God And I

I may sound a little nasally this morning.

The pollen count is up.

The grass grows.

AND it needs cut.

SPEAKING OF GRASS

Did you ever notice there are things that hide in the grass?

In his ‘Parable of the Acorn’ Lyman Abbot wrote,

I pluck an acorn from the greensward and hold it to my ear, and this is what it says to me:

By and by the birds will come and nest in me.

By and by I will furnish shade for the cattle.

By and by I will provide warmth for the home in the pleasant fire.

By and by I will be the shelter from the storm to those who have gone under the roof.

By and by I will be the strong ribs of the great vessel, and the tempest will bear against me in vain while I carry men across the ocean.

O foolish little acorn, wilt thou be all this? I ask.

Yes, God and I, it answers.

PHILIPPIANS 4: 13

13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENETH ME.

Could he possibly mean this literally?

Did the apostle really believe that there was nothing he could not do?

When the Apostle Paul said that he could do all things, he meant all things which were God’s will for him to do.

He had learned that the Lord’s commands are the Lord’s enablements.

He knew that God would never call on him to accomplish some task without giving the necessary grace.

God doesn’t ask us to do things unless He knows we have the tools to get it done.

Has anyone ever dug through their toolbox looking for a specific size wrench?

We know it’s in there, but where?

That’s how we are with tasks God asks us to do.

God says go and do.

If He says, go and do, we either have or He will give us the tools to use.

Sometimes, however, we have to look for them.

The tools are right there in plain sight, but we don’t see them.

It’s like when the kids need something and claim to have looked all over for it.

Then mom comes in and there it is.

RIGHT WHERE SHE SAID IT WAS IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Paul was confident that he was in the will of God.

He knew that wherever he was, or in whatever he found himself doing, he was there because God wanted him there.

Right living results from right thinking.

If a person’s thought-life is pure, then his life will be pure.

On the other hand, if a person’s mind is a fountain of corruption, then you can be sure that the stream that issues from it will be filthy also.

And we should always remember that if a person thinks an evil thought long enough, he will eventually do it.

Those who are faithful in following Paul’s example are promised that the God of peace will be with them.

God is always very near and dear to all whose lives are patterned after the truth.

The 10 words from PHILIPPIANS 4: 13 enable us to overcome any obstacle.

We can conquer every challenge.

We will fight off every foe.

And we can bear any burden, and shoulder any sacrifice.

13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENETH ME.

Let’s examine the sentence in three phrases.

The first part is “I CAN”

Those are the two most positive words that exist.

We live in a world that tells us that we can’t.

We live in a world where Satan is trying to convince us that we can’t.

He wants us to think that we can’t change and grow.

He wants us to think that we can’t reach the lost or minister to others.

He wants us to think that we can’t make it through our struggles and overcome our problems.

Unfortunately, sometimes we believe him.

Unfortunately, sometimes we develop the “I can’t/ We can’t” attitude.

And when we do, we are just giving into Satan.

We are letting him have his way.

So how can we knock the “T” out of can’t?

We can knock it out through faith and perseverance.

Ultimately, not faith in ourselves, but faith in God.

Perseverance is the ability to keep on going even when the going gets tough.

I think that many times we quit too soon.

In many cases, if we had just continued we would have accomplished what we were trying to accomplish.

BUT WE QUIT TOO SOON.

Through perseverance and faith “I can”, “you can”, “we can.”

The second part of the statement is: “DO ALL THINGS”

There are two words in this part of the statement with which we are likely not comfortable.

The first is the word “DO”.

The word “do” is an important one, but one we often avoid.