I've been asked to bring a message
that would encourage us as we serve the Lord in these days.
And so the text of Scripture that I have chosen is in Philippians
chapter 4, and I want us to look at verses 11 through 13, and
specifically my eye is especially on verse 13. I can do all things
through Him who strengthens me. I had this verse on the wall
of my dormitory when I was in college a long way from home,
and to see verse 13 on a multiple-time basis every day was a great encouragement
to me. So, whatever you're going through,
whatever challenges you're facing, whatever difficulties are before
you, the impact of verse 13 is, if you are there in the will
of God, you can go through this. I can do all things through Him
who strengthens me. And God gives a supernatural
empowering, especially to His ministers when they find themselves
between a rock and a hard place. And just to remind us, the Apostle
Paul as he writes these words, he's not in a palace, he's in
a prison, and he is chained to Roman soldiers. And he's there
because he's a threat to the culture, he will not compromise,
he will not back down, and he is facing his own trial before
Caesar. And as he writes this, not knowing
what will be the outcome of appearing before Caesar, he says, I can
do all things through Him who strengthens me. I can go through
any trial. I can face any difficulty. I
can be stretched to the nth degree. and I will not compromise and
I will not cave in, I will stand strong in the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ." So it is true for every one of us here today
and for everyone who's watching on live stream that Christ in
you is far greater than any difficulty you are facing. So it is with
that in mind, I want us to look at these verses, Philippians
chapter 4 verses 11 through 13, and I think you will see immediately
the relevance for our ministries and for our lives. The Apostle
Paul writes, not that I speak from want, for I've learned to
be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along
with humble means. And I also know how to live in
prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned
the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having
abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
This passage is very appropriate for this conference which has
as its theme the state of the church. It is highly relevant
because we as a church are sailing into stormy seas. We are facing
an increasingly oppressive government like we have never faced before
in this country. In many places, we have been
denied the right to assemble. We have been denied the right
to sing. We have been denied the right to have close fellowship. We've even been denied the right
to have shepherds' conference. And at the same time, we are
watching any semblance of morality vanish from the public square. We are watching the rise of militant
homosexuality, aggressive lesbianism, rampant transgenderism, and multiplying
abortions mounting to the heights of the clouds. And the sin that used to slink
down the back alley is now strutting down Main Street. In fact, that
sin now is in public office. And so, what does this mean for
us as a church? How do we face this? What is
the effect of this coming persecution upon the church? And it is coming. I think a blind man could see
it. Among many things, all of this is separating the wheat
from the tares. It is revealing the true church
from the false church. and it is revealing true preachers
from false preachers. Already we are seeing several
once considered to be evangelical preachers now crumbling under
the pressure to conform with the culture and are renouncing
their evangelicalism, even publicly apologizing. And we are watching
the separation of the pure from the vile. And in the passage
before us, we see a preacher who will not bow, a preacher
who will not budge. We see in this passage a pastor,
a preacher, a missionary, evangelist, a church planner who refused
to compromise. He would not alter his message
to fit the whim of the day. He was willing to go to prison
if need be. You and I need to soak up this
passage. We need this passage working
in us in even deeper ways. And just by reminder, the year
is 61 A.D. And Paul finds himself in Rome. He has always wanted to go to
Rome to preach the gospel. He wanted to go to the nerve
center of the Roman Empire and put the gospel out in the marketplace
of ideas and watch the power of the gospel blow out of the
water the other religious and secular ideologies of the day. Well, he's in Rome, but he had
no idea it would be like this, because his life has taken a
sudden, strange turn that he had not anticipated. He thought
it would be another missionary journey that would take him to
Rome, but instead he is here as a prisoner of the Roman Empire. But he understands that he is
here by divine appointment. I love how in Ephesians he refers
to himself as a prisoner of the Lord, that he is here by the
sovereign will of God, even through this immense trial in which he
finds himself. He is chained to Roman soldiers
twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, confined in one
house under house arrest. And yet, he occupies the time,
he writes four epistles during this time. He ministers to those
who are a part of his traveling entourage. and he is also winning
to Christ the Roman soldiers who are chained to him. He's
just picking them off one at a time. They are the Praetorian
Guard. They are the elite soldiers of the Roman Empire who are a
part of Caesar's own household. And as Paul is here in this confined
prison for two long years, which is an eternity for an active
man like the Apostle Paul. We don't read about a defeated
man here. We read about a man who is triumphant
within his heart and within his soul. And so, as we look at this
passage, I pray that God will infuse this into our very heart
and soul that what was so strong in the heart of the Apostle Paul
will be strong in our hearts because we may soon be finding
ourselves exactly where Paul once was. And so, he's gone before
us, and he provides an example for us. He said to the Corinthians,
remember, imitate me, be an imitator of me. as I imitate Christ. So, let us be an imitator of
Paul even as we look at these verses. There are several things
that I want to draw to your attention, and in verse 11, I want you to
note Paul's sufficiency. Paul's sufficiency because despite
being imprisoned in Rome, in verse 11 he makes this astounding
statement. He begins verse 11 by saying,
not that I speak from want. Paul, have you forgotten where
you are? Have you forgotten what your circumstances are? Paul
is saying to the church in Philippi and he's saying to us that he's
not lacking in anything. He has everything that he needs. He says, not that I speak from
want, for I have learned to be content. Even the Apostle Paul,
arguably the greatest Christian who ever lived, had to learn
this lesson. And just like you and I have
to learn this lesson, it is the lesson to learn to be content. Paul did not always know how
to be content. He had to grow in order to learn
this lesson, and this took time. This didn't just happen overnight.
It took place through many trials. This word for content, it's the
only time it's used in the entire New Testament. It's a very rare
word, just as rare as the virtue of contentment is. In the margin
of the New American Standard, it says self-sufficient. I've
learned to be self-sufficient. And we normally think of self-sufficiency
as a negative, but as Paul is using it here, he's taking a
word out of the culture of the day and, in essence, Christianizing
it and using it here. And the idea of the word is self-sufficient,
and we'll find out in verse 13, it's not a self-sufficiency,
it is a Christ-sufficiency. The word was used, for example,
of a country that had all of the natural resources that are
needed to thrive and to have a prosperous nation. Nothing
needs to be imported from the outside. Nothing needs to be
brought in from another country. We are sufficient within our
own borders. And that is the word that Paul
is using here. that though my body is in prison, nevertheless,
nothing needs to be brought in from the outside. I am perfectly
content. right here where I am because
God has me where I'm supposed to be. I don't need to be propped
up. I don't need anything else to
fill some hole in my soul. I am content within myself because
of what God has deposited within me. We'll talk about that more
in just a minute. And then he adds, in whatever
circumstance I am. There in verse 11, whether good
times or bad times, whether I'm surrounded by supportive believers
or hostile unbelievers, whether I'm being welcomed into town
or whether I'm being run out of town. In whatever circumstance,
I am content. Paul had to learn this. He had
to learn this. in the school of hard knocks.
His classroom was a furnace of affliction. It was a valley of
persecution. It was in the depths of despair
that Paul has learned to be content because he's passed through these
fires many times. He learned to be content in the
opposition he faced in Pisidi and Antioch. in the stoning at
Lystra, in the beatings at Philippi, in the uproar at Thessalonica,
at the mockings in Athens, the blasphemies in Corinth, the plots
against His life in Jerusalem, the shipwreck in the Mediterranean.
Through all of this, Paul was learning to be content because
he was being stripped of any other false security, any other
crutch he could lean on. It just left himself spiritually
naked with only God. This is a lesson that you and
I must learn. We must learn to be content.
We must learn how not to faint in the flames of affliction.
We must learn not to be anxious for anything and learn how to
commit all things to the Lord in prayer, as verses 6 and 7
in this passage teach us. But this is Paul's sufficiency. And I want to remind you of your
sufficiency, the sufficiency of Christ. Is He not sufficient
for everything? The sufficiency of the Holy Spirit?
The sufficiency of Scripture? If you were to be locked up in
solitary confinement, like some of our brothers and sisters are
right now around the world. Not only would you simply survive,
you would thrive because of your sufficiency. Nothing else needs
to be imported from the outside. You already have it inside of
you. This leads second to Paul's secret
in verse 12. I mean, how can Paul be so content
I don't know that I would be content just to be very transparent
and very honest with you. How can Paul be so filled up
and sufficient at a time like this? Well, he tells us that
he learned the secret, and you and I need to learn this secret.
He begins verse 12 by saying, I know. And just stop right there.
There is a heavy emphasis here in verse 12 upon Paul knowing
and Paul learning. The word know is mentioned twice
in verse 12. Learned is mentioned in verse
12 and in verse 11. And this isn't just cognitive
knowledge, this is cognitive knowledge that becomes experiential
knowledge where it's not just in your head and not just in
a notebook, but it's in your heart and it revibrates in your
very soul. And Paul says, I know. Where has he learned this? I
know. He's learned it in jail cells.
He's learned it in city riots. He's learned it as he's been
drugged through the streets to stand before a magistrate or
a tribunal. He's learned it while he's been
in chains. He's learned it when he's been
knocked on his back and thrown to the ground, and he's on his
knees and forced to look up perhaps as never before. And so, we ask,
so what did he learn? Well, this is what he learned. He tells us in verse 12, I know
how to get along with humble means. Interesting to get along
with humble means. It's just one word in the original
Greek, and the word really just means to be made low, to be brought
low. And we could say to be humbled. To come to the end of yourself,
the ESV puts it, I know how to be brought low. It means to be
put into meager circumstances and humble conditions in which
there's a financial shortage, there's a food shortage, there's
a sleep shortage, and it's when you've been brought
low to these places that God becomes all the more sufficient. And then he adds, and I also
know how to live in prosperity. And please note the two opposite
extremes here from brought low in humility and then how to live
in prosperity from the depths to the heights, and that's a
literary device. We call it inclusio. which is
like the bookends or brackets around the whole, and what is
implied is, and every other circumstance in between. And I also know how to live in
prosperity. The word prosperity here means to have more than
I need, have more food than I can eat, have more clothes than I
can wear. It literally means, this word
for prosperity literally means to be over the number, to have more than what I actually
need. And then he says, in every circumstance,
I've learned the secret. Paul, you're going to have to
tell us what this secret is because I need to know what this secret
is. Well, this secret is insider information. It is only known by those who
have been brought through fiery trials where all you have is Christ. The word, or multiple words,
learned the secret, again it's just one word in the original,
and it literally means, I'm initiated. The word was used in the Hellenistic
mystery religions that when you were admitted into the mystery
religion, they give you the secret handshake. They give you the
secret information. When I was in college, I was
a member of fraternity. That's kind of a confession of
sin. And I remember in my initiation,
it was a Greek fraternity. We were given the secret handshake,
and when we'd see one another on campus, there was a way that
you would let others know you were a part of it. I just gave
it to you. We were too cool for school.
That's the word that's used here, that there's something here yet
deeper to know, and it's not a mysticism. No, it's an experiential
knowledge of what you know in your head now has become vitally
real in your life. That's what Paul is saying. I've
learned the secret, he says, of being filled. And
the word filled here literally means to be well-fed, of having
my stomach filled, having my pocket filled, having my house
filled, of being filled and going hungry. That's quite a drastic
extreme, is it not? Last week in Dallas, Texas, we
went from minus two degrees to eighty-one degrees in like three
days. I mean, that's quite a variance.
And that's what Paul is saying here. I've lived the full spectrum
of life in my ministry. I have been at the depths of
despair, and I've been at the heights of ecstasy. I've been
without. I've been with. But Paul is saying
that doesn't affect my soul. He says, I'm being filled and
going hungry. And the word hungry here means
to feel the hunger pains. You have just enough food to
keep you alive. And then he adds, and this is
all parallelism, both of having abundance. And this word for
abundance is one of the most interesting Greek words. It just
simply means to have more than I need, more than what is necessary. But then he adds, in suffering
need, which means to come short of really what's needed, I have
just enough to keep me alive. This is a lesson in contentment
that every one of us must learn. And the high cost of following
Christ is learned in the school of discipleship
that involves sacrifice and even suffering and even persecution,
and it's not an elective course. It's a core course. Paul actually writes in his second
pastoral epistle to Timothy, all who desire to live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3, 12,
and Peter says, don't be surprised when this fiery ordeal has come
upon you as if something strange has happened to you. This is
par for the course. So we would ask, okay, Paul,
so it is the secret that has helped you with this sufficiency. So, spell out the secret. And in this context, in verse
13, I want you to see Paul's strength, because here's the
secret. The secret he mentions in verse
12, he now spells out for us in verse 13. He says, I can do all things. Let's
just stop right there. We know the difference between
may and can. May is a word of permission. Can is a word of
ability. There are many things you may
do, but you just cannot do. You don't have the ability to
do what you have permission to do. And what Paul is saying here,
he doesn't say, I might do, I could do, I hope to do, I want to do. There's nothing wishy-washy here. It's only very emphatic. I can do. The verb means to have
power, to prevail. There is an inner power within
Paul that enables him to persevere and to endure. through this very
difficult time, and it doesn't originate with Paul. It originates,
as we'll see in a moment, with Christ. The two words, all things, are
in what we call the emphatic position, meaning they're front-loaded
at the beginning of the sentence in order to draw our attention.
It's the most important part of this. All things I can do
is literally how it's translated. All things that God requires
of me, all things that are within the will of God, all things that
God calls me to do, I can do. Now, all things needs some clarification. It does not mean that I can do
all sin through Him who strengthens me. Christ is not enabling anyone
to sin. It does not mean that...or Paul
does not mean that I can do all supernatural feats. I mean, Paul
cannot jump over the Mediterranean Sea. And this does not relieve
Paul of his personal responsibility to avail himself to the means
of grace. This doesn't just automatically
click in that I can do all things and not be devoted in prayer,
and not be in the Word, and not to be a worshiper of God. Now, there's human responsibility
that comes with this, that is stated in other passages, like
in chapter 2 verse 12, work out your salvation in fear and trembling. There's great duty that is incumbent
upon us. And as I look at verse 13, and
as we together look at verse 13, what strikes me is that this
is autobiographical. Paul writes this in first person
singular, I, me. I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me. And as we remember, he's imprisoned,
he's chained to Roman guards 24 hours a day, seven days a
week for two long years. He nevertheless says, I can do
all things. He's not going to throw in the
towel, He's going to eat the towel. I can endure this trial
as long as God has me in this trial. He will give me the grace
to go through it. I can persevere through this
troublesome time. I mean, sometimes we think in
our mind, I just can't go on any further. I can't...I can't
endure this situation in which I find myself. And the answer
to that is, oh yes, you can. By the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we need this verse back at the forefront of our Christian
ministry. I can do all things. that He
calls me to do. I can do all things that the
providence of God throws at me. I can remain bold in the face
of persecution. I can be courageous in the face
of my enemies. I can witness to these soldiers
who are chained to me. I can know peace in the midst
of the storm. I can encourage those around
me in this imprisonment. I can remain true to the gospel. I can remain true to my calling. I can bring glory to God. I can
do all things. And what was true for Paul is
true for you and is true for me. That's Paul's strength. And that leads us to the end
of this verse. The fourth thing that I want
to set before you is Paul's source. So where does Paul find this
strength? And we all know what the answer is. And Paul tells
us here. It's the same place where you
find strength as you find yourself, maybe at the end of your rope,
in a very dark and difficult situation. Greater is He who's
in you than he who's in the world. He says in verse 13, I can do
all things, here it is now, through Him who strengthens me. The preposition through is not
dia, it's actually in. It speaks of our union with Christ. It speaks of our communion with
Christ. It speaks of By virtue of our
union in Christ, all of His resources are now available to me as I
abide in Christ and as He abides in me. Him refers to the second
person of the Trinity. It refers to the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself who is co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father. We know
that at the last verse of this chapter, the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit, that's in contrast to the first
person of the Trinity, like at the end of verse 18, well-pleasing
to God, that's God the Father. And when this epistle began in
chapter 1 verse 2, He said, "'Grace to you and peace from 1, God
our Father, and 2, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Paul's epistles, when
he refers to Lord, kurios, he's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, I can do all things through
Him, through Christ who strengthens me. This verb strengthens has the
English word...comes into the English language dynamite, dynamic,
explosive power, supernatural power, power that is far greater
than any challenge we will ever face. When he says, who strengthens
me, he means who empowers me, who enables me, who energizes
me. Paul here is testifying to the
Philippians and to us that this power does not originate with
him. It's the one who is at work within him unleashing omnipotence
within me. Now, what can we say about the
strength that Christ provides? I want to tell you six things
about this strength, six things about this power. Number one,
it's all sufficient. It is all sufficient to face
any and every difficulty and challenge and trial and tribulation
that we will ever be up against. It is all sufficient. It is far
greater than He says in 2 Corinthians 12 and in verse 9, listen to
this, my grace is sufficient for you. And this grace he's
referring to is dynamic, enabling, energizing power of God. He said it's sufficient for you. The word sufficient here means
it's far greater than what my need is. It's not like I have
a great need and a small amount of power, it's the other way
around. I have a lot of weakness, He has a lot of power. My grace
is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." There's no one who's too weak
for God to use, only someone who's too powerful in themselves
for God to use. He says, most gladly, therefore,
I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power
of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I'm well content with
weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions,
with difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then
I am strong." You and I provide the weakness. Christ provides
the strength. It's all sufficient. And you
may think, I just don't have the strength to carry on where
the Lord has placed me. Praise the Lord, you're exactly
where you need to be. The Christian life's not hard,
it's impossible. It can only be lived by His enabling
grace, which is more than sufficient for us to fulfill every demand
that God will ever place upon us. It's all sufficient. Second,
it's comprehensive. It strengthens the whole person,
mind, affections, or heart and will. This...this power of Christ
strengthens the mind that we can remain mentally focused and
sharp. It strengthens the heart. that
we don't emotionally collapse on the inside, and it strengthens
the will that we have a resilience that makes us indefatigable,
that we can persevere. And the perseverance of the saints
is in reality the perseverance of the Savior in the saints. It's comprehensive. From the
top of your head to the bottom of your feet, every inch and
every ounce of you, His strength fills you and floods you with
His power. Third, it's internal. Meaning
it's at the very deepest part of our innermost being, this
strength. It's from the inside out. It doesn't just lay on the
facade of our outer man. It's not a superficial strength. No, it's a supernatural strength,
but at the very depth of our being, like the engine of a car,
you lift up the hood and that engine is what's driving everything. Lift up the hood of your soul
and down at the bottom there is this power of God that is
at work in varying degrees in every believer. Third, or excuse me, fourth,
it's mediated, meaning it's not automatic. This power that fortifies
us and enables us to fulfill the will of God upon our lives
and to fulfill the call of God upon our lives, it is released
within us by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace. This power is unleashed within
us through prayer. It is unleashed by being in the
Word and the Word being in us. It is unleashed by Colossians
3.16, let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you. In other
words, to make its home within you. It brings the power. As the Word comes in, the power
comes in. It is made full in us through
meditation on the Word, through obedience to the Word. Disobedience
cuts off the power. Obedience flips the switch and
there's greater power. It is mediated through our submission
to the lordship of Christ. It is mediated through our confession
of sin. and through our worship of God
and through our fellowship with other believers. This strength
for Paul to be under house arrest for two long years, chained to
a Praetorian guard, it doesn't just automatically happen in
him or in anyone who's passive, only as we are actively pursuing
these means of grace. And then fifth, it's necessary. You couldn't take one step forward
in the will of God apart from this power, not one step. Jesus said to His disciples in
John 15 verse 5, apart from Me, you can do Nothing. Nothing of any real, eternal,
lasting significance. You might be able to brush your
teeth. You might be able to take the
trash out. Unbelievers can do that. But
for you to follow Christ and to imitate
Christ and to witness for Christ and to preach the Word of God
and to teach and to do all of those things that are required
of us as believers. We can only do this in the power
and in the strength that Christ provides. And so it's absolutely
necessary. And without it, we would falter
and fail. He says earlier in chapter 2
and verse 13 of Philippians, it is God who is at work within
you, both to will and to work. Proper order there. First His
sovereign will, then His all-sufficient power. For it is God who is at
work within you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. We need to be reminded of this. that we can do nothing in the
Christian life of any eternal value apart from this strength. It's non-negotiable. And then sixth and finally, it's
focused upon Christ. The fullness of Christ's power
is unleashed in the life of the one who is living for Christ. If you live for yourself, There's
no power from Christ for that. You're on your own. If it is
to promote yourself, advance yourself, there's no power from
Christ to enable you to present yourself. It is only
as you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Only as you are riveted upon Christ and living for Christ
with singular vision does He give this power. He said earlier
in chapter 1 verse 21, for me to live is Christ. His whole
Christian life was Christ. For Paul, Christianity was simply
believing Christ, loving Christ, adoring Christ, worshiping Christ,
following Christ, obeying Christ, serving Christ, preaching Christ,
teaching Christ. Everything was Christ. And that's
why He then said, and to die is gain. Why? Because He goes
to be with Christ. And so, this omnipotence is unleashed
in us to enable us to do what we could never otherwise do in
the midst of trials and difficulties in our ministries and in our
lives except that we be focused on
Christ. And so, this is Paul's testimony
to us. This is Paul's testimony to you and to me. There are no
easy places to serve the Lord. No matter where the Lord has
sovereignly placed you and no matter where you're listening
to this from around the world, there are no easy places to serve
the Lord. We're all in the midst of spiritual
warfare. We're all in the midst of fighting
the world, the flesh, and the devil. And we need this strength. Isaiah spoke of this strength
in Isaiah 40 and verse 29, which is just a restatement of this
secret long before Paul ever wrote it. But in Isaiah 40 verse
29, he says, God gives strength to the weary. And to him who
lacks might, he increases power. Verse 30, though youths grow
weary and tired, youths who have indomitable strength,
who never hardly are worn out. Even when they come finally to
the end of all their bound-up energy, though youths grow weary
and tired, and vigorous young men, the strongest of young men,
stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength, strength
upon strength. They will mount up with wings
like eagles. They will soar above the times
in which they live. They will run and not get tired.
They will sprint into the will of God. They will walk and not
become weary. They will be increasing their
stride as they move forward by faith in their life. This is
what Isaiah is saying. That's what Paul is saying. Paul
said the same to the Ephesians when he prayed in Ephesians 3
verse 16 that God would grant you according to the riches of
His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit
in the inner man. That's what we need to pray for
ourselves. This is what we need to pray
for one another. This is what we need to pray for others, that
God's supernatural power and strength
would enable those who are weary and tired to mount up with wings
like eagles and run and not be tired and walk and not stumble. Paul said the same in Colossians
128, we who are preachers understand this. We proclaim Him, referring
to Christ, admonishing every man and teaching every man with
all wisdom. For this purpose I labor, striving."
Paul, how can you labor and strive and teach and admonish and proclaim? He says, according to His power,
which mightily works within me. There is no explanation for the
Apostle Paul apart from the supernatural power of God that was enabling
him to do what seems to us to be inconceivable, but Paul would
say to us, no, you don't understand. I just supplied the weakness. God supplied the power. Paul said the same to Timothy
in his farewell epistle in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1. I love this
verse. You therefore, my son, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. There is no grace outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the sole mediator of this
enabling grace that empowers us to minister, to preach, and
to enable us to do what God calls us to do, it's all bound up in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the closer we draw to Christ,
the more of His grace and power is poured out in us. Peter says
that, may grace be multiplied to you. John writes in his prologue,
grace upon grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. So, I'm not certain what all of us
are facing. I just see the gathering storm
on the horizon. I see the dark clouds overhead. I hear the rumbling of the thunder
of a godless culture and a godless society all around us. I see
the lightning strikes. I see the storm that is headed
this way. I just know that as we are in ministry
and as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul's testimony must be the
reality of our ministry. I can do all things through Him
who strengthens me." And so, as I bring this to conclusion,
let me ask you this question, are you content where you are? Do you see the sufficiency that
you have with all of the riches of Christ that are within you? Have you learned the secret?
Can you say, I can do all things? Can you say, I can endure any
and every trial? I can triumph over all of these
difficulties? Are you weak enough for God to
infuse His power in you? No matter what the greater challenges
that lie before us just right around the corner, perhaps with
the rising of the sun in the morning, the power of Christ is far greater and He will enable us to do everything
that within His sovereign will He calls us to do. Let us pray. Father in heaven, you delight in reaching all the
way to the bottom of the barrel to find most of your servants.
And that is where you found us, the bottom of a pit in the midst
of our sin. And by your sovereign grace,
you laid hold of us and you called us into relationship with Christ,
into fellowship with Christ. Father, that was only the beginning,
and we understand that. And so, we have no idea of what
will be required of us tomorrow and next week and next month.
We just know that You're with us, that You'll never forsake
us, that You are in us, and that You are more than enough. to
empower us and to strengthen us by Your Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to do all things. May this reality be lived out
in each of our lives. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.