Our God is Able.

By: Pastor Gary Linton

Do you believe God can do anything? Is there something you are facing that makes you wonder if God is able to handle it? Scripture tells us there is nothing too hard for God. Here are five different accounts in the Bible where God declares there is nothing too difficult for Him.

In confronting Abraham with Sarah’s laughter and unbelief. Abraham was entertaining three persons who appeared to him (God appearing in human form) and they gave him the promise of having a son. Abraham and Sarah were advanced in age and way past child bearing age. I assume she had already gone through menopause. It was impossible for them to have a child in the natural. Sarah heard the promise from her tent door and laughed. And the Lord said, “Is anything too difficult for the LORD” (Genesis 18:14 NASB)? Is there something you feel God has promised you that seems impossible? It may be so outlandish that if you told someone they would laugh. God’s question for you today is the same question He asked Abraham, “Is anything too difficult for the LORD” (Genesis 18:14 NASB)?

In relation to God’s purposes being fulfilled. In the midst of all his trouble, trials and testings, Job said, “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You” (Job 42:2 NKJV). What are you presently going through? What trial or time of testing are you facing? Do you believe God can do anything, and that nothing can thwart His purposes from being fulfilled? It’s one thing to believe in God’s ability when all is well, but quite another when (like Job) you’ve lost everything and your world is falling apart.

In comparing His ability to His creative power. In contemplating the creation of the universe, Jeremiah wrote, “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You” (Jeremiah 32:17 NASB). If God was able to create the heavens and the earth with His spoken Word, could there possibly be anything that is to hard for Him to handle?

When dealing with Mary’s astonishment that as a virgin, she would give birth to the Son of God. Mary was engaged to be married, and unlike most today, she had never slept with her fiancé. An angel appeared to her, telling her she was going to give birth to a son. In her astonishment she said, “”How can this be, since I am a virgin” (Luke 1:34 NASB)? “The Angel’s response was, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:35 and 37 NASB). I love Mary’s response. It was one of faith. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). Let’s respond to His promises in faith like this young women did.

When dealing with the impossibility of man to be saved in and of himself. Jesus had just finished ministering to the rich young ruler, who said he had kept all the commandments from his youth. Jesus told him he lacked one thing, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:21-22 KJV). Jesus went on to tell his disciples it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples responded, “Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:25-26).

God is omnipotent and is able to do anything. No matter what you are going through or facing today, our God is able! It may seem impossible in the natural, but let me assure you on the authority of God’s Word, He is able. I am personally going through something right now that seems impossible. There have been times that the situation seemed dealt with, but the same thing continues to raise it’s ugly head over and over again. I am reminded of something I once read in Dake’s Annotated Bible. “All men (Christians) believe God can do anything, but few believe He will.” Will we dare to believe God is not only able to work in our situation but that He will?

God is able…

God is able to save. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25 KJV). The word uttermost in the King James Version can be translated, completely or forever. God is able to save us completely and forever. No matter how messed up you are, or how far you’ve fallen into sin, God is able to save you completely (and forever) if you will surrender to Him with all your heart.

God is able to deliver us. The three Hebrew children expressed confidence in God’s ability and said, “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king” (Daniel 3:17 NKJV). They not only expressed faith in God’s ability, but that He would deliver them – “He will deliver us”. God is able to deliver us from sin and peril. “He shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21 KJV). “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Romans 11:26-27 KJV). Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18 KJV).

God is able to heal. “The blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord” (Matthew 9:28 KJV). Jesus is still in the healing business. He is able to heal us from whatever ails us. Whether we are suffering physically, emotionally (from depression), or some sin that has us in it’s grip, God is able to heal us. The key is, will we let Him? Jesus said to a lame man, “Do you wish to get well” (John 5:6 NASB)? Do we really want to be made well? That was Jesus’ condition of healing and deliverance. Frequently, people hate their illness and sin, but they do not really want to be made whole.

For those whose lives have thrown them into intense bondage, there is something that is necessary on your part. You must give your life to Jesus. It’s usually the case of those who have sold out to sin that they must fully surrender to Christ with all their heart. It’s then that salvation, deliverance and complete wholeness comes into their life. On the authority of God’s Word, God is still in the business of saving, delivering and healing.

God is able to keep us from falling. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24 KJV). Once He has delivered us, God is more than able to keep us from falling into the same sins and traps that have held us in their grip. If we will cling to and hold onto Him, He will sustain us and keep us from stumbling.

God is able to deliver us from temptation. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV). When we are facing temptation on every front, God is able to deliver us and will provide a way of escape. We must, however, walk through the escape route He provides.

God is able to provide. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV). The context of this verse is referring to financial provision. The key is, God is able to bless us financially so we can abound to every good work – and not just lavish it upon ourselves.

There are some who are reading these words that God has blessed abundantly. If you want to continue in His blessing, you must find an outlet for the blessings you have received. Find a reputable ministry and sow into it. God has blessed you for that very purpose, in order that you might be a blessing (Genesis 12:2). If you do not use some of your abundance to abound to every good work, God may take away that which you have. “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath” (Matthew 25:29 KJV).

In closing, let me share a couple of encouraging verses from God’s Word.

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20 KJV).

“The eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9 NASB).