Devotions

One of the Bible’s most powerful and yet also misused promises is “I can do all things through him [Christ] who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, ESV).

This is not meant for the football player to put on their eye black and say, “I can smash the other team.” It is not meant for the MMA fighter to put on his robe that he wears up to the cage, saying, “I can do all things with Christ. I can beat up this other guy.”

That’s not what this scripture means, not even in the slightest. Paul is talking about suffering, endurance and knowing how to live without. The book of Acts tells us that the Philippian church was living in extreme poverty, and there was a certain point in their poverty where they couldn’t give money to Paul who was in prison. Now when you’re in a prison in Rome, they don’t feed you. You have to have friends who bring you food. The Philippians were Paul’s main resource, but they didn’t have money to give, so there was a season when he was going without.

That’s when he said, “You know, even when I’m abased like this, even when I have nothing, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

You may have this verse on your refrigerator, talking about your diet. Sure, that might help, but this promise is about much more. When your life feels like it’s falling apart, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you with a peace that surpasses all understanding (see Philippians 4:7).

This strength, this peace is what allows us to deal with the great difficulties in our lives. Maybe you’re facing a bitter spouse or prodigal child who’s breaking your heart. The ability to keep pressing in can only be done with the power of the Lord.

As a child, my daughter Elisabeth, once asked us for a hamster as a birthday present. So we gave it to her, and she named it Bidule. She petted him, spoke to him, and was just in love with him.

One morning, while we were getting ready to go to church, my wife took Bidule out of his cage so that he could stretch and run around a bit on the balcony, but then she forgot him there! After a whole morning at church and a meal at a restaurant under a blazing sun, we finally returned home to discover that Bidule was in hamster heaven, dried up by Quebec’s summer sun.

Elisabeth was inconsolable. Of course, my wife and I didn’t try to downplay her pain by saying things like “Come on! Honestly, it was a rat. Need I remind you that there are starving children in third world countries?” No! It was important to her; it was important to us too. So we listened to her tears. Bidule was even given a funeral service, officiated by me in the backyard (my only animal funeral, I can assure you). My daughter was brave enough to say a few words: “Bidule was a good hamster. Bidule was loved by all.” 

Today I share this memory with a smile, but it is to better illustrate two points of great blessing for you and your loved ones. 

1. No matter how old our children are, let's take their pain seriously. They will have hardships to go through, from the pain of their first lost love to a rejection from their dream university, from a sports failure to serious illness. Our responsibility as Christian parents is to listen to their grief, to seek to understand it without minimizing or denying it. Listening to their pain with empathy, seriousness, attention and compassion is already teaching our children how to face it. 

2. Our children learn from our example. Above all, our responsibility is to trace a path for them. Their path of faith is carved out in the wake of our own witness. They witness our struggles. They are the first to see us pass through our storms and, by the grace of God, continue to move forward, to pray, to serve God, to love, to give, to forgive.

Our children will develop their own capacity to overcome hardship by how we treat their pain and by watching our own attitudes and faith in the midst of trials.

_{Claude Houde is the lead pastor of Eglise Nouvelle Vie (New Life Church) in Montreal, Canada. Under his leadership New Life Church has grown from a handful of people to more than 3500 in a part of Canada with few successful Protestant churches.}

You can’t weep your way into this heavenly place. You can’t study or work or will your way in. No, the only way to the throne-life is by way of a living sacrifice: “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Paul is speaking from experience. Here is a man who was rejected, tempted, persecuted, beaten, jailed, shipwrecked, stoned. Paul also had all the cares of the church laid on him. Now he’s saying to us, “Do you want to know how I came to be content in whatever condition I was placed, how I came to find true rest in Christ? Here is the path, the secret to appropriating your heavenly position: Present your body as a living sacrifice to the Lord.”

The Greek root for “living” here suggests “lifelong.” Paul is talking about a binding commitment, a sacrifice that’s made once in a lifetime. Yet, don’t misunderstand; this isn’t a sacrifice that has to do with propitiation for sin. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is the only worthy propitiation: “Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

The sacrifice Paul describes is one that God takes great pleasure in, precisely because it involves the heart. What is this sacrifice? It is one of death to our will, of laying aside our self-sufficiency and abandoning our ambitions.

When Paul exhorts, “Present your body,” he’s saying, “Draw near to the Lord.” Yet, what does this mean, exactly? It means drawing near to God for the purpose of offering our entire selves to him. It means coming to him not in our own sufficiency, but as a resurrected child, as holy in Jesus’ righteousness, as being accepted by the Father through our position in Christ. The moment you resign your will to him, the sacrifice has been made. It happens when you give up the struggle of trying to please God on your own. This act of faith is the “reasonable service” Paul refers to. It’s all about trusting him with our will, believing he’ll provide all the blessings we need.

Our peace and contentment always depend upon our resignation into God’s hands, no matter what our circumstance. The psalmist writes, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

If you’ve fully resigned yourself into God’s hands, then you’re able to endure any and all hardships. Your Father’s desire is for you to be able to go about your daily business without fear or anxiety, totally trusting in his care. And your resignation to him has a very practical effect in your life. The more resigned you are to God’s care and keeping, the more indifferent you’ll be to the conditions around you.

If you are resigned to him, you won’t constantly be trying to figure out the next step. You won’t be scared by the frightful news swirling around you. You won’t be overwhelmed as you think about the days ahead because you’ve entrusted your life, family and future into your Lord’s safe and loving hands.

How worried or concerned do you think sheep are as they follow their shepherd? They are not worried at all, because they’re totally resigned to his leading them. Likewise, we are the sheep of Christ, who is our great Shepherd. So, why should we ever be concerned, disquieted or worried about our lives and futures? He knows perfectly how to protect and preserve his flock because he leads us in love!

In my own life, I’ve had to learn to trust God one problem at a time. Think about it: How can I say I trust God with everything, if I haven’t proven I can trust him with just one thing? Merely saying the words, “I trust the Lord completely,” isn’t sufficient. I have to prove this over and over again in my life, in many areas and in everyday things.

Many people living today have said, “I resign, I commit, I trust,” only after they say there was no other way out of their situation. But true resignation, the kind that pleases God, is done freely and willingly, prior to our coming to wit’s end. We are to act in agreement with the Lord, as Abraham did, giving God his life as a blank check, and letting the Lord fill it all in.

In perilous times like these, is the church powerless to do anything? Are we to sit and wait for Christ to return? Or, are we called to take drastic action of some kind? When all around us the world is trembling, with men’s hearts failing them for fear, are we called to take up spiritual weapons and do battle with the adversary?

The prophet Joel saw a similar day approaching Israel, one of “thick darkness and gloom.” According to Joel, the day of darkness that was approaching Israel would be one such as never seen in their history. The prophet cried, “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty” (Joel 1:15).

What was Joel’s counsel to Israel in that dark hour? He brought this word: “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent” (Joel 2:12-14).

As I read this passage, I am struck by God's words. As gross darkness fell over Israel, God appealed to his people: “Even now, at the hour of my vengeance—when you’ve pushed me out of your society, when mercy seems impossible, when humankind has mocked my warnings, when fear and gloom are covering the land—even now, I urge you to come back to me. I am slow to anger, and I have been known to hold back my judgments for a season, as I did for Josiah. My people can pray and petition for my mercy. But the world won’t repent if you say there is no mercy.”

Do you see God’s message to us in this? As his people, we can plead in prayer and he will hear us. We can make requests of him and know he will answer the sincere, effectual, fervent prayers of his saints.