As Hope begins our new series Christian or Disciple, I think it’s important for us as humans to understand our very limited capabilities as well as the very limitless capabilities of God.

Some of the most frustrating things we may experience as humans is overcoming adversity. Adversity comes in many different forms, and it is quite often unwarranted. Adversity may occur without rhyme or reason. It may come in the form of losing a loved one, trouble in marriage or with your children, or even through the poor attitude of a coworker. However, God consistently used adversity to shape some of the greatest figures in scripture.

One of the greatest leaders in scripture was Moses. If we closely examine Exodus 3 and 4, where God first speaks to Moses and gives him the mission to go and speak with the Pharaoh, we observe that Moses was extremely reluctant to answer the call of God. Moses understood the adversity that he was presented with, but he did not understand that power of the God of whom he served.

Again and again Moses told God that he was unable to carry out God’s mission for his life. Yet again and again God’s responses may be simply paraphrased as, “You’re right. You can’t, but I can.”

For disciples on a personal level that translates to, “I can’t, but GOD CAN.”

What if we had the humility and the boldness in our faith to believe that truth? What if we carried ourselves daily with that thought reminiscing through our minds? Would it transform our minds and influence our interactions with others? I believe so. In fact, I know so.

In the earliest stages in my personal journey into ministry I discovered many weaknesses about myself. I discovered that I am far more introverted than I had previously determined. People quite literally exhaust my energy from me. I allowed the knowledge of this weakness to make excuses for myself. I fed myself lies that I could not possibly do effective ministry due to my lack of energy with people. I didn’t trust God to strengthen me.

A pastor spoke truth into my life and told me to begin faithfully praying for God to strengthen me. So that’s exactly what I did. Daily, I lifted my troubles to God with complete faith that He would strengthen me. This proved to be fruitful as God began providing me with the necessary energy to interact with more and more people effectively.

God can help us endure and even overcome adversity if we place our faith solely in Him. We are at our strongest when we are completely dependent on the power of God.

That is the truth of Philippians 4:13 which states, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Paul wrote that in a moment of desperation. Despite being in jail and on the brink of death, he knew that his faith in God would not cause his ministry to fail.

We must understand that we can’t, but God can. Only when we put our trust fully in God will we begin to experience all that he can do through us. May God use us all for the furthering of His Kingdom.

God Bless.

 


Pastor Anthony