Week Four - Without Strength

Is God able?  Well, of course, He is.  We might be better to ask, “Are we able to trust Him?”  “Are we able to do anything about our situation?”  “Are we able to make it through?”  “Will we survive?”

   As I contemplate all I hope to accomplish this coming year, my mind gets torn with all the what-ifs and if-onlys. I find myself discontent, struggling, fearful, and burdened down by the prospects. Why do I feel so tattered and frayed?

   And what does God say to me in prayer? “Trust me, Gail.  Keep moving forward and take those steps of faith.  I’m right beside you. The blessing is on the other side.  You aren’t meant to stay here!”   
   Then, He starts putting up signposts—scriptures, little sayings, and words of encouragement that point my eyes back into the upward gaze.  I’m His child; He isn’t going to leave me without guidance.

   Here is one such signpost that triggered me to meditate for days. 

   “Can God find me a job or provide food for my children?  Can God keep me from yielding to that besetting sin? Can God extricate me from this terrible snare in which I am entangled?  Rather say this, “God Can!”  That will clear up many a problem.  That will bring you through many a difficulty in your life.  There is no strength in unbelief.  He can do new things, unheard-of things, hidden things.  Let us enlarge our hearts and not limit Him.  We must set our faith on a God of whom men do not know what He hath prepared for them that wait for Him.  The wonder-doing God…must be the God of our confidence.”  (Springs in the Valley p. 24)

   Boldly put—There is no strength in unbelief.  Unbelief?  I feel torn, tattered, and confused because I am not believing?  That is exactly right!  When I forget He is a wonder-doing God, I start trying to do everything myself.  When I get overly anxious and stop waiting on His timing and hand, I push myself into a tizzy.  When I limit Him, my world spins down to a little blob with me in the center.

   All of these, and more, are actions of unbelief.  Unbelief is the source of my weariness and creates discontent and fear, leaving me stripped of spiritual power.  My Lord wants much more for me!  My confidence returns when my faith is placed solely in Him. 

   I looked up from my prayer and devotion to see another sign standing on my bookshelf—For Nothing is Impossible with God.

 

  What about you?  Are you facing hard trials?  Is life not working out as you hoped?  Do you feel entangled in a snare, boxed in with no way out?  If you continue a pattern of unbelief, you will stay there!  Only faith has the power to lift you out and give you the strength to endure.

   Sometimes we are guilty of forgetting we are in a spiritual war.  Our enemy goal is to keep us from prayer, from looking up in faith, and from trusting God and moving forward.  He wants us to feel defeated, discouraged and confused. 

    There is no need for unbelief when we have the strength-giving promises of God.  God is able to turn the bleakest situation into the dawn of a new day and the most dreadful fear to dissolve into peace and joy right before your eyes. 

God is able to do more than you ask or imagine – “He is able to do abundantly, exceedingly above all that we think or ask.” Ephesians 3:20

God is able to provide for you – “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”  2 Corinthians 9:8

God is able to deliver you – “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour (help) them that are tempted.” Hebrews 2:18

God is able to keep what you have committed to him – “…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”  2 Timothy 1:12

God is able to establish you – “Now to him that is of power (able) to stablish you according to my gospel.” Romans 16:25

God is able to keep you from falling – “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”  Jude 24

God is able to save you to the end – “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”  Hebrews 7:25

God is able to secure you eternally – “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”  John 10:28, 29

So, I ask you, “Is He able?”

Jesus asks you, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?”  Matthew 9:28

We must reply, “Lord, we believe.  Help thou our unbelief!”

I pray you find strength in believing!