You Can Be Able for Anything


In Him who strengthens me I am able for anything.--Phil. 4: 13 (Moffatt).

These are the words of one of the richest and most heroic souls in Christian history--that great interpreter of Christ and Christianity, the apostle Paul.

It is not merely a pretty sentiment he is expressing; it is a positive assertion. It is not a platitude; it is something he has tested in practice--he knows what he is talking about! He had found in Christ strength that made him able for anything--“for all sorts and conditions of life, for plenty and for hunger, for prosperity and for privations” (vs. 12, Moffatt).

It takes a great deal of strength to bear privations and not lose heart. But it requires much more strength to bear prosperity and not lose your head.

Neither prosperity nor privations made any change in Paul. He was conscious of a living power flowing through him that made him independent of circumstances, whether favorable or unfavorable.

We can have this power through Christ. Whether it be plenty or privation, joy or sorrow, abounding or suffering want, in Christ we are made master of circumstances, being “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man” ( Eph. 3: 16).

Our constant need is for Christian confidence--confidence that in Christ we have strength for “all sorts and conditions of life.”

One of the most frequent causes of dismay and defeat is the paralyzing fear of inadequate resources to meet exacting requirements. There is an answer to this fear: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isa. 40; 31). They will have resources adequate for all the needs and purposes of life. “They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.”

Through Christ there is made available to us a power which can enable us to fling ourselves with courage and confidence into tasks deemed impossible before, which can make us brave and adequate to meet whatever the days may bring, to fight the good fight and win through to victory.

Let me make this personal to you. In Christ, you can be able for anything!