Twelve Can Do's For Life's Can't Do Attitudes

Twelve Can Do’s for Life’s Can’t Do Attitudes (Phil 4:13)

"I can do everything you ask me to do with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power." (Phil. 4:13 - Living Bible)

"I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me. I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength within me. I have become self-sufficient through Christ’s sufficiency." (Amplified)

Illustration: Dr. Robert Clinton, a leadership professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, notes that 70 percent of leaders don’t finish well. He has identified six common traits of leaders who quit running the race effectively:

1. They lose their learning posture.

2. The attractiveness of their character wanes.

3. They stop living by their convictions.

4. They fail to leave behind ultimate contributions.

5. They stop walking in an awareness of their influence and destiny.

6. They lose their once vibrant relationship with God. Look those six traits over very carefully and answer this question: Have any of these self-destructive time bombs crept into your life to any degree? Think this life through with me a little here. Starting well is beneficial. Staying the course is critical. But if we don’t finish well that tends to be our legacy regardless of how we started or lived most of our lives. It doesn’t seem fair, but the truth is that we will be remembered most for how we finished. Therefore, finishing well is something to which we all should give some serious thought.

Paul buoys himself and the Philippians with a promise from God that encompasses twelve can do’s that are antidotes for the poison of "can’t do attitudes":

Illustration: Syeed was a Bengali guard hired by missionary Tom McDonald to protect the property of a Christian hospital under construction in Bangladesh. As Jay Walsh tells the story in his book Ripe Mangoes, a Muslim named Syeed noticed another worker, Monindra, reading an unfamiliar book.

One day Syeed visited Monindra to ask what he was reading. "That’s a Christian Bible," he replied. The Bible was so precious to Monindra that when Syeed asked to see it, he refused. But Syeed would not be denied. For nearly a week he would sneak into Monindra’s quarters, take the Bible to a secluded place to read, and then return it unnoticed.

Then one day Syeed could not be found. After a short search, he was discovered kneeling before that Bible, calling out, "Lord Jesus, save me!" As the months and years passed, Syeed suffered severe persecution for his beliefs, yet he never backed down from the decision he made that day while reading a "borrowed" Bible.

The Word of God is indeed powerful. It did for Syeed what it did for the author of Psalm 119. It gave him life, comfort, and courage (vv.50-53). (Our Daily Bread)

1. Capability - Christ gives us the ability to do everything that God wants us to accomplish. Apart from Him we are incapable to do anything for eternity. We are enabled with supernatural perceiving, speaking and engaging capacities that are evidence of the Holy Spirit working supernatural proof of His capabilities. Praise God that He makes us competent to do everything He asks us to do with the help of Christ who gives us the strength and power.

Illustration: Jesus took the five loaves and the two small fish from the little boy in John 6 and used them to feed five thousand with full satisfaction. Commit whatever you have to the Lord, your time, talent, treasures and concerns to Him and He will transform it into something that will do miracles. Stop holding on to things that will not last for eternity. Let the Lord be your bureau of exchange that takes our meager gifts and uses them to do great and mighty things beyond our imaginations. God is the greatest change agent who contends for us.

Illustration: When I went to Nigeria as a seminary teacher in 1981 it became clear that I needed the supernatural wisdom, strength and cross-cultural communication skills to succeed in my ministries. All the theology and ministerial experience were inadequate in comparison to the daily capabilities the Holy Spirit provided in relating the message of the scripture in a way that produced hundreds of church planters, pastors and theological educators from the Jos ECWA/SIM theological seminary for nearly twenty years. God gave abilities that supernaturally enabled me to be relevant, effective and fruit-producing eventually resulting in the starting of 650 new churches.

Quote:So, be your task great or small, God wants to use you to be a part of his plans and what he is doing in your world today. All we need is to be available. As the anonymous poet wrote:

One song can spark a moment,

One flower can wake the dream.