"Perfect Power" -2

"He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion." (Psalms 111:4)

 Now then, there is the question of willingness and ability, as in, are we willing and able? I tend to think Peter was willing to walk on the water, maybe a little too willing. There are some things that we ask God to do that we might have put a little more thought into before we asked; we have one of those, "What was I thinking" moments, and we start to realize that we are way out of our league. By the way, you are! Peter was, and he realized it in a very short while; but for those few seconds, he was able to do something that no one else besides Jesus could claim to have done. How was he able to walk on that water? The answer is really quite simple, because he asked Jesus to allow him to do it; and guess what, Jesus did! Peter did something that he could never have done on his own, but with the Lord's help he was able to do it, if just for a moment; just long enough to realize that he couldn't do it on his own. That is how God's power is given for us to overcome and take on any situation, it is limited to that trial or task. And when the next trial or task comes along, we need to reach out again and again; every trial and task is a new opportunity for us to count on God's power; it is never our own. As soon as we start trying to do it on our own we end up sinking and scared. This is actually a good thing to remember, which is why God has made His wonderful works to be remembered, so that we can keep them first and foremost in our hearts and in our minds. No, I am sorry if this might come as a surprise, but everything God gives us to deal with or to overcome, He does so to get us to reach out and cry for His help. He does not intend for us to handle it on our own; if we is speaking of you and I, then that statement is not Biblically correct. But if we is speaking of us and the Lord, then the statement is correct, because in Christ I can do all things. Willingness is what He wants, ability is what we need! The second part of this is the perfect part, because He is gracious and full of compassion; which means we never need to doubt Him and He will never let us down...

"For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shinning in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, and not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed." (2 Corinthians 4:6-9) NLT