More Than You Can Ask or Imagine

Yesterday during some corporate prayer at our church, I was praying about God's future plans and paraphrased some verses from Ephesians about God doing more than we can think or imagine.  I said, "I can imagine a lot, Lord"!  Afterwards, I felt like the Lord whispered back a bit of a reply, "yes, but you don't think like I do, so everything you imagine is from man's perspective not mine!"

To put this in context, here are the verses from Paul's letter to the Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV:

[14] "For this reason I kneel before the Father, [15] from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. [16] I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, [19] and to know this love that surpasses knowledge---that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

[20] Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

I must say His word, while gentle, caught my attention, and I knew it was an invitation to begin pressing further into Him, that I might grow and learn to see things from His perspective, learning to think more like Him.  Recently, I was listening to John Wimber, one of the founders of the Vineyard Churches, giving his testimony about how the Lord moved in his life, and spoke something similar.  He was desperate to see God move and was crying out to the Lord and heard the Lord say something that changed everything.  The Lord said to him, "John I have seen your ministry, now I am going to show you mine!"

Up until that point John had been doing all the church things he knew to grow and establish the church, he was obeying the leading of the Lord, teaching from the Word, praying for healing, everything he could do from his own knowledge and experience, but it just wasn't enough, and John knew there had to be more.  

These verses from Paul's letter, help me to understand that there is so much more, things beyond which I can even think.... for I haven't been able to grasp the fullness of God's love for me, the lost, the poor and downtrodden, the lonely, the weak, etc.  I am aware of how limited my thinking really is, and how so much of my thinking is based on what I have read, what I have heard others teach!  I am limited and I know it... and I feel like the invitation is to press pass my own understanding into new things that He speaks and does!  

Oh Lord, help me!  Oh Lord, help us to not settle for that which we can do, or think on our own!  Help us to press further into You to discover what You purpose to do!  Help us to lay down our understanding and frameworks and allow You to speak new things into existence!  Show us Your ministry!  Show us Your Love!  Fill us with the whole measure of the fullness of You! 

Amen and Amen!

Light and Momentary?

This morning I continue my reading from Mark, moving on a bit to the following verses - Mark 8:34-38 NIV:

[34] "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. [35] For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. [36] What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? [37] Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? [38] If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.”

These verses probably don't make anyone's list of top favorite verses of all time, and for that very reason it is important that we spend time with them.  I believe there is a brand of Christianity today that preaches only blessing and good things.  This stream has no aswers for difficulty or struggles other than to cast blame, or at least suspicion upon the person walking through difficulty.  The logic of this approach follows that if God only brings blessings and good things than people struggling must have some amount of secret sin, or that they are in rebellion and God is punishing them.  I would imagine that these statements by Jesus are never heard in those churches.  

Jesus is quite descriptive of the cost of following Him, and while He had not yet gone to the cross, one expects His listeners understood what He meant when He said "take up their cross".  Apparently it was a form of punishment used by the Greeks as well as the Romans that was used prior to their time by the Phoenicians.  Thus, it was likely a widely understood term.  Some commentators believe that in this instance it was understood to mean persecution.  Here is a note from the Discovery Bible: "The "cross" (Mk 8:34) is not a symbol for suffering in general. Rather it refers to withstanding persecution (difficult times), by the Lord's power, as He directs the circumstances of life. As Christ's disciples, believers are to hold true – even when attacked by the ungodly.]"  Regardless of exact meaning, it is clear that Jesus' description of following Him would not be a life of all blessings and good things!   

It is important how we process such statements in our lives of faith.  If we look at the lives of the Apostles, and many in the early church, their lives while filled with miraculous experiences, opportunities to witness healings and other signs and wonders, and yet they were far from perfectly comfortable.  They understood the reality that following Jesus would invite persecution and derision from the family, friends, neighbors and government, yet they gladly embraced faith in Jesus!  They understood that the eternal benefits of being part of the Kingdom of God, followers of Christ Jesus, far outweighed the difficulties.  

Paul writes 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV:  "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. [17] For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. [18] So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Paul obviously writes these words post resurrection, and when we read Jesus' words above, we also must understand them from the place of the completed revelation of Christ Jesus' passion, death, resurrection and ascension!  He wasn't a popular leader looking for followers, He was the Son of God, come to earth, preparing the way for restoration of relationship with our heavenly Father!   His call and invitation is for us to take up this ministry of reconciliation.  

Paul writes the following further on in his letter to the Church in Corinth - 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NIV: "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. [17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! [18] All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: [19] that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. [21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Our call in following Jesus is to be like Him, to take up His ministry, as Paul points out in the verses above.  Our moment of salvation, while it does seal our eternal destiny, is not a one-way ticket to heaven, and a "get out of all difficulty and pain" card.  When we choose to follow Christ we join ourselves to His Body here on earth, and our ministry becomes His ministry, our life becomes His life!  We have become a new creation, and our old life is no longer ours!  

While this may not seem the most encouraging word this morning, let me say that is only because we don't fully comprehend the eternal glory that far outweighs every trouble we may experience here.  Our invitation is to bring Heaven to earth (Matt 6:10), to proclaim the Kingdom of God present, and then demonstrate that reality, that the world might see, understand and be reconciled to God!  

Oh Lord, help us!  Oh Lord, show Yourself mighty to this, our fallen world.  Help us to follow you daily!  Help us to bear witness to Your Gospel of Grace!  Help us to bear up under the trials and difficulties that we might reveal You in all Your Glory!

Amen and Amen!

Don't Stop

Yesterday I was reading through some of Mark's Gospel, starting in Chapter 7.  I find it always helpful to spend time in the word, and I need to do so more often, reading over swaths of the word, just to keep it fresh in my mind and heart.  

One of the stories that caught my eye was Jesus healing a blind man.  I love this one in particular, because it invites us into something we don't see anywhere else, the process of praying for healing.  Here are the verses - Mark 8:22-26 NIV:

[22] "They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. [23] He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” 

[24] He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” 

[25] Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. [26] Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don't even go into the village.” 

A couple of thoughts to start.  First, I don't think we probably saw the breakout of a large ministry of spitting in eyes, following this healing. :-)  I don't know about everyone else, but I would have some qualms about spitting in someone else's eyes at the direction of the Holy Spirit.  I don't think it was probably a whole lot different back in Jesus day, spitting on someone is usual an act of derision or defiance.  It is at a minimum an odd way to bless.  

Jesus does talk about streams of living water coming out of us, but I don't think this is that! Ha!

Secondly, this is the only time I know of where Jesus had to pray twice over someone for their healing.  I am grateful for the method revealed and used in some of the best healing ministries, who are continuing Jesus' ministry of healing.  They know that our sensitivity to what the father is saying and doing is oftentimes off, but recognize the benefit of asking the one being healed what they are experiencing, so that they can focus on a particular area or effort, or continue pressing in for further healing. 

This also should help us to be encouraged when we see some impact of healing prayer, if they are experiencing some level of healing, we can be encouraged for Jesus demonstrates here the will of the Father to complete the healing.  I am reminded of a song by Journey, "Don't Stop Believin" and this is the encouragement today!  Any progress in an area of prayer should encourage us that the Father is engaged and at work, and we just need to keep pressing in for the more and completion!

Amen and Amen!

Wet Footprints

This morning I felt led to read through some of Paul's letter to the Galatians.  His words are always a fresh reminder and helpful for encouragement.  Here are the verses that stood out to me this morning - Galatians 5:6,13-14 NIV:

[6] "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

[13] "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. [14] For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Recently I was reflecting on the faith versus works/deeds discussion, and this morning these verses seemed to settle nicely into my soul.  I like the idea of "faith expressing itself through love" for that seems to add a very helpful perspective on James comments about faith and deeds (see James 2: 14-18).  "Faith expressing itself through Love" is clearly action oriented, but action motivated by love which is founded in faith.  

If love is the primary action of our faith, then the verses above (13 & 14) flow out of our faith, for our natural outflow would find us serving one another in love. Our vertical relationship and love with God, should fuel our love for our brothers and sisters, for they are exactly that, our brothers and sisters!  Our love should be more than mere words, or loving thoughts, as John wrote in his first letter (1 John 3:18).  

The invitation this morning is to allow our faith in, and our love of the Lord, to be our primary motivation in our daily lives.  Our understanding of God's love for us, the salvation He offers us, and His desire for relationship should spur us forward in our love and service of our brothers and sisters, not just in the Body of Christ, but even those who have yet to fully understand God's love.  Imagine what the impact would be if the outflow of the Church was humble service pouring forth from love!  

Lord, help me to embrace Your words today, to embrace this invitation to allow my faith to be expressed through active love!  Help me to embrace and rest in Your love for me, allowing this reality to overflow and saturate my being, soaking my daily words and actions.  I want Your love to be the source of my wet footprints in my day!

Amen and Amen!

Work, Labor and Endurance

This morning I felt led to read from Paul's first letter to 1 Thessalonians 1:2-7 NIV:

[2] "We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. [3] We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. [4] For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. [6] You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. [7] And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia."

Recently in our church we have talked through justification and the Gospel of Grace.  One subject that seems to always come up is how our works relate to these topics and truths?  Clearly we must believe in salvation and justification through faith alone (See Romans 3:21-28; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Philippians 3:8-11) and yet James says the following - James 2:24 NIV:  "You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone."  While this can be confusing, I think Paul actually provides a lovely guide here in the verses quoted above.  The "work", "Labor" and "endurance" are the products of faith, love and hope.  

The way I understand it is that James was effectively arguing that the impact of our faith and belief should have an affect on our lives and these changes, visible in our works, actions and fruit all point to our changed lives.  While these are indicative of our salvation, justification and relationship with and knowledge of the Lord, they are not the cause.  

Secondly, it seems to me that James is looking at this from our perspective, not necessarily God's perspective.  If we were to take the second thief on the cross as an example (See Luke 23:39-43).  Clearly, he expresses his faith in Jesus, but certainly has no opportunity to do any "works" aside from his statement of faith, and yet one must believe the word's of Jesus are true, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43).  If we held strongly to the idea that works bring about justification, we could struggle with this statement.

It seems to me that one problem with adding works to the Gospel of Grace through faith, as a requirement for justification, is that we would never know for sure exactly which works are sufficient.  I mean the circumcision group was pretty sure that single act was sufficient and made them a "true" Christian.  However, couldn't the argument be made that a fasted lifestyle (a cutting away the pleasure of food and other comforts of life) was equally beneficial and the sign of a deeper faith, a more committed following of Jesus, and thus maybe now the only true indication of salvation.  Any additional requirement effectively says that Christ's sacrifice was not enough!  I definitely don't want to try to argue that case to Lord, as He sits on The Throne!

Quite simply, our response to Jesus' perfect sacrifice, to the Gospel of Grace, to our justification through faith alone, should be evident in our lives!  Our lives should bear fruit in keeping with our changed way of believing and thinking (repentance).  Our faith, love and hope should be evident in the fruit of our lives, and by this fruit our faith, love and hope will be visible to others, or at least cause them to wonder why our lives are changed.

Oh Lord, help me today to live my life in such a way that my faith, love and hope in You are evident through my works, labor and endurance.  I am so grateful for the sacrifice You made for me, for clearly it was enough!

Amen and Amen!

No Fruit, No Bueno!

This morning I felt led to read from Mark 11.  The section that caught my attention was the story of the cursed Fig tree.  I know I have reflected on this before, but I thought it was worth reviewing this morning.  At first blush it seems out of place in the Gospel's for Jesus was most often speaking of the Kingdom of God, preaching, teaching, healing or working signs and wonders.  As far as I know this is the only instance that Jesus curses anything or anybody, and thus it stands out.  Here are the verses followed by what David Guzik, one of my favorite Bible commentators, says:

[12] "Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. [13] And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. [14] In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it."

a. Seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it: Essentially, the tree was a picture of false advertising, having leaves but no figs. Ordinarily this is not the case with these fig trees, which normally do not have leaves without also having figs.

i. For it was not the season for figs: It wasn’t that the fig tree didn’t have figs because it wasn’t supposed to. The problem is that it had leaves but didn’t have figs. The leaves said, “There are figs here,” but the figs weren’t there.

ii. There were many trees with only leaves, and these were not cursed. There were many trees with neither leaves nor fruit, and these were not cursed. This tree was cursed because it professed to have fruit, but did not.

b. In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again”: The tree was cursed for its pretense of leaves, not for its lack of fruit. Like Israel in the days of Jesus, it had the outward form but no fruit. In this picture, Jesus warned Israel – and us – of God’s displeasure when we have the appearance of fruit but not the fruit itself. God isn’t pleased when His people are all leaves and no fruit.

i. In all works in the ministry of Jesus, this is the only destructive miracle. The Old Testament is filled with miracles of destruction and judgment, but Jesus most perfectly showed us the nature of God. If this was the only miracle of its kind, we must see there was a great and important lesson in it. God doesn’t approve when there is profession without reality, talk without walk.

As I was just thinking through these comments, I was reminded of something that John Wimber (One of the founders of the Vineyard churches) related concerning his questioning his church leadership, after reading the Gospels himself.  His question was simple yet profound, he asked the leaders when they "Did the stuff", as in miracles, healings, etc. that he had been reading about in the Gospels. Their reply was that the things he was reading about 'only happened back the bible writers time, not today.'  In John's mind, having a church patterned after the life and ministry of Jesus, you would obviously also experience the fruit of Jesus'  ministry.  It made no sense that the church didn't regularly see miracles, healings and the like.

This seems related to David's comments about having leaves (advertising the fruit) without actually having any fruit.   Unfortunately, I think this is the state of many of our churches today! Oh Lord, let it not be so! 

The same is probably true for many of us who profess faith in the Lord Jesus!  We have plenty of talk, but very little walk!  Oh Lord, we pray for an outpouring of the desire for prayer!  Help us to produce fruit in keeping with repentance!  Help us to show the world that You are alive and well! Help us to effectively represent Your ministry on earth, in our lives and the lives of our families and friends. Help us to be able to say, 'not only do we talk about healing, miracles and other wonders, we regularly see these in our midst'!

Amen and Amen!