TfTD – Divine Enablement

Good Afternoon,

I hope your days are going well.

I am excited to bring you this TfTD. I did not originate it. I had just finished my morning run when I began my cool-down walk, which turns out to be the most enjoyable part of my exercise, even though I enjoy running. I was walking along in a remote grassy area next to the gym. Last years shubs were still brown. The animals still burroughed deep in the ground and the environment seemed poised for more predicted snow. I had my headphones on listening to a podcast by Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I love listening to his, “Thru the Bible podcasts. It was on Philippians 4:13, a verse that I had heard quoted many times and I have even quoted it a time or two myself, but Dr. McGee gave me a fresh and refreshing perspective on it. It says:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

And it is true. I can. Dr. McGee said that he was riding on a train in the area of the Grand Canyon. He does not like planes and I am not thrilled about them either. But he said that he had always wanted to see the Grand Canyon and that day he almost saw it up close and personal. The train was choo-chooing along a challenging area not in the Canyon but close enough to see it. The train faithfully went up the mountain, around the curves and through the valleys the way it was designed and therefore, equipped to do. Suddenly, his wish almost came true. The train went off track and headed for the canyon but praise God, it came to a halt. Whew! It came to a halt because it was not designed to function off of the track. It could do everything it was designed to do as long as it stayed on the track. WOW! Do you feel it? Do you feel where I am going with this?

A friend of mine said that his daddy told him this: “Life is not a breeze to do as we please.” We can do all things in Christ that He designed us to do. (The preposition that Paul used was actually, “in”, and not, “through”. Ok. So don’t get mad at the King James translators for using through instead of in. They both work.)

Dr. McGee had my ears perked up and now my heart was engaged and he brought it down to where the rubber meets the road. He said that a grasshopper hops great distances. How does he do it? The answer is, “Divine Enablement.” “Heh” GLORY!. (By the way that was not Dr. McGee. That was me.). Anyway, he said that God gave the grasshopper strong legs and he could use those legs to do what he was enabled by them to do.

Hence, this verse is not a catalyst for uncontrolled power. Just as a train is fitted to run on a track, God has divinely enabled each of us with gifts and as members of the body of Christ we can do everything, or all things that He enables us to do.

And here are Perry’s thoughts. It does not make sense that there is jealousy in the body of Christ because God uses someone mightily in a certain area if that person has been divinely enabled and is using his or her gift for the Lord, don’t hate. Be glad. Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I say rejoice.