My verse for the year is Ephesians 3:20. It says, “Now to
Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according
to the power at work within us.”
I love this verse. I actually put it on my wall in my
office, to remind me.
I like this verse a lot because it says that God is able to
do a heck lot more than we could even imagine, and more than we could ever ask.
Not just abundantly more, but far more abundantly. God gives a super abundance
beyond what we ask or think.
This has really gotten me thinking. If God promises that He
can do more than we could ever ask, why aren’t we asking bigger things? Now let
me clarify; I am not saying that if we ask God to provide a car, He will
provide a Ferrari. Jesus said that if we ask according to His will, God will
give, because God knows how to give good gifts.
If our hearts are aligned with God’s will, He’ll give us
whatever we ask for.
Take the example from Mark 1. There is a leprous man that
hears of this guy Jesus, who can heal people. He gets this idea in his head
that maybe; just maybe Jesus could heal him too. So he comes up to Jesus and
kneels down in front of Him.
Quick pause in the story – In Israel at this time, leprosy
was considered the result of a major sin. People didn’t go near lepers. It was
totally against everything to be in contact with them, to the point that people
would throw rocks at them to keep them far away.
When this leper kneels in front of Jesus, it’s most likely
already the closest he’s been to another person since he became a leper. He’s
hoping and praying, trusting that Jesus can heal him.
Go check out the story for yourself in Mark 1. Jesus doesn’t
just heal the guy. Jesus reaches down and touches him. This guy gets healed,
and Jesus gives him what was probably the first physical contact he has had
with anyone in years.
Wow, talk about going beyond what we could ever ask or
imagine. That is huge.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Scripture
promises that. If Jesus is still the same today as He was that day when He
healed that leprous man, what is stopping us from asking big things of Him?
Is it doubt? Do we not think He can do it? Or is it fear? Maybe He won’t do it.
I think of the song, “God of This City” where it says, “Greater
things have yet to come in this city.”
I believe that with all my heart. There is revival ahead of
us, but that doesn’t happen without God’s people on their knees before Him.
This year I want to ask big things of our big God. If they
are in His will, I am promised that He will do them. If they aren’t in His
will, I don’t want them to happen anyway.
Will you join me?
