Mensa Otabil - I Can
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Philippians 4: 13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It’s a very, very popular scripture, especially for people who are very aspirational, and they quote this verse to encourage themselves to tackle the barriers of life. The Apostle Paul had a can-do spirit when the Lord Jesus Christ called him. The Lord gave Paul a task that was difficult: Paul had to take the gospel beyond the Jewish community, and for many years, the Jews had felt that they were the only heirs of salvation.
Paul says, «Now I’m going to take this message to the Gentiles; that’s my commission.» This brought him into conflict with many people, and many times he suffered affliction. He suffered hunger, thirst, and severe persecution; he was beaten. Life was so hard. But in the midst of all of that, Paul says, «I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.»
In other words, none of these challenges thrown against me-the difficulty of breaking racial, geographical, and religious barriers to take the gospel-none of these things will stop me, because I can do it. If God says I can do it, I can do it. That’s the can-do spirit, and that’s a spirit we must have. You know, for many years, many people thought the mile could not be run in less than four minutes, and it seemed scientifically impossible. People actually postulated that a human did not have the capacity to run one mile under four minutes; his muscle structure and his bone structure could not do that.
In 1954, a man named Roger Bannister broke the barrier of the four-minute mile. People thought it was impossible, but he broke it. Roger Bannister ran the mile in three minutes and fifty-nine seconds, and when he did that, something triggered in the minds of people. They then saw it was possible to run the mile under four minutes, and in a short time, everybody was running the mile in under four minutes. Why did they think that barrier was so strong? It was a mental barrier; it wasn’t a physical barrier. Something in their minds had to accept that this was possible.
In the same way, there are barriers facing us, and I’m not discounting the challenges you have in life. All I’m saying is that sometimes the barrier is a mental one. Something people have told you cannot be done, something you’ve told yourself you cannot do. Some people tell you this is too hard, this is too difficult, until somebody breaks the barrier. And like Roger Bannister did for the mile, Jesus has done far more than that for us, because in His death and resurrection, Jesus broke the barrier for us, and He told us that nothing is impossible for you. With God, all things are possible. He also said all things are possible to him who believes. So if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you live in a world of possibility.
Paul said it so well: «I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.» The two realities of the Christian are that Christ is my strength, and the second reality is I can do all things through Him. I don’t know what difficulty you are facing in life; I don’t know how your life is crushing down on you. But you have to understand that Christ Jesus in you, by His Holy Spirit, enables you to overcome impossibilities. And like the Apostle Paul, although the task is hard and the difficulties are there, and the journey is arduous, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. You are capable; you will do it, and you will win it in Jesus' name.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, I receive the fullness of Your ability in my life and boldly step out to break barriers in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.»