News

Ephesians 3:20

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

This is an astonishing verse. It tells us that God is able to do much more than we ask or can even think. It is hard for us to get our mind around our God who is so powerful and able that we can’t even think it.

Sometimes it’s tempting to think that we should only ask realistic things, small things that God will likely do. Those are good things to ask too. This verse invites us to ask big things, ask bold things. Even ask things that you think are out of reach.

These things are not to be done by you. God does this through the power of the Holy Spirit – “the power that worketh in us”.

Trust God. No matter the circumstances. He is able today to do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths.

Ask Him to direct your paths today. Let Him direct your paths today. His paths bring rich blessings now and forever.

Psalms 62:8

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Prayer is good, God wants to hear you. Yes, He already knows, but it’s important to reach out to Him, to let Him know your love for Him, and acknowledge your total dependency on Him.

Sometimes, even in prayer, we hid our heart from God. That is likely because we are hiding our heart from ourselves. It’s too painful, too emotional, too real for us to think about.

In life when we open our heart, and reveal our hopes, our dreams, our fears, our hurts, sometimes those we share these things with will use those things against us to try to control us, to hurt us, to make themselves feel big.

God will never hurt you, You can trust Him with your heart, with your thoughts, and with your feeling. The Bible says that he is not one who cannot be “touched by the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15).

He knows all about it. God created feelings. He’s not afraid of your feelings. He’s not disappointed, He already knows.

Pouring your heart out to God is not just for times of anguish, though it can be for that too. It can be times of joy, anxiety, confusions, dread, fear, hope, dreams. It doesn’t have to be hours and hours, it can be just a quiet few minutes when you honest and sincere with God.

Forgive me Lord, when I hid my heart from you. Forgive me when I hid it from myself.

Work it out with God. He hears. He cares. He loves you with His everlasting love.

Galatians Chapter 5 discusses walking (behaving) in the flesh as opposed to waking in the Spirit.

A temptation, and stumbling block, for many sincere Christians is to focus on the outward, following the law, an outward set rules and behaviors, e.g., as in Colossians 1:21 “Touch not; taste not; handle not;”. While the laws, rules and behaviors themselves may not be bad, it can lead to a legalistic, self-righteous, judgmental attitude.

Christ wants the heart – your true love and relationship with God. From that will flow all of the right behaviors. The Bible calls these behaviors, characteristics, or traits the “fruit of the Spirit”. That is, God on the inside, working on the outside.

Loving God, a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, is a matter of the heart. Jesus warned against trying to make a relationship with God something difficult, an outward show. Matthew 23:4 “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders” v5 “but all their works they do to be seen of men”.

When our heart is right with God, and we walk (behave) according to that relationship, the fruit of the Spirit will flow outward.

Galatians 5:16 “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

v22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Seek God. Seek to live in His Spirit. Seek to walk in His Spirit. The Fruits of the Spirit will follow.

Fear can be a good thing. It can take us away from dangerous or bad situations. It can lead us to make good choices. God gave the emotion of fear for a reason. It can be good.

Fear can also be bad. It can keep you from taking actions that would benefit us. What if I fail? What if people don’t like me? What if people make fun of me?

That means that sometimes we need to overcome our fears and take action. The best way to take action is – to take action. You may not have all the answers, you may fail, people may laugh at you. Yet you know action needs to be taken. You won’t be perfect. You don’t have to be. You just have to move forward by taking action.

There are many reasons not to take action. It’s hard. There are fun things you can do. Need to check email? Find something on the internet?

It takes discipline, but only action will lead to results. Other things may help remove the fear to take action – the right attitude, the right intentions. Only action will cause results.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”. – Ephesians 2:10

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” – Colossians 3:23

“Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might” – Ecclesiastes 9:10

Is there something today you need to take action on? Put the excuses aside and go do it.

What is God calling you to? Is He calling you to examine your life? Your attitude? Your spirit? Your hopes? Your dreams? Your relationships? Your job? Is He calling you to abandon sin? To start taking better care of yourself?

Sometimes He may call you to a great work. Maybe it’s external and people can see it. Maybe it’s internal and only He can see it.

The important thing is to be open to God’s call, great and small, external and internal. God sees all. And rewards all.

There was a time when God called to Samuel:

¹⁰ And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth. – I Samuel 3:10

Be open to hear God: Speak for your servant hears.

What is God’s speaking to your heart today?  

Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. – I Thessalonians 5:24 KJV

Those who love God will want to follow God’s ways. There are also great benefits to following God’s ways.

The first step is to be willing.

That means to acknowledge that we don’t know all of God’s ways. It also means to accept that God’s ways are higher than our ways, better than our ways. We have to put away any arrogance that might be trying to sneak into the secrets of our heart.

Then we have need to be open.

Be open that learning God’s ways can be uncomfortable. The closer we get to God, the more of our imperfections we will began to see. We may have to change our habits, our attitudes, our heart. Being open to doing that can be a challenge. (But you are strong, as in, Challenge Accepted!)

We also have to seek God’s ways.

We can’t just think we know God’s ways. Maybe we think we have heard it all our lives, and maybe we think we will just intuitively know His ways. The best place to learn God’s ways is in the Bible. Reading God’s word will bring insights and wisdom. You may not immediately see the benefit or value, but in the long run you will. Listening to Bible preachers and teachers can provide insights for you to consider. But don’t substitute their views for you own, instead seek out God’s ways through Bible study, mediation, and prayer.

“Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” – Psalms 25: 4 – 5.

Be clear: salvation does not come by works, but God does reward our works.

A reward is defined as something given in return for something done.

Even small rewards are appreciated and make a difference in our lives. Think about a reward you may give a child or a reward someone may give you. It makes the giver and the receiver feel good.

Is there a reward you can give today that will make some’s day?

We can only give rewards when we have the ability to give them. Most of us can’t award someone with a luxury car are a beautiful mansion. But all of us can award someone with a smile, a kind word, a compliment, an expression of appreciation, or an expression of confidence in the person.

What if we could give – or receive – a great reward? How exciting that would be!

The person giving the reward would have to have the ability to give it. A great reward would be something would amaze us, delight us, be beyond what we could imagine.

 You know where this is going. God has the ability to give great rewards – beyond anything we could ever hope for. Today and in the future.

In Psalms 19 we are told some things that will bring great reward. Here they are:

The law of the Lord…

The testimony of the Lord…

The statutes of the Lord…

The commandment of the Lord…

The fear of the Lord…

The judgements of the Lord…

These things are to be desired more than gold! “…in keeping them there is great reward.”

You won’t be perfect in all of those things. But you can seek them, by keeping as best you can, a little each day, you move toward great reward.

You can have great reward in the Lord.

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” – Mark 12:30

Another verse:

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33

Put God first in your life and other things will begin to fall into place. God promises. Will everything be perfect? No. Will all problems go away? No.

BUT it will be far better than it would have otherwise be, and will be far better than you can ever imagine.

²⁰ Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

²¹ Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. – Ephesians 3:20

Our challenge – and our duty – is to trust Him. Trust God to do what He says He will do. Trust Him in good times. Trust Him in bad times.

It’s not easy. It’s good. And it will be good for you. It will be good for those around you and those you love.

Make the choice today to trust God and put Him first in your life.

Philippians 3:13 – 14

¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

As we enter the new year we renew ourselves with hope for the future. Let’s consider from the scripture above some ideas for that.

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended”

Acknowledge that we are not perfect, we don’t understand everything, we have not yet arrived. We are a work in progress.

“but this one thing I do”

We don’t have to be perfect or understand everything, in order to make progress.

“forgetting those things which are behind”

There are things you need to forget. Dark things you have done, people who have hurt you, circumstances that were bad, difficulties, failures, disappointments, grief and sorrow. God gave us human emotions, and it’s not wrong to have these feeling. Are you dwelling on bad things from this past year, or maybe even before the past year? God says there’s a time to forget them.

“reaching forth unto those things which are before”

Don’t fear the future. Reach forth. There are good things before you. No matter where you are, or what your circumstances, God has not forgotten you.

“I press toward the mark for the prize”

There’s a goal before you, a prize, something worth working for.

“of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”

You. Yes you. Have a high calling. God has declared that you have purpose and meaning. A high calling. You are unique, only one of you, your high calling is different from anyone else, but just as critical, just as important, just as noble. You press toward the mark to fulfill your high calling.

May God richly bless you this new year as you press toward the prize.

About a month ago I got a Rottweiler dog from an animal shelter. I got him for a watchdog. He is NOT a watchdog, he’s a friendly, very social play dog. He makes friends with everyone and wants to play with everyone. He’s super quick and super strong, and very well behaved.

Damien has everything he needs here – a big fenced backyard where I play with him every day, a doggie door so he can come inside and go outside as he pleases, two water dishes, two meals a day, and he usually sleeps at the foot of my bed.

He has everything he needs. Yet he has escaped the fenced backyard twice and run away. After two or three days, kind people have found him and returned him. This latest time, I got him back just this morning. I had already blocked everywhere I thought he might escape under the fence.

This morning I had a thought that amused me. How when we get away from God, we are so like Damien. I wonder if he’s thinking, ‘what an exciting world to explore, what new and fun things I may be missing’.  He’s not really wrong. I’m thinking, it’s dangerous for him outside the fence, he may be wet, cold, hungry, lonely. Why would he leave everything that’s good for him?

I wonder if that is how God sees us when we don’t stay close to Him.

When Damien came home, I welcomed him, I feed him, he drunk a lot of water, he wanted to play fetch (or wrestle for a stick) and I played with him. I was glad.

How much greater is God’s goodness than mine! God welcomes us back when we return our heart to Him.

From the Bible scriptures, Luke 15 starting in verse 17, about the prodigal son, which paints a beautiful picture of someone returning to God:

“and when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

We can always come to the Father.