“I Can Do All Things . . .

“I Can Do All Things . . .

through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil. 4:13. What a glorious, personal testimony! How much can you do, dear brother and friend? We can do nothing good without Him. But how much are you able, how much can you, how much do you manage to do in Him? That is the big question. How much have you been transformed in your inner man?

Love bears all things, namely in a godly manner. If you are filled with it as a constantly indwelling strength and power, then this means that in real life you always bear all kinds of evil and unreasonable behavior from all the others without getting angry or becoming irritated, or bitter, or taking offense, or bearing the least grudge against them.

When you, as Paul did, can do all things, then you can certainly remain in full rest in God, even if it storms ever so much around you. For example, when you are strongly contradicted, when you are grossly wronged, reproached, accused, even condemned by your fellow men; when everything appears to be hopeless, humanly speaking—in you it is dead quiet.

Then—in the difficulties of life and changing circumstances—you have the strength to be completely quiet like a lamb that is shorn or a sheep that is waiting its turn to be slaughtered. And how indescribably thankful you are for the very least, always so thoroughly content with the least of all earthly things! Of course, then everyone ought to understand that your kingdom is not of this world.

Then you are always able to requite evil with good, even if the evil is ever so great! And you are doing this with joy by wholeheartedly wishing them all kinds of good things because you also love such people.

And you always manage to keep the peace and to make peace between contending parties, if they want to follow your good advice. You are able to suffer any kind of injustice, quietly and peacefully, and with joy. And you are also able to keep the secret that has been entrusted to you until you die without a single person knowing it, not even your spouse.

All things means all things! What was it that Paul could not do when it concerns a godly life? He was able to do all things in Christ. Such a tremendous and indescribable work had occurred in his inner man long before he was perfected! All of Jesus’ disciples are called to achieve the same.

Everything has a lowly beginning that God does not despise, and neither should we despise it. As a newly converted person, we virtually cannot do anything godly. But if we really are of the truth, it is normal that God’s kingdom in our inner man has an astonishingly quick increase (think of the parable of the mustard seed), and after a while, we will be able to accomplish quite a bit, and then come to the place where we are able to do the most unimaginably good things possible, also suffering great injustice with meekness and joy, resting in God, to the point where we can endure all kinds of things in a manner that is acceptable to God! God and the Lamb be highly praised! To them belong everlasting honor and praise and worship!!!

How truly great and glorious it is to be completely finished with all anger and wrath and irritation, jealousy, envy, peculiar opinions and assertions, as well as having any kind of exalted thoughts about yourself, dissatisfaction, discouragement, demands, criticism, doubt and unrest, anxiety, unnecessary cares, laziness and lukewarmness, disliking something or someone, impatience, lack of longsuffering with others, all remnants of the love of money and miserliness and self-love, being quarrelsome and contentious, conceit, covetousness, unchastity, vanity and the desire to appear nice, and all possible manifestations of megalomania and self-exaltation and various manifestations of the lust to buy and to reproach your brothers and fellow men, and to be finished with the desire to contradict and to rule over others and control and decide for them, and to despise those who are less talented.