God is Able
by Dr. Gary S.
Linton
Do
you believe God can do anything? Is there something you’re facing that makes
you wonder if God is able to handle it? There are five accounts in the Bible
where God declared that nothing is too difficult for Him.
When Confronting Abraham about
Sarah’s Laughter and Unbelief
Abraham
was entertaining three persons who appeared to him (God appearing in human
form) and they gave him the promise of having a son. Abraham and Sarah were
advanced in age and way past child bearing age.
I
assume she had already gone through menopause. It was impossible for them to
have a child in the natural. Sarah heard the promise from her tent door and
laughed. And the Lord said, “Is anything too difficult for the LORD” (Genesis
18:14)?
Is
there something you feel God has promised you that seems impossible? It may be
so outlandish that if you told someone they would laugh. God’s question for you
today is the same question He asked Abraham, “Is anything too difficult for the
LORD” (Genesis 18:14)?
In Relation to God’s Purposes Being
Fulfilled
In
the midst of all his trouble, trials and testings, Job said, “I know that You
can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You” (Job
42:2). What are you presently going through? What trial or time of testing are
you facing? Do you believe God can do anything, and that nothing can thwart His
purposes from being fulfilled?
It’s
one thing to believe in God’s ability when all is well, but quite another when,
like Job, you’ve lost everything and your world is falling apart.
When Comparing His Ability to His
Creative Power
In
contemplating the creation of the universe, Jeremiah wrote, “Ah Lord GOD!
Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your
outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You” (Jeremiah 32:17).
If
God was able to create the heavens and the earth with His spoken Word, could
there possibly be anything that is to hard for Him?
When Dealing with Mary’s
Astonishment that She Would Give Birth to the Son of God
Mary
was engaged to be married, and unlike most today, she had never slept with her
fiancé. An angel appeared to her, telling her she was going to give birth to a
son. In her astonishment she said, “How can this be, since I am a virgin” (Luke
1:34)?
The
Angel’s response was, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be
called the Son of God. For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:35 and
37).
I
love Mary’s response. It was one of faith. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be
it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). Let’s respond to His promises in
faith like this young women did.
When Dealing with the Impossibility
of Man to Save Himself
Jesus
had just finished ministering to the rich young ruler, who said he had kept all
the commandments from his youth. Jesus told him he lacked one thing, “If thou
wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man
heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions”
(Matthew 19:21-22).
Jesus
went on to tell his disciples it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples
responded, “Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men
this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:25-26).
God
is omnipotent and is able to do anything. No matter what you are going through
or facing today, our God is able! It may seem impossible in the natural, but
let me assure you on the authority of God’s Word, He is able.
I’m
personally going through something right now that seems impossible. There have
been times that the situation seemed dealt with, but the same thing continues
to raise it’s ugly head over and over again.
I’m
reminded of something I read in Dake’s Annotated Bible. “All men (Christians)
believe God can do anything, but few believe He will.” Will we dare to believe
God is not only able to work in our situation but that He will?
God is Able to: God is Able to Save
“Wherefore
He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). The word uttermost
in the King James Version can also be translated, completely and forever.
God
is able to save us completely and forever. No matter how messed up you are, or
how far you’ve fallen into sin, God is able to save you completely and forever
if you will surrender to Him with all your heart.
God is Able to Deliver Us
The
three Hebrew children expressed confidence in God’s ability and said, “our God
whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will
deliver us from your hand, O king” (Daniel 3:17). They not only expressed faith
in God’s ability, but that He would deliver them – “He will deliver us”.
God
is able to deliver us from sin and peril. “He shall save his people from their
sins” (Matthew 1:21). “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written,
There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their
sins” (Romans 11:26-27 KJV).
Jesus
said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18).
God
is Able to Heal
“The
blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to
do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord” (Matthew 9:28). Jesus is still in the
healing business. He is able to heal us from whatever ails us. Whether we are
suffering physically, emotionally, from depression, mentally, mental illness or
from some sin that has us in it’s grip. God is able to heal us.
The
key is, will we let Him? Jesus said to a lame man, “Do you wish to get well”
(John 5:6)? Do we really want to be made well? That was Jesus’ condition of
healing and deliverance. Frequently, people hate their illness and sin, but
they do not really want to be made whole.
For
those whose lives have thrown them into intense bondage, there is something
that is necessary on your part. You must give your life to Jesus. It’s usually
the case of those who have sold out to sin that they must fully surrender to
Christ with all their heart. It’s then that salvation, deliverance and complete
wholeness comes into their life. On the authority of God’s Word, God is still
in the business of saving, delivering and healing.
God is Able to Keep Us 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). Once He has
delivered us, God is more than able to keep us from falling into the same sins
and traps that have held us in their grip. If we will cling to and hold onto
Him, He will sustain us and keep us from stumbling.
God is Able to Keep Us from
Temptation
“There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1
Corinthians 10:13).
When
we are facing temptation on every front, God is able to deliver us and will
provide a way of escape. We must, however, walk through the escape route He
provides.
God is Able to Provide
“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).
The context of this verse is referring to financial provision. The key is, God
is able to bless us financially so we can abound to every good work – and not
just lavish it upon ourselves.
There
are some who are reading these words that God has blessed abundantly. If you
want to continue in His blessing, you must find an outlet for the blessings you
have received. Find a reputable ministry and sow into it. God has blessed you
for that very purpose, in order that you might be a blessing (Genesis 12:2).
If
you don’t use some of your abundance to abound to every good work, God may take
away that which you have. “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he
shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that
which he hath” (Matthew 25:29). In closing, let me share a few encouraging
verses from God’s Word:
“Now
unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
“The
eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly
support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
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