Commit to praying this question: What MORE do You have in store for 2024 for me, for us? He has MORE for you this Lent! “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!” (Ephesians 3:20-21) Do you believe God is willing and able to meet your needs, according to His riches in Christ Jesus? (Philippians 4:19) Do you believe He wants to do more than you can ask or imagine, in your life, in the lives of those you love and pray for, in our church family? Our thoughts control what we believe, like the way a thermostat controls the temperature in a home. The furnace or air conditioner delivers warmth or coolness only to the level set on the thermostat. How do we set our spiritual thermostat according to HIS promises and not our flesh/circumstances? God wants us to find promises in His Word for us to rest in. God thinks differently than we do, He sees things from an eternal perspective. Satan throws everything he can at us to discourage us and to steal our ‘more’ so we live with ‘less’: less of God’s truths, less of God’s promises, less of God’s grace, less of God’s mercy, less of God’s power. We need to remember what Jesus teaches in Matthew 7:11: “If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him?” Jesus reminds us that our Father is good and has good gifts for us. He has MORE in STORE for 2024 as far as the good gifts He longs to give us. Lord, what good gifts are you ready to give us? 2 Corinthians 3:8-11 reminds us: “Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much MORE glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So, if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!” Pastor Mike has been teaching us through Paul and Ephesians 2 that we were dead but are now alive, that though we are in the physical flesh here we are seated with HIM in heavenly places. In what areas of your life is He asking you to die to sin & your flesh, to live more alive in Him this Lent? There was glory associated with the giving of the law and Old Testament: Mount Sinai was surrounded with smoke and the voice of God, and the face of Moses was radiant with God’s glory, but the New Covenant is even MORE glorious because it lasts FOREVER! Paul was in the habit of asking God to bestow spiritual blessings of extraordinary value on the believers under his care (Colossians 1:9-11, Philippians 1 & 4, 1 Thessalonians 3:12, Ephesians 3:20). In Ephesians 3:20, Paul used a unique term to express God’s superabundant ability to work beyond even our wildest dreams. English translations of the term: immeasurably more, exceedingly abundantly above all, infinitely more, above, and beyond, and far more abundantly beyond all. God’s glory is the attribute expressed in Paul’s praise, so when He does more than we can ask or imagine, He receives the glory. The psalmist remembers: “Great is our Lord and mighty in power, His understanding has no limit!” (Psalm 147:5) The power Paul refers to in Ephesians 3:20 is indicative of might, strength, force, and dominion, and God shows His power in creation by speaking the heavens and earth into existence, He shows His strength throughout history and the Old and New Testaments, He shows His power in redemption and His grace and mercy offered through Jesus on the Cross, and He shows His power in defeating sin, death, and Satan in the death and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ! Pray for MORE of His power and pray Ephesians 3:20 for your heart and your week as we journey through Lent…Seek His voice and verse FIRST: John 10:27-28, Isaiah 30:21, Matthew 6:33.
