GOD IS ABLE

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 28 March 2013

Hi all,

Our Swimming Pool - Mainly for Grand childrem

God is able to do anything and everything. There are one or two absurd things that He cannot do, but the reason why He can’t, is because they are absurd. He can’t make a square circle. Yes, if the circle is infinitely small, it could be a square. But that’s not within the meaning of what we are looking for. He also cannot fry ice. If He did, the ice would melt.

Big cat - Little cat

We say that God cannot lie and God cannot break covenant. The reason is because of limits He has imposed on Himself. As far as He is concerned, this “inability” is “cast in concrete”. It will never happen because of who He is. But if we think for a moment, we will realise that if there was anything He couldn’t do, He would not be God. No doubt He could create a dimension in which ice could be fried or circles would be square. But not in the time/space continuum He created for us and in which we live. Today we meditate on some of the many things we know He can do.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Thursday, 28 March 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	God is Able
“The only certainty in life is death and taxes”. The origin of this statement is uncertain. One of the most popular originators is Benjamin Franklin. The author is irrelevant. Taxes may come and go. But death is a certainty for all of us until Jesus returns. Death for nearly everyone is an inevitable certainty which we prefer to put so far behind us on the back burner, it catches us by surprise. It shouldn’t, but it does. How many of us would enjoy an evening seated together discussing death in general and our own, in particular? The opposite of dying is the resurrection. Never dying is so remote, we only know two men who, reportedly, didn’t die: Enoch & Elijah. This means that the resurrection from the dead, should be at the top of our favourite topics. Sadly, it’s not even discussed. But in the early church, it was the hottest topic known. Men and women flocked into God’s Kingdom because they had heard that Jesus gives everlasting life. It’s still true. But it doesn’t even raise a yawn today! It’s one of those “things” in Christianity which is difficult to prove. “Show me the evidence”, we hear on every side. But we do have the evidence; irrefutable evidence, witnessed by so many people. The event is not even thought of as untrue. I’m referring to the death and resurrection of Lazarus. We know Lazarus was dead for four days. He was seen after his resurrection. So much so, the Jewish elders wanted to kill him again. 9 When all the people heard of Jesus' arrival, they flocked to see Him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, John 12:9-10 NLT No matter how anti-Christian someone might be, here is irrefutable evidence that Lazarus had died and Jesus had resurrected him. No person in his or her right mind, can imagine how the elders would want to kill someone, who was already dead! Of course people could say that it’s a fable. Why would that be? If I wrote a story today, saying that Fred Bloggs had died and had been resurrected, they’d say I was mad. But the truth of the resurrection, was so powerful, it turned the then known world on its head, in a matter of a couple of hundred years. I’m told that there is more evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, than there is evidence that Julius Caesar invaded the UK. The invasion of UK by Julius Caesar makes no demands on you or me personally. So What? The fact is, people don’t want to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. It disturbs their preferred theology. It makes demands on them they are not willing to acknowledge. It’s been like that since the days of the early church. So what else is new? Jim & Phyllida Strickland			12 That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the One in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return. 2 Tim 1:12 NLT 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Eph. 3:20 NLT 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Cor. 9:8 ESV 18 He himself suffered when he was tempted. Now he is able to help others who are being tempted. Heb. 2:18 NIrV 25 Therefore He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. Heb. 7:25 NLT 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, Jude 1:24 ESV 12 That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the One in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return. 2 Tim 1:12 NLT 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Philip 3:20-21 NASB 28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." Mat 9:28-29 ESV	What are the things God is able to do? Able to speak and to make it come true. Able to love through the fullness of time. Able to deal with the wickedest crime! Able to fashion whatever He thinks. Able to live with no water to drink. Able to send us to Heaven or Hell. Able to break any potion or spell. Able to live where His people cannot Able to visit the sun when it’s hot. Able to save and He’s able to guard. Able to do what’s impossibly hard. Able to do things miraculously. Able to go where nobody can see. Able to love and is able to free. Able to know what is lacking in me. Able to strengthen and tell us “Be brave”! Able His people to perfectly save. Able to separate people from sin. Able to triumph and always to win. Able to cause all His grace to abound. Able to find that which cannot be found. Able to save those who are longing to live Able to listen and then to forgive. Able to help when we’re tempted by sin. Able to conquer and always to win. Able to save us from stumbling round Able to hear in the absence of sound. Able to know what tomorrow will bring. Able to hide His folk under His wing. Able to laugh and is able to cry Able to see to it, we’ll never die. Able to heal someone who was born blind. Able to bless and to always be kind. Able to raise people up from the dead. Able to give us the heavenly bread. Able to come here and be crucified. Able to live when we know that He died. Jim Strickland Written 28th March 2012 Phyllida in Israel