Good
Morning All!!
Philippians 4:13; “I can do
all things through him who strengthens me.”
Do you
remember the story of the little train that could? This was the little train that made it over
the mountain by saying, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” Then when it made it over the mountain it
said, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”
This is one of the first stories that children read and it is designed
to encourage children to try new things and to have confidence in their ability
to succeed.
I used to use the contrarian
version of this when I coached baseball.
I would tell my players that if they thought that they would fail then
they would fail. If a batter thought he
would strike out then he would more than likely strike out. It is similar in the idea that you have to
have confidence in your ability to succeed.
If you lack confidence then you can almost guarantee that you will fail.
Paul is telling us something
similar. When we read “I can do all
things” it might be better to read it as “I can endure all things”. Paul isn’t telling us that we are the little
engine that could. There are things we
cannot do. I cannot swim or run a mile
in 5 minutes. This is not what Paul is
telling us. He doesn’t mean that with
enough determination we will be successful; he means that by clinging to our
faith, we can endure everything that the devil and this world can throw at
us. We will endure until the end when we
receive our crown of righteousness.
God gives us the power to
endure. It might not be the power to
avoid. We may experience some of the
worst things that the world will throw at us.
It might be health problems or relationship problems or any one of a
myriad of other events and tragedies.
The world is still a broken place and still suffers from the ravages of
sin. Pain still occurs but we know that
through it all, we will endure. Our
eternal hope is secure because of Jesus and his sacrifice. Because of that we can endure everything for
it is through Christ’s atoning work that we have salvation.
No matter what the devil
throws at us, no matter how much he may try and torment you with his whispers
of doubt and lies of despair. We can endure it through the strength of Christ. We can do all things through him who
strengthens us. We can endure, persevere
and then prevail. God has promised us
the eternal success of our salvation. We
will be restored, body and soul, when Christ returns. But until we meet him in glory, we will wait
and we will endure for God’s grace goes with us.
Father of all grace and
mercy, because of your undying love we will endure. You have promised to restore us to perfection
with you. We wait in your loving arms. Be with those who feel that they are at the
end of their strength. Be with those who
are wavering under the weight of the devil’s attacks. Protect those who face
the danger of the hurricane. In Jesus’
precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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