Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, December 19th. What are your needs today?

Whatever they are, today's podcast reminds us that God is able. The Bible is filled with many, many precious promises to us that are very, very clear in their meaning, and likewise very encouraging in what they offer.

And yet somehow we read those promises and then we struggle over whether to believe that it can absolutely possibly be true or not.

Now, what is the reason we struggle? Why is it we struggle so much when it's crystal clear? Very simple. For example, the Bible says,

My God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. That's rather clear.

The Bible says that Paul said it this way. He said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

That's rather clear that trusting the Lord God that he could do anything God call him to do. We love that verse in the 37th Psalm that says, if I delight myself in the Lord, he'll give me the desires of my heart. Now, we take all of those promises. We said that we believe them with all of our heart, and yet we struggle.

And what is it that we struggle about?

And I think what we struggle about is this.

We struggle with the fact that we take the promise of God, and then we look at our circumstances that relate to that promise, and instead of putting the promise of God in front of the circumstance, we put the circumstance

in front of the promise of God and we look at the promises of God through our circumstance.

God wants us looking at our circumstances through his wonderful promise.

And whenever we get these two mixed and confused, we have a problem.

And so then we have to ask the question, well, God, how can you do this? I know this is what you say,

but here's my circumstance. How can you do it? When the promise of God is first, anything we see

through the promises of God becomes a living possibility and a reality.

And that's what I want to talk about in this message. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Ephesians

chapter 3. And the title of this message is, God is able. In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul is praying

this wonderful prayer for the Ephesian Christians.

He says beginning in the 14th verse, and I want you to notice what he's praying, the awesome

request that Paul is making for his readers, he says, for this reason, I bow my knees before the

Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

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