{"id":8236,"date":"2020-03-12T22:33:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T05:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&p=8236"},"modified":"2020-03-12T22:33:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-13T05:33:36","slug":"handle-2020","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/handle-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Can\u2019t Handle It? God Already Knows"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY RICK WARREN \u2014 03\/12, 2020<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>(1 Peter 5:5 CSB)<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you start thinking about all the problems you\u2019ve ever had, then you\u2019ll realize that they all have one thing in common: you. When you reach that point, the best choice is to humble yourself and confess your inadequacy.<\/p>\n

This is what King Jehoshaphat did when three powerful armies were coming to wage war against him. He said, \u201cWe are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(2 Chronicles 20:12 NLT).When he confessed, he was able to worship instead of worry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Confessing your inadequacy can be hard. Humbling yourself is rarely easy or fun.<\/p>\n

God wants you to humble yourself because the Bible says,\u00a0\u201cGod resists the proud\u00a0but gives grace to the humble\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(1 Peter 5:5 CSB).<\/p>\n

Pride repels God\u2019s grace, but humility attracts it. God wants to pour his grace into your life, but he won\u2019t do it as long as pride is in the way. So you have to humble yourself and confess your inadequacy.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the great thing about confessing your inadequacy: You\u2019re just telling God what he already knows! When you tell him, \u201cI can\u2019t handle this,\u201d that is no surprise to God. In fact, Jesus said,\u00a0\u201cApart from me you can do nothing<\/strong>\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(John 15:5 NIV).<\/p>\n

But Philippians 4:13 tells the rest of the story:\u00a0\u201c<\/em>I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(NKJV).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Christ is powerful; you are powerless. There is no middle ground. But like the verse says, when we rely on him, Christ will give us strength.<\/p>\n

So, when you find yourself facing the impossible, you have to confess your inadequacy. He won\u2019t force himself into your situation. But he is ready and waiting to respond to your confession.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":8239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[35],"class_list":["post-8236","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-english-writer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8241,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8236\/revisions\/8241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8236"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=8236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}