You Can’t Can!

 from a friend of TheSecondAdam.com

“You can’t…you can’t do…you can’t be…I just can’t…”  Do these words sound familiar?  As imperfect human beings, we tend to say and believe these words because we wrongly limit ourselves and other people.  Yet, you can’t turns into you can when you remember that if God calls you to do or be something, He will equip you for it, even if other people believe that you can’t.  God has equipped you with His power—the Holy Spirit—to do and be what He wants.  This is one reason why God gave us the Holy Spirit, to empower us to do what we can not do by ourselves.  For the you can’t mentality, remember what God’s Word boldly declares you can do by the power of His Spirit:

“[You] can do all things through Christ who strengthens [you].”  Philippians 4:13.

“With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26.

“‘Not by might nor by [man’s] power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”         Zechariah 4:6.

Therefore, “you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you,”  does not mean that you can do some things but not other things that some people will say is hard, but it means that you really can do all God-honoring things by Christ’s power inside of you.  Also, God is Spirit and He does not just have power, but He is power and He lives inside of you.  So, power is in you. 

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit does not only give you power to be and do what He wants you to, but He gives you power to be and do so without much difficulty.  The Spirit in us is not to enable us to go crawling to the finish line, bruised, battered, and scarred, but He empowers us to run with endurance to the finish line.  We don’t have power in us, so we can barely keep our heads above water, but so we can walk on the water.  We will not just survive, but we will thrive.  Keep in mind, that the you can’t mentality is not of God, but of man.  So, the next time you start to limit yourself or another Christian by thinking “you can’t,” remember that God’s Word says you absolutely can, not by your mightnor your power, but by His Spirit.