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God is Able from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Today I want to talk about underestimating God, the Almighty. There is no one like Him, there is no one as powerful, there is no one as smart. Yet too often we allow our circumstances to break our hope that God will help us. Our circumstances become more powerful in our mind, than God. As we focus on them, our problems become bigger, and He becomes smaller.

We can’t see past our own circle of problems, our own abilities, our own resources, our own bank account. Our thinking becomes walled in, and zoomed in. We tend to limit what God will do to our experience in life so far. We act as if He could do nothing new, and certainly nothing for us today.

What a boring way to live, and what a boring picture of God. Fortunately that is not the God that the Bible teaches us about. I want to zoom out and look at the big picture. We don’t have to understand everything happening, we are to trust Him to make it work out. Proverbs 3:5 is one of my anchor verses in the Bible, it read:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB

Notice the “do not lean on your own understanding” for it will confuse you every time. God’s laws do not make sense to our natural mind, but then neither does the law of gravity, which is invisible but certainly works. For example: The natural mind wants you to keep everything for yourself like a packrat, to survive, but God says trust Me and give some away, then I will bless you with even more. Choosing to obey Him is often the opposite of the natural.

I want to make it clear that God is Able to take care of you in any circumstance that you face, from the beginning to the end. If you put Your trust in Him, and I mean by your actions, not just words, He will take care of you. The Holy Spirit will speak to our spirit and we become inspired to do something, then a door opens, and we can move forward with it, or not. Faith is a decision followed by your obedience, not by your understanding, or your ability to accomplish it.

I just want to lightheartedly flip through the Bible and go over some simple, fundamental things that we all know, but maybe it will stir something within us, maybe we can get a clearer picture of how powerful He is.

We are talking about the God that created the universe, that said “Let there be light”; and there was light. “He also made the stars” which I believe to be one of the coolest verses in the Bible. He gave Abraham a son when he was 100 years old.

He parted the red sea and the Jordan river for His people to pass through. He fed the Israelite people in the wilderness manna from heaven, every day except on the Sabbath. Their clothes did not wear out, nor were there any diseases among them for the 40 years they spent there. He gave them water when they were thirsty, sometimes from strange places like out of rocks. He led them as a pillar of fire at night to keep them warm and to give them light, then a cloud by day to give them shade.

Sometimes when people whined and complained, they were consumed by fire. The earth opened up and swallowed some of them. The walls of Jericho fell when they followed His advice. Time itself stopped for Joshua, and it ran backwards for Hezekiah.

God caused Balaam’s donkey to start speaking. He anointed Samson with incredible physical strength, so much so that when a lion attacked him, he ripped it in half.

God once allowed the Ark of the Covenant to be captured by the Philistines when the Israelites tried to use Him as a tool. They placed the Ark in the temple of their god dagon, who was made of stone, but the following morning dagon was laying on his face before the Ark. They stood the statue back up, but the next morning he was laying on his face again, this time with his head and hands broken off. Then He struck the philistines with hemorrhoids. After that, they decided to send the Ark back to Israel.

For a while, God had ravens bring Elijah meat and bread in the morning and again in the evening while he lived beside a brook. After this he stayed with a widow for “many days” who only had a handful of flour in a bowl, and a tiny amount of oil in a jar, but they ate all they wanted and it never ran out. Later when her son died, Elijah prayed for him and he came back to life.

Elijah prayed that it would stop raining on Israel because they had turned away from God, and it didn’t rain for 3 1/2 years! Then he prayed for rain, and it began raining a few minutes later. Elisha came along and did twice as many miracles as Elijah did. They both called down fire from heaven, multiplied food, and raised the dead. This was not done by their own strength but through the power of God Almighty. They prayed, He answered them.

Some enemy armies were struck blind, captured, then made to see again. Some were confused and attacked each other. 185,000 Assyrians apparently failed to wake up the next morning after an angel of the Lord visited the camp.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the burning furnace, He protected them. When Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, he was protected.

Jesus had so many miracles, He healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water, multiplied food, calmed storms and cast out demons, but He is “Emmanuel, God with us.” So let’s continue to look at common people like you and me.

The fishermen Peter walked on water, healed the sick, and Ananias and his wife Sapphira fell dead at his words. His prayer raised a disciple named Tabitha from the dead. The power of life and death was literally in his tongue.

Paul was a leather worker, but God caused special miracles so that even handkerchiefs or aprons taken from him and laid on the sick would bring healing and deliverance. Paul spoke and sorcerers were stricken blind. He healed the sick, and he raised the dead.

There is so much more that I could cover, but my point is that God can control your food supply. He can multiply your resources. He can control the weather. He has brought the dead to life, and He has made some naughty ones dead. He is able to protect those who trust in Him.

He has always been a delivering God. He has always been a miracle working God. He works through people, and He has not changed, He has not stopped. He is alive and well today. God is able.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me see through Your eyes. Stir my faith. Help me to connect the dots. Today I put my trust in You, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.