Living Abundantly
According to God's Word
Read Time: 9 Minutes
God's Ability Equals His Willingness
One more essential truth that we must believe is that God's ability equals
His willingness. If we recognize that God has the ability (after all he created
the heavens and earth) but do not believe that He is willing, our unbelief will defeat the
promises of God in our lives. We must believe that what God says He is willing
to do and He is able to do. The converse is also true; we must believe that what
God says he is able to do He is willing to do. Anytime any one tells you that
God can or cannot do something we must look to His Word to know the truth.
Men will exhibit unwillingness but not God. Men may see another have a need
but be unwilling to help. Men may also be willing to help but lack the resources to
help. If I needed to dig a ditch and you had a backhoe you could come to me and
say, "I can help you with your ditch but I don't want to." You have
the ability but not the willingness. If you don't have a backhoe or shovel and
come to me willing to help but do not have the resources you cannot help. God is
not this way. What God says is available from His Word He is able to do and He
is also willing to do. We are His masterpiece created in Christ Jesus. We are
His children, called before the foundations of the World. Why would He not take
care of us?
Many Christians are under the impression that God gives according to
our actions. If we are good enough He gives us our health or meet needs,
and if we are not; He punishes us. Or, if we work so much for the Lord
He'll give us a reward. But, what does God say? We always needs to
get back to His Word, it is the only way we will truly know.
The truth of God's Word is that God is liberal and generous in His
giving. This we must recognize and believe.
James 1
:5 If any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God,
that giveth to all men
liberally,
and upbraideth not;
and it shall be given him.
I can tell you this; all of us need wisdom. Wisdom is the proper
application of knowledge and God has the handle on that. God says if we
ask it shall be given to us, how does God give? He gives liberally and
does not upbraid or reproach us. We'll see that God is liberal in all
His giving, not just wisdom.
Matthew 7
:11 If ye then,
being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your
children,
how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven
give
good things to them that ask him?
God is quite willing to give good things to us when we ask, even more
so than our earthly fathers. So, what is the will of God? That we ask so
that He can give. Let us look at another verse.
Romans 8
:32 He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
How is He going to give? Freely!! Don't put restrictions on what God
can and will do. His ultimate gift was His only begotten son, watching him be
beaten, tortured, and humiliated and, of Christ's own free will and obedience,
die for you and me so that we could be bought back from the adversary's
clutches. Since God is willing to give His son there is no good thing that he
would withhold; He gives freely. This we must recognize and believe.
Psalms 84
:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield:
the LORD will give grace and glory:
no good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly.
:12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
What is God's willingness and ability here? He is willing to give grace and
glory, no good will He withhold from them that walk according to His Word. We
must immerse our selves in His truths to the extent that we know and believe Him, so that
we may trust in Him and be blessed.
Numbers 23
:19 God is not a man, that he should lie;
neither the son of man, that he should repent:
hath he said, and shall he not do it?
or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
What God says in His Word He means; when He says He gives freely, He will not
withhold any good; bless those that trust in Him. We can take Him at His Word.
God never lies, if we doubt anything from the Word of God we are insinuating
that He is a liar. We can rely on His truths completely.
Jeremiah 32
:27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh:
is there any thing too hard for me?
No matter the circumstances, no matter the conditions, no matter the facts,
nothing is too hard for God.
Luke 1
:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
And He says it again by way of Jesus Christ:
Luke 18
:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men
are possible with God.
What God gives He doesn't retract either.
Romans 11
:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
When you make Jesus Christ lord in your life and believe that God raised him
from the dead you become a child of God and you enter the realm of the
supernatural where things deemed impossible with men are not impossible with
God. This we must recognize and believe.
What is God able to do?
Ephesians 3
:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think,
according to the power
that worketh in us,
What can we ask or think? Go ahead, take a moment, think about it. God is
able to do exceeding abundantly above that. You need never think that any
problem or situation is more than what God can handle, it can never be. The word
'abundantly' in Ephesians 3:20 is also used in John.
John 10
:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal,
and to kill,
and to destroy:
I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it
more abundantly.
Jesus Christ came so that we could have a life that is more than abundant.
Abundance is having enough plus more; Jesus Christ said, "more
abundantly", more than more than enough. That is what God is willing to do for
us, for he sent His son to redeem us from the adversary so we should no longer be
stolen from, killed and destroyed, but, have a more than abundant life. This we
must recognize and believe.
Ephesians is the greatness of the more than abundantly life that is available
to us. The words "according to" in Ephesians 3:20 sets the standard of God's
ability to do "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." The
standard is "according to the power that
worketh in us." We can find a description of this power defined earlier in
Ephesians.
Ephesians 1
:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us?ward who
believe,
according to the working of his
mighty power,
:20 Which he wrought in Christ,
when he raised him from the dead,
and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality,
and power,
and might,
and dominion,
and every
name that is named,
not only in this world,
but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet,
and gave him to be the head
over all things to the church,
That power that works in us is the "exceeding greatness of
his power to us?ward who believe, according to [the standard] the working of his
mighty power," and what did that power do? "Which he wrought in Christ, when he
raised him from the dead . . ." That same power set Christ above the
principalities, powers, might and dominion of this world now and forever. That
power is above anything this world can dish out.
What is the extent of God's willingness? He gave His only begotten Son
as a sacrifice in payment for you and me to extract us from the hand of the
adversary. And to what is extent is God able to do for us? With that same
power that was used to raise Christ from the dead and set him on His own right
hand, He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or
think. God is able and willing. If we are not living the more than abundant life,
we are not taking God at His Word.
In Hebrews 11 we are given a list of Old Testament believers who took God at
His Word and one of those great couples were Abraham and Sara. Abraham was given a promise from God and he believed God was able and willing
to perform it. When Abraham was 75 years old God told him to leave his country
(Haran) and family and go to Canaan and God would make of him a great nation.
(Genesis 12) At this point he had no children from which a nation would rise.
Over 10 years later he still hadn't had any children but stayed put on God's
promise, he deemed God able and willing to fulfill His Word. God says of Abraham:
Romans 4
:19 And being not weak in faith, [believing]
he [Abraham] considered not his own
body now dead,
when he was about an hundred years
old,
neither yet the deadness of Sara?s
womb:
:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief;
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
:21 And being fully persuaded that,
what he had promised,
he was able also to perform.
God told Abraham when he was 75 that he was going to be a father of many
nations. When He was about a hundred Isaac was born. He didn't look at the
circumstances. Many texts read that Abraham did consider his body old and unable
to
father children and Sara's inability as well; but that didn't stop him from believing that God could bring the
impossible to pass. He
held fast to God's Word and was fully persuaded that what God had promised God
was able to perform. God was willing and able to perform His promise.
Abraham wasn't the only one who had to believe God's promise and be confident
that God would perform it.
Hebrews 11
:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed,
and was delivered of a child when she was past age,
because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Sarah believed that God was able and willing to perform the promise
that He gave to Abraham.
We can be confident in the gifts and calling of God. What He promises He will
perform and what He gives He doesn't take away. He honors those that believe and
perform His Word. Remember, His willingness and ability is above all that we
could ask or think, nothing is impossible with God.
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