More than you can handle? – 17th February 2017

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33).

This Scripture teaches us a wonderful principle. If we belong to Him, God will not allow any difficulty to come into our lives that we are not capable of bearing. With every temptation and every testing that comes our way, God will remain faithful to us; He will provide a way to endure the test. We do not have to give in to sin. We can obey God in every circumstance. We can learn this from 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it.”

Jesus thought us the Lord’s Prayer which gives us divine encouragement in our Christian walk. In this prayer we seek the Lords favor by requesting “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13). We pray and ask our Father to protect us from the evil one. However, this does not mean we will never face trouble. On the contrary, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” but he tells us to be strong because the key is found in Jesus’ next words when He says that He has overcome the world as we can learn from John 16:33,“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

We can learn in 2 Corinthians that Apostle Paul and his companions experienced untold trouble as they took the gospel into new townships and countries. This is one of his testimonies: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.”(2 Corinthians 1:8). It sounds like Paul was troubled beyond what he could bear—“far beyond our ability to endure.” But this fact leads us to another truth: our strength to endure testing and temptation does not come from ourselves; it comes from God! Therefore we have to steadfastly commit our problems in faith to God and seek His assistance. That’s exactly what Paul says next in the same passage: “Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:9).

When we read through the above passage, we can learn that Paul continues with praise to the Lord for His deliverance which gives more emphasis on prayers. He teaches us that God will continue to deliver us, as a family or a church when we pray as one family, for one who has trouble, sickness or any other similar situation. Because when two or more gather and seek Gods favour in faith for His provision, He is there in our midst as we can learn from Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

We can also learn this in the above situation faced by the apostle Paul - “great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure” – instead of allowing worry to take precedence, they prayed and sought Gods assistance as we can learn from 2 Corinthians 1:10-11, “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” He will continue to deliver us!

Therefore as Christians we need to have great faith for Gods protection and provision on anything that comes our way… anything that tempts us, any tragedy that befalls us, we are capable, in God’s power, of overcoming. In all things we can achieve spiritual victory, through Christ. Life is not easy. The fact is that even as Christians some do not have the absolute faith in His provision. It is ones level of faith that counts as we can learn when Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20,“He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Yes life is hard, but with absolute Faith in the strength of His provision, we can face whatever thrown our way, with confidence in God’s gracious promises.

But all our prayers are NOT answered simply because we pray. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:7, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” With regard to our prayers, we can receive a great understanding from Isaiah 1:15, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! As Christians we need to steadfastly bear in mind that we seek the assistance of a Holy God. Therefore we cannot seek His assistance and provision while we are still dabbling in sin and sinful deeds. We need to change! We have to have faith in Jesus Christ as one’s saviour, repent for our sins and seek salvation. It is then that we become a new entity in Christ and it is then that we can even approach Him.

As Christians we are “more than conquerors” in Christ as we can read from Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”Therefore everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”We can learn this from 1 John 5:4, “…for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” Therefore to “overcome” the trials and temptations of the world is to prevail over them, just as David, in God’s strength, prevailed over Goliath.

Therefore as Christians we must know that evil schemes and disagreeable circumstances will not win the day as stated by the psalmist. “They have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me” (Psalm 129:2). As Christians we need to understand that our trials are for a purpose…but we have the armor of God and the privilege of prayer, and God will see to it that our trials do not overcome our faith. Our position as children of God is secure and we will come through the trials intact because of the Love that God has for us. We can learn this from Romans 8:38–39,“ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This Love can never change because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”(Hebrews 13:8).