Everything and this.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

I can do all this though him who gives me strength. (TNIV)

Here we go again with another verse that is one of the all time greats. It's a verse that you'll see plastered on all sorts of things, especially t-shirts and by far is a rallying cry for athletes all over the world. But what is this verse saying?

As you may notice I have put two different translations of this verse in this post because I think it is important to understand its' context. (For those who don't know what context is: the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning. And,  the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs) 

The author of this verse was the apostle Paul. And it's important to know that this verse is at the end of an explanation to the Philippians about certain conditions that Paul had experienced. But it's easy for us to forget the verses before verse 13 of chapter 4 and accept an attitude of invincibility. Then again it is empowering to think that I can do all things through him.

The bible is full of God proving and showing him self to be all powerful. Whenever mankind stepped up and said, "There's no way that will ever happen" is usually when God shows up and shows everyone wrong. Impossible is nothing to God. Unfortunately (and probably fortunately) we are not God. 

Being a small group of friends there commonality's between us all but there are major differences. For example I wondered what subjects in school were our favorites and which ones did we absolutely struggle with. For myself I was not a math student (let alone a good student in most subjects) but I did excel in history and creative classes.  Another thing I wondered is, if we know about Philippians 4:13, do we actually feel the way Paul felt? Do we really think we can do everything though him?

It is great to know that we cannot do all things. In fact Paul himself could not do all things. What Paul could do was be thankful for what God had done and use what God had done to present a path for the future. We all have hopes and dreams and I'm sure that we've all heard that nothing is impossible. But there is also time, and there are good days and bad days. God is the God of them all. I guess it's important to remember that we shouldn't let our plans get in the way of God's and maybe God wants us to face impossible situations so that we can rely on him more.