Passage: Philippians 4:13
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength".
Okay, before I get too deep into this... let me start by saying that I love the English language. That notwithstanding, I also acknowledge the fact that it is one of, if not the most difficult languages to learn. And to make the paradox complete, allow me to say that I stumbled upon the absolute simplicity of the key to English when I was a freshman in High School... and the light went on, and all made sense to me thereafter!
You see... I learned from Mr Eckleston, my freshman English teacher, that a noun will always be a person, place, thing or idea. I learned that there will always be "action" verbs, and "being" verbs. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "Big deal... everyone knows that"... but that is where I would take issue. You see, if everyone KNEW that, then why do they teach it to us year after year for more than 14 years?? The answer lies in the fact that we (as a whole) do NOT know the power of the parts of speech, and therefore are ignorant of the full potential of our own language!
Whew!! That was a deep thought. Step back for a minute and let's look at what I just said, in practical terms. There is POWER in the written word. Certainly God Himself knows this, therefore a just rationale for His giving us the gift of the written Word of God - the Bible. Let's look at what God wrote in the letter to the Philippians.
Ah yes... remember, "move over Superman!"? Well, that statement reflects the fact that all too often we'd love to use only the first part of the passage... and forget all the "non-essential" stuff. "I can do everything!" - That's what we like to think! And, when it doesn't work out exactly the way we think it should, it offers us a reasonable excuse for being mad at God. But... lest you fall into the same trap that I have seen literally hundreds of Christians encounter... read one more time what God REALLY said:
Enter the power of the all-too-often overlooked preposition! Friends, if you remove these two words, the prepositional phrase, "through him", you remove all the authority... all the promise... and all the conviction of the entire passage. And this is not the only case of such a phrase making the validation of a Scripture passage. In fact, there are hundreds, possibly thousands of them found in the Word. Here's another:
If you remove the prepositional phrase in this passage - not only do you remove the validation to the whole thing, but you discredit the promise of God, and you run the risk of heretical thinking!! This must not be allowed, my friends!
But now let's consider what we find when we understand the full meaning of these verses, with the prepositional phrases intact!
The Word tells us that we can indeed do ALL THINGS.... THROUGH HIM who gives us strength. That's Jesus, folks!! He's the only one! We don't need anyone else to make our "dreams come true"... but in Christ, we have the fulfillment of all that we could ever need, and he wishes to even give us the desires of our hearts! Don't take my word for it - check it out in Psalm 37:4!
I have discovered that the Bible is loaded with over 7,000 promises... most of which are directed toward the believer. And, while I may stand to be corrected in my interpretation (I am certainly no Bible scholar), it is my opinion that all but about 2 of those promises are "conditional". That is to say, that in order to realize the fulfillment of the promise, we have a part to play, be it active or passive.
The 2 promises that I believe are unconditional are: 1. God loves you (this is for all mankind) and 2. He will never leave us, nor forsake us (this would be directed specifically to the believers).
Granted, I may have oversimplified the Gospel here, but the fact remains that the vast majority of the promises made by God in His Word are based upon a condition, and those conditions are often outlined in the form of prepositional phrases. Given such a fact, I encourage you to take just another minute the next time you study the Word, and then go ahead, make your High School English teacher proud by diagramming the sentence (yes, you heard me right), and discover the power that has not been hidden, but that is rarely realized in the life of the believer! Then you too, can be a graduate of, "Prep School".
Prayer: Heavenly Father, You have blessed us with the wonderful gift of Your Word. You have placed within it's pages all that we will ever need to do well in life, and for Your provision we are ever grateful. Please help us to understand Your Word in an ever increasing fashion, and teach us to be doers of the Word, and not just hearers. This we pray in Jesus' name, Amen!
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Eric Reamer is an evangelist, and full time Christian Illusionist. If you enjoy this devotional, please e-mail Eric at: Eric@IllustratedIllusions.com.
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