“Don’t look at the circumstances and don’t look at what you can’t do. Look to your Lord. Call on His power. Trust His timing. Don’t put a period where God puts a comma.”
I have to confess that I have often looked at the circumstances and what I can’t do.
I have to confess that I have often put a period where God puts a comma.
This is why I have chosen to focus on the word anticipation
for 2011. I don’t want to settle for what I can do. I want to trust
God to do immeasurably more. I want to anticipate that God will do
immeasurably more !
Some of my favourite verses are Ephesians 3:20 - 21 which say:
“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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
First, He is able – that is, there is nothing that God cannot do.
Second, He is able to do – that is, God is not idle or asleep, but active in our lives.
Third, He is able to do immeasurably more – that is, His expectations are higher than our requests.
Fourth, He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask – that is, He listens to our prayers.
Fifth, He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine – that is, God reads our thoughts.
Finally, He is able to do this according to His power that is at work within us – that is, God does all this through the power that is already in us.
The phrase translated “immeasurably more” here is the same word for the “abundant grace” of God in Romans 5:20 . It literally means, “Superabundantly, with more added to that.” It’s like saying “more than more than.” God has enough power to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think with more added to that !
This leads to a question, doesn’t it? If this is true, why do we so often as Christians don’t live our lives in light of this and trust God to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine ?
There are really only two answers to that question. Either our theology is wrong and God is not able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine or, our theology is right, but we short-circuit the process.
Obviously, the problem is with us, not with God! We are not tapping into the power He has made available to us. We either don’t care or we think we can do it all in our strength.
We need to decide today to trust God to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us !
