Yes! I Can!

(Philippians 4:13) "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  Two years ago when President Barack Obama was campaigning on the theme of "hope and change" he would utter a cliche which said "Yes we can." According to his mentality, that was his way of hoodwinking the American people and instead he was in actuality saying, "Yes, we can and will transform America into a socialist nation." That's Obama's idea of "Yes, we can". Last Friday on the Glenn Beck program on Fox News he stated that he was adopting a new slogan which says, "Yes, I can!" I thought that would be a very fitting title to the post with this passage of scripture in the book of Philippians. 

One of the most popular quotes is Philippians 4:13. Christians quote this quite often. Some people have magnets with that scripture on their refrigerator. It's very easy to quote that scripture. Believing that scripture is a different story. I remember an evangelist by the name of Dr. Stinnett Ballew who preached a message seven years ago entitled, "It's Beyond Me." That's a very true statement. That's why Philippians 4:13 states I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. There are things that we can do in the spiritual realm only because of Christ. There are some things that's impossible in the natural realm, but it can be accomplished in the spiritual realm.  For example, God has given us the privilege of prayer.  We can petition our requests to God.  We can pray for somebody that's on the verge of dying.  Through the power of prayer, we can prayer for the individual that's lying on their deathbed and if it's God's will for them to be healed, He will raise that person from their deathbed.  We read much in the Bible about the power of prayer.  That's true.  However, our prayers our only as powerful as the prayers that God hears and answers.  If we're praying in the Spirit (I'm not speaking about praying in tongues), then there's power in prayer.  It's imperative that when we're praying, we're in tune with God.  Anytime we're praying and God's on the other end, then great things can happen.  Just recently there was a young woman in our church who has lupus.  She's been in the hospital since August.  Back in September, the doctors gave her very little chance of survival.  However, due to the merging of the prayers of the church and God's will, she's been steadily improving in the last couple of months.  She still has a long way to go to physical recovery, but the Lord performed a great miracle in our midst.  To God be the glory!  God answers prayer!  Through the prayer of God's people, God can do great things.

In order to make that scripture a reality in our own personal lives we must "let go and let God."  We must be obedient to God's will.  We must follow His commandments.  I need to clarify that Philippians 4:13 doesn't apply to foolish stunts.  You must use some sense.  For example, don't defy gravity and attempt to jump out the window and think you can fly in the air like Superman.  If you try that trick, you'll fall to the ground and break every bone in your body.  God's not going to allow us to defy the forces of gravity to perform a foolish stunt.  God's not making reference to being able to perform foolish stunts through Christ's strength.  God wants to show the world His glory.  He'll show the world His Glory through us as we follow Him.  He desires for us to be a willing vessel.  Psalms 37:4 says that we are to delight ourselves in the Lord and he will give us the desires of our heart.  If we delight ourselves in the Lord, then our own personal will be change.  Our will is going to mirror God's will.  Our desires will be His desires.  There are some pastors who desire for the church to go in a certain direction concerning God's will for the church.  There are many pastors that try to steer their congregation in a certain direction, but they have church members that won't yield themselves to follow the pastor's direction, and as a result, they won't fulfill Philippians 4:13 as a congregation.  We can quote that scripture from dawn to dusk, but if we aren't willing to yield ourselves unto obedience to God, then that scripture won't be proven to the world.  If we're not willing to submit our will to the Lord, then quoting that scripture will be meaningless.  It's through our obedience to His word will be able to do all things through Christ.  Our will and our way has to be submitted unto the Lord.  If a congregation will submit their will and ways unto the Lord, then the pastor won't have a difficult time leading God's flock.  The problem is there are too many church members that aren't willing to allow Philippians 4:13 to become a reality in their life.  We won't submit ourselves to God and we won't trust God.  We must submit to God and have faith in the Lord in order to be able to do all things in Christ which strengtheneth me.

The Bible is replete with examples of those that trusted God and as a result, they were able to do great things through Christ that would be considered humanly impossible.  In Genesis 21:2-3, you read about the birth of Isaac.  Isaac was the promise that God gave to Abraham.  God told Abraham and his wife Sarah in a few chapters back that they would begat a son.  They didn't believe it because of their age.  However, God's no respector of age.  God eventually made good on his promise and Isaac was born.  In Joshua 6:3-5, the Lord gave instructions for the children of Israel to march around Jericho and blow their trumpets.  God was going to perform a miracle and allow the walls to tumble down.  God's instructions to the children of Israel didn't appear to make sense naturally speaking.  How is marching around Jericho and blowing the trumpets going to cause the walls to tumble down?  God's ways are higher than man's.  The Israelites obeyed God and in verse 20 the walls came tumbling.  They played a part in that happening due to their obedience to God's instruction.  Another example was the prophet Elijah in I Kings 17 when he went to the widow of Zarephath.  There was a famine in that land.  He came over and told the widow to use the cruise of oil and the meal to make him a cake.  The widow did as instructed in verses 10-16.  The cruise wasted not and there was plenty remaining until it rained.  God rewarded her obedience.  She proved she could do all things through Christ.  She was going to make what was left for her and her son and then they were going to die.  However, God had other plans.  God worked through her when she followed the instructions of the prophet Elijah. 

There might be some areas in your life you're having trouble in trusting God with.  You may be having an issue with finances or are trying to make a decision about some direction in your life.  You may be praying about doing something that's virtually impossible in the flesh.  You may be struggling with trusting God in a particular area.  God may desire to perform great things in your midst.  In order for that to take place, you must trust Him.  You must submit to the Lord and trust Him.  Until we're willing to do those two things Philippians 4:13 won't become a reality in our lives.  We must present ourselves as a willing vessel in order for us to do all things through Christ. Instead of the attitude, "No, I can't", let's exchange "Yes, I can" in place of it.  Any person that's saved has the ability to do all things through Christ.  Christ is the one that enables us.  It's not through our own flesh, but through Christ.  Matthew 11:28-30 says to come unto him all that labour and are heavy laden and He will give us rest.  We must come to that point in our life is we're going to trust that we can do all things through Christ.  We must lay our burdens and all our cares at his feet.  If we will do that it will make a difference how much lighter our burden is.  It will enable us to trust Christ and allow Him to do what he desires in and through us.  What a blessing it is to grasp that truth!  We can do all things through Christ if we will just allow him to have His way in our hearts and lives.