It’s so easy to get discouraged in this battle for freedom. We try every trick and technique that we’ve learned, and yet we still fail miserably at times. It can feel pretty hopeless.
We hear of others who have gained a measure of victory and we immediately begin to wonder what’s wrong with US. Are we uniquely flawed? Is God mad at us? Are we just too weak and ineffectual to succeed? Have we “crossed the line” and fallen from God’s grace? Is our situation . . . or our past . . . or our spouse somehow worse than anyone else’s?
And yet . . . the scripture says “with God all things are possible” How do we even begin to reconcile that with what we are actually experiencing? It’s a straightforward statement. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! There is no room left for “buts” or “excepts.” It’s spoken as if it were an indisputable fact. And yet we still fail. What’s up with that?
The secret is in the word “with.” The journey to healing can only be successful in PARTNERSHIP with our Heavenly Father. Freedom will not be found through our efforts alone. We can’t be strong enough or smart enough or holy enough to free ourselves. Nor can we just sit back and beg and plead and continue in our sin and expect God to swoop down and instantly take away our struggle. There is, indeed, work for us to do . . . but there are also parts that only God, Himself, can accomplish. Learning to discern the difference only comes as we willingly surrender more and more of our life and fears to Him.
“When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” —Matthew 19:25-16 (NIV)
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