I Can Do All Things Through Christ
Christ's strengthening presence enables believers to handle any circumstance.
Paul declares, 'I can do all this through him who gives me strength.' Context matters: Paul is describing contentment in plenty or want, abundance or need. This is not a promise of unlimited success but of adequate strength for any situation. Christ's power enables endurance through difficulty, not escape from it. The 'all things' refers to faithful living in any circumstance, not achieving any desire. This teaching counters both self-sufficiency and despair—we cannot in ourselves but can in Christ. Divine enablement meets us at the point of our need.
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Hudson Taylor, who pioneered missions in China, testified: 'All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and presence with them.'
Epistle to the Philippians
Written about in
- What Christianity says about starting again after a fall
Read the context before using this one. Paul is describing contentment in plenty and in want, not unlimited achievement. The promise is adequate strength for any circumstance, including the circumstances that never improve: power to endure difficulty, not to escape it.