The local newspaper for this metropolitan area has proliferated in advice columns that are daily filled with questions regarding how to solve life’s problems. Advice is freely given. We have no way of knowing if it is followed. We seem, with the passage of time, to seek answers from almost any source except the advice given in what the Psalmist called, “A lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalms 119:105. Read this 119th Psalm for many other beautiful descriptions of the value of God’s advice in His Word.
Paul’s statement, “I can do all things in Him that strengthened me” is often quoted from Philippians 4:13 and admired as an aspiration toward which we desire to move. But, how? How can we arrive at this firm conviction? We can imitate eight steps that Paul advises in Philippians 4. They are:
- Minimize your needs. Verses 5 and 11. We often are like the child with his parent in the super-store. Every aisle contains numerous things he wants but would immediately discard when he gets them.
- Pray instead of worrying. Verse 6. We reverse this and worry instead of praying.
- Recognize God’s great power. Verse 7. This is where faith comes in to play such an important part in your life.
- Control (discipline) your thoughts. Verse 8. We are as we think and we can control what we think about. Remember “as a man thinketh, so is he?”
- Follow God’s advice freely given in His Word. Verse 9. It is not enough to know the things to do unless we do them.
- Learn to be content. Verse 11. We can learn to be discontented or contented. We can learn to do what we seek to do. Learning involves practice.
- Live by the conviction, “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me.” Verse 13. Live in the Word that your faith may grow to accept this truth.
- Believe fully “And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Verse 19. Imagine how content we would be if we accepted this! The child ceases to be alarmed when the parent assures him, “I’ll take care of it!” This is what God tells us.The child was stranded on a limb high in a brittle cottonwood tree. His mother said, “I can’t get you down, but your father will be home from work soon. He’ll get you down when he arrives.” The child relaxed, no longer afraid. He patiently waited for the help he was convinced would come. Relax. God says, “Cast your cares on me.” I Peter 5:7.
