"God wont give you more than you can handle". We hear it all the time. And here are a couple reactions it provokes, "Yeah, I'm strong, I can get through this" and, "I must be pretty awesome for God to give me harder stuff to deal with than other people." Neither of these are what God is in the business of doing, puffing up our self-sufficient self-esteem. God is in the business of helping us look to Him and depend on Him instead of ourselves. He actually will give us more than we can handle to get us to desperately depend on Him. He is glorified by us depending on Him since He is the All-Sufficient Great I AM, not us. His grace is sufficient, not ours. And besides being utterly false and as far from God's plan for our life, it leads to thinking people who have hard things going on in life have more faith and can "handle more" than those who don't. God doesn't allow hard things to come into our lives to prove how strong we are but rather how sufficient He is. He allows hard things to refine us and reveal Himself as Comforter, Redeemer and a thousand other things. Jesus told us hard times will come to those we perceive as strong and those we perceive as weak, but we can have courage because Jesus has overcome the world. He didn't say, hard things will come only to those who are extra strong. Nope, He was talking to all of us, all who feel strong and all who feel or seem weak. (My good friend Sara just put so clearly into words what it actually does to people who are going through impossibly hard situations to tell them how strong they are because you don't see them crying.) So where did this come from? 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." This sure can seem like it's saying God wont give us more than us and our strong selves can handle right? Well, lets look at it. "you are able" in Greek is the word Dunamai and Dunamis which beautifully is the same word used when talking about the Holy Spirit living through us. It means "to show ability (and power); able (enabled by God), empowered. Power to achieve by applying the Lord's inherent abilities. Power through God's ability." Pretty awesome huh! Basically it is saying God will give us more than we can handle, but not more than He can handle. After all, when we are weak, then He is strong! One other interesting thought I'll throw out is the word tempted is the Greek word Pelrazo which means to test, trial, try and tempt. Exodus 20:20 says, "Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." God does test us and that testing can come as hard times but Proverbs 27:21 says it can also come in the form of praise, "The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives." When we are tempted, let's turn to the Lord and yield to Him, letting the Holy Spirit enable us to endure. To endure means (Gr. Hupopphero) "to bear by being under". It's the word picture of being carried away by an underwater current. As we yield our own self-sufficiency of being able to get through it by ourselves by being strong, the Holy Spirit will give us the strength the Lord provides and we will be carried along with the strength and ability He provides. This verse is all about the Lord being strong in our weakness, not about us being strong by the power of our own might. Let's desperately depend on the Lord today! About Laura Laura, the creator and host of Missional Women is married and has four kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries to college students for 11 years serving with Master Plan Ministries. Laura is the Staff Women's Development Coordinator and has discipled over 150 girls, led over 30 Bible studies and speaks to college and women's groups. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, and A Devotional Journey through Judges, a devotional to accompany the free online Bible study at TheBookofJudges.com. You can find her on facebook,twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram and her author site. Want to read more from this contributor? Put her name in the search box at the top.
Sharing this article over at these awesome blogs
2 Comments
Are there impossible circumstances that you are battling right now? God is fighting for you and all he requires of you is to stand still and trust him to fight the battle for you. In fact many times God places impossible circumstances in our way to show that He is the God of the impossible! However, when we are in an impossible situation and it seems like there is no way out it can be easy to fear and react in anger towards God and others.
The Israelites are a perfect example of this. In Exodus 14 the Israelites have finally been released from slavery in Egypt, as they are leaving captivity God directs the Israelites to camp by the Red Sea, in a place where they will be trapped and unable to escape if an army came against them. Although Pharaoh had let them go he changes his mind and decides to send an army after them. There can be so much worry involved in knowing God's will. What if I'm wrong? What if I missed it? We either blame ourselves or blame God, both scenarios expose a small view of God. But God doesn't want His desires to be a secret. He wants us to know what's best and that is why He gives us a lamp to our feet and tells us to ask for wisdom. So practically how does God reveal His desires, His will to us?
What does it mean to be called by God? If you are a child of God you have encountered God and you have probably experienced times where you felt Him drawing you to do something. When God calls we don’t often know why or what to expect beyond Step 1. Our only responsibility is to obey Step 1. I believe this principal is a lot easier for us to hear than it is for us to apply.
For Example, when God called Moses: *He was filled with questions, doubts, fears, insecurities, etc. *He had no idea what was about to happen – how his life was about to change, or even if he was about to lose his life. It’s a pretty bold thing to do, to go before Pharaoh and tell him he needs to release his slaves. *All he knew was to “Go, do as I have commanded and I will take care of the rest.” Delighting and bragging on God as a Global God"The ultimate goal of God in all of history is to uphold and display his glory for the enjoyment of the reedmed from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." John Piper Did you know that we are in the most exciting time in history to be involved in His Great Commission. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” (Mt 9:37) Do you believe that about the people around you? “…I will draw all men to myself…” (Jn 12:32-33) God IS working on the people around you. Look... here are real time decisions of people trusting Jesus. In “The Faith Equation,” Dr. Marvin Bittinger, Professor of Mathematics at Purdue University and author of over 175college math textbooks, claims that by 2033 every person on the planet capable of understanding the gospel will have been presented the gospel, according to modern evangelism trends. Wow! We don't have that much longer till the work is done... I don't want to get to the end and be one of the 99% that never started the task. So I said we are in the most exciting time in history. Here's why I say that. Here is what God is doing all over the world. 34,000 people come to Christ in South America everyday 28-37,000 new Chinese believers daily 23-25,000 new African believers daily Every hour, 667 Muslims turn to Jesus. Which is 16,000 every day. Egypt – some reports say 1 million Egyptians have trusted Christ over the past decade or so. The largest Christian congregation in the Middle East, meets in an enormous cave on the of Cairo. Some 10,000 believers worship there every weekend. Afghanistan – only 17 Muslims came to Christ before 9/11/01, but now more than 10,000 Kazakstan – there were only 3 known Christians in 1990, but now more than 15,000 Sudan – more than 1 million Sudanese have converted to Christianity just since 2000 despite a radical Islamic regime and an on-going genocide that has killed more than 200,000. Seminaries are being held in caves to train pastors to shepherd the huge numbers of people coming to Christ. Iran – in 1979, there were only 500 known Muslim converts to Christianity, but today Iranian pastors and evangelical leaders say there are more than 1 million Iranian believers in Jesus Christ, most of whom meet in underground house churches. One of the most dramatic developments is that many Muslims are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus and thus coming into churches explaining that they have already converted and now need a Bible and guidance on how to follow Jesus.” Worldwide: that is 174,000 new belivers everyday! David B. Barret and ToddM. Johnson of the Global Evangelism Movement. The opportunity has never been more dramatic and the need has never been so huge. You have been placed strategically in this very place, for this very time! Acts 17:26 – “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” We get to be a part of this amazing revival, through the power of the Holy Spirit leaving results to God. But it takes strategy. Just like Jonathan, he didn’t just hope his mission in the battle against the Philistines would just happen as he continued on with his life-hanging out in the palace playing… Are you are serious about the Great Commission? You can tell if you’ve taken personal responsibility for it by seeing if you have a plan to pull it off. Brag on God Friday's is a link up to brag about God. You can share any post about how He came through for you when you took a step of faith, how He answered a prayer, what He showed you through His Word about Himself, how He gave a glimpse of Himself through His creation, basically anyway you have seen Him reveal Himself. If you would like to use this opportunity to brag on God, go ahead and link up. Just post my button (found on the side bar on the right or under the BOGF tab) or link within your post so others can find us and hear about how awesome God is. After you have linked your post, ask God to speak to you through the others linked up and leave them a brief encouraging comment. We have arrived in Cambodia. It is very early in the morning of Day 1. I will post tonight about our day and how God is revealing His heart to the nations. Revolutions starting in the middle east sparked through Facebook was a eye opener to many of how influencial facebook is as a tool. It provides a unique way for people to unite for a cause, be encouraged, challenged, motivated and moved to action. Facebook is having an impact on the world, so what an incredible tool to impact the world for Christ! I know there are pitfalls to avoid with facebook (like everything in life) but personally, I love facebook. I love how it helps me be relatable to people by having quick access to whats going on in their lives and lets others feel connected to me. Not to mention it is super helpful for people with bad memories! And who doesn't love have a ton of people wish you a Happy Birthday, have a running email and ability to set up appointments quickly. I have also found it to be an incredible tool for ministry, useful even to even me, a mom of three tiny ones, whose only free time is mid-day naptime and late night. I love the freedom to do online ministry on my schedule. Look what God can do through Facebook... |
New here? Head on over to the Home page to see what we're all about.
Two Free eBooks for SubscribersJoin 11,000+ others and get Missional Women updates and two FREE eBooks.
Subscribe Are you new to our site? Check out our HOME page to get a better idea about the Missional Women ministry.
Popular Posts |