I Can do All things....!!!

I have such great memories of working with my Dad. He was a craftsman, a carpenter by trade. He used to tell me, “Son, if you have the right tools you can build anything.” Therefore he took great care in all the tools that he had. He had specific places for specific tools, he always wanted to be able to find them when he needed them. Today I display a lot of his old tools on the wall of my garage to remind me of the value’s that my Dad taught me.Because of Dad I love to putter around in my own workshop. I’ve invested in all the new fangled cordless tools, (Dad would have loved it).  And yet my work bench is covered and every so often I have to stop and put everything back in it’s right place for easy access. I can just see Daddy smiling, “Son if you had put it back where you were suppose too we would already have this taken care of....” he was right then and he is so right now.Recently, I was staring at a situation in my life, a problem, a trouble and I knew that I had the tools, (the truths, the principles) somewhere.... somewhere in my life the Lord had given me the understanding, the truth, that would empower me to overcome this issue in my life. I prayed, I read, I consulted with others, I even began to realize that this particular issue was really a series of things that I had been struggling with for several years.I began sorting through all the truths, (tools) in my spiritual life, trying to place each one in it’s proper place in my heart! Years of revealations, years of learning, prayer, and this accumaltion of truths and yet I could not place it, could not reach it....I was reading my Bible, my favorite one! My friend and pastor, Pete had given me this Bible in 1981. He had given it to me at Easter. I had helped with the Easter preparations for the church, it had been a glorious season in my life! I finished reading the passage that had my attention and simply turned to the inscription that he had penned on the opening page... there it was!“I CAN DO ALL THING THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME” (PHILIPPIANS 4:13) There it was, that first encouragement! That nug! That thing that had open my eyes to the possibility that the Lord wanted to work “in” and “through” my life! As I read and re-read this verse, I remembered how at that moment I began to believe that the Lord would use me in His ministry. Up to that moment I never felt like I was able, or good enough or whatever to be of any use or value to the cause of Christ, or the Kingdom of God.I remember how these words began to erode the feelings of “insecurity” that had held me in bondage! “I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengths me.” I knew others could do things... I knew God could do things... but I, ... that was the tool, the truth, that moved me from doubt to faith.There in that moment, a spark of confidence, a glimmer of hope! I did not have to live a defeated life! I could have peace of mind! I could improve my health and I could live in a never-ceasing flow of of His Power.In short, in that moment I realized that inspite of all the obstacles that stood in my path, “I could do it....” “I could do ALL THINGS....”Very few people thought that I had the ability or that I could ever be in ministry. In fact, I remember one, well meaning Pastor who told me; ‘Quintin, you don’t have any spiritual gifts.’But, this verse, hand written in the front of this Bible, which has laid on my desk for over thrity years ignited my faith in 1981!And you want to know something???? It was the long lost tool that I was looking for!“I CAN DO ALL THING THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME” (PHILIPPIANS 4:13) There it was right in front of me! Laying in the very midst of all these truths! Forgotten, but not lost, merely hidden from view! Yes, if we lose confidence, if we become insecure and begin to think that we "can't" the enemy can nearly paraylze us!Our thoughts of insecurity, fear, doubt, guilt slowly begin to resist the very flow of God's Love and Energy into our lives! This is it! This is the truth, the tool that I was looking for!"Christ is our strength!" You and I can do ALL THINGS, because He is our Strength!Change our attitude about God and about ourselves and "nothing is impossible"!