I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Not that I can do anything I want.
Not that faith means I will always get the outcome I prayed for.
Paul is talking about circumstances.
He knew abundance.
He knew need.
He knew what it was like to have enough and what it was like to go without.
And he says he learned to be content.
Contentment had to be learned.
It came through living through different circumstances and discovering that God remained the same.
Then Paul says:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I can walk through abundance.
I can walk through lack.
I can walk through uncertainty.
I can walk through disappointment.
I can walk through change.
I can walk through the things I prayed would be different.
Not because I am strong enough.
Because Christ strengthens me.
God can change my circumstances.
But my faith cannot depend on Him changing them.
I can pray for the circumstance to change while also asking God to change me through the circumstance.
I can ask boldly.
I can believe boldly.
I can expect God to move.
But I also have to surrender the outcome.
It takes faith to ask God for something impossible.
It also takes faith to say:
God, if Your answer looks different than mine, I will still trust You.
Mark: all things are possible.
Hebrews: without faith it is impossible to please God.
James: sometimes we do not have because we do not ask.
Ephesians: God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.
Philippians: take everything to God in prayer.
Jeremiah: nothing is too difficult for God.
So pray.
Ask.
Believe.
Do not limit God according to what I can see.
But then Psalm 131.
Quiet my soul.
I do not have to understand everything.
I do not have to control everything.
I do not have to know how everything will turn out.
There is a difference between believing God can and believing God must.
God can.
God is able.
God may.
But God does not have to follow my plan for me to trust Him.
Receive what You give.
Accept what You withhold.
Relinquish what You take.
That is hard faith.
Because surrender does not mean I stop wanting something.
It does not mean I stop praying.
It means I stop requiring a particular answer in order to believe God is good.
Psalm 73:
Stop looking sideways.
Someone else's circumstances are not evidence of God's faithfulness in my life.
Psalm 16:
Trust my portion.
Trust the path God has given me.
Psalm 131:
Quiet my soul.
I do not need every answer.
Philippians 4:
Learn contentment.
Christ will give me strength for the circumstance I am actually in, not only the circumstance I wish I were in.
God is my good.
God is my portion.
Christ is my strength.
God is my peace.
Faith says:
God can.
Prayer says:
God, I am asking.
Surrender says:
God, I trust You with the answer.
Contentment says:
And while I wait, You are still enough.