Sleepy. Groggy. Demotivated. Sluggish. Hi, My name is Monday morning and I’m here to suck the wind out of your sails. If you frequent this blog you know that Mondays are not exactly my favorite moments during the week. Most pastors share my sentiments and, if you are a pastor and do not feel this way, please refrain from letting me know because I will delete your comment quicker than Washington DC will find a new way to tax your income. In an attempt to welcome my faith (and not my feelings) to rule my Monday morning, here’s the promise I’ve chosen to ponder today and I’ll give you a couple of options about what you might do with it yourself:
“Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21
You might say, “Jeff, I simply do not believe this statement from Ephesians because my life is regularly mundane and extremely average. I’ve never seen exceeding abundance or power that goes beyond what I’ve been asking from God or thinking was possible. I reluctantly admit that this is not my reality.” Well, thank you for being honest but I submit to you that your experience does not negate the word of God. When the Scriptures make such a dogmatic statement we learn to discipline ourselves to accept it wholeheartedly. The verse says that “God is able” and we conclude also that He is often willing at the same time. When this teaching of scripture is not unfolding in my own life I seek to hunker down and examine my level of faith. Am I actually believing God for this reality to color my life? Is there any open sin in me hindering this promise from becoming my experience? Have I settled for too little too long and not desired a powerful abundance to characterize my life? If I’m in a longstanding rut, it is most likely that God did not lead me there or leave me there. Sometimes the issue is not God’s fulfilling of His word but, instead, my failure to appropriate it.
Someone else might say, “Jeff, I believe this statement but I’m not really sure what to expect. I’m able to ask God for some incredible things and my vision for my own life allows me to think of some amazing possibilities. Why am I not yet experiencing the reality of God’s super-abounding power when I truly believe Him for it and I’m seeking Him daily to bring the quality of abundance to my life?” I am grateful that you have crossed the threshold and expect your great God to be great unto you. Not enough Christians have this bold expectation. My encouragement to you is for you to be patient and steadfast in your seeking of Him. Be careful and wise not to treat Him as a dispenser of good things but, rather, the essence of all that is good. The greatest “excess” you might receive from Him is a deepening personal relationship with Him wherein you are gaining insight into His nature, His will and His ways. The secrets of the Lord are with those who fear Him (Psalm 25:14) and He delights to reveal Himself to you. My personal opinion is that, once we make Him our greatest appetite and affection, these other blessings come to us and, as they do, they find us already grateful and contented. We should absolutely expect the occasion of God gracing us with something astounding – an endowment of His goodness that can be held and measured. Yet be on guard not to reduce the above promise from Ephesians to the level of a man behind the storefront counter giving you a two-for-one deal when you didn’t expect it.
Finally, there may be some of you who are living out the reality of Ephesians 3:20-21 right now – in short, God is blowing you away with His blessing. It may be also that you can clearly recall a time when God made this promise a reality in your life. My nudge for you is to go extreme in a commitment to communicate this to anyone – most particularly to other Christians. If you have experienced/are experiencing the truth of Ephesians 3:20-21 in your life, do what the last part of the verse hints at: give God the glory. Tell others. Remind us of His overwhelming goodness. Humbly share the specifics in purposed praise and welcome God to use your testimony to counteract the ho-hum, drab experience that many Christians wrongly believe is the norm for the followers of Christ. We need to hear from you so don’t stifle the Spirit – remind us of the lavish blessing of our mighty King.
I hope your Monday is sweet and solid. Mine is already getting better as I’ve thought on the willingness of our great God to show me things that have never entered my mind or been expressed in my prayers. Let it be, Lord!
Interestingly enough, I do not attend Sunday night, but, last night, did. All of the stuff David had going on, was going on with me, it was constant, people (very close, very dear people and a LOT of them) were; Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts [are] against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul. Looking and waiting for me to fail, bringing false testimonies and even false witnesses to agree. Like the rest of us, I wasn’t always walking with the Lord, so they had plenty of material there already, didn’t have to make stuff up. My wife and I were living in fear of a ‘what next?’ mentality. Our cause seemed absolutely hopeless, There was no one to talk to to tell ‘our side’ to, since they all were involved (Matt 10.36), we were pretty much alone. But we knew God had set us on this course, that was all we had. There was one hurdle after another to jump over, no going around them. We went over them impossibly, shaking our heads, “how did that happen?, there was no way, but here we are. Then, God gave a victory, in such a way that there would be no mistaking it was Him and Him alone. Then another, and then another. Even now, we are seeing things move around that we have nothing to do with, bringing a completion to all this. Much more, much, much more than we had even dared hope for. We have learned to expect great things from God, it seems to be His way. To tell you all of the people, places and hearts He moved, would take an hour or so on testimony night, it’s that big. Another thought here, through all of the trials and testing, hard and heart wrenching as they are, they served to expose our own hearts to us, revealing deeply buried sin so they could be dealt with and burned away, making us more like to the image of Christ. Well worth it.
So the days are not so humdrum any more. Now, there is more of an excitement in the morning, although, usually after coffee! Seeing the end of the age approaching, knowing God loves us enough to send trials (they are still coming at us) so we will be prepared to live in His presence for eternity, now that’s exciting!
Will it be forever Sunday & never Monday in heaven?
No idea about that; but we DO know that “as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” ( I Cor 2:9)
We have a lot to look forward to … and Monday mornings won’t last for ever!
Thou hast brought my shrunken heart great hope, preacher!
I’ve shared our experience with God gifting us or children. all at the perfect time. The purchase/sale of homes when the market said it cannot happen. Even the trials of last year had the hand of God all over it. Every step of the way, the blessings far exceed any expectation I could ever have. It is truly exciting living every day. Not always easy, but exciting!