ. Our strength for every circumstance comes from Christ, and as we trust in Him, as we turn to Him, and as we allow Him to empower us, we can endure whatever He allows in our lives.