Immeasurably More

"All that looks like reality to us is dependent on God.  There is creation and Creator, nothing more.  And creation gets all it's meaning and purpose from God."
                                                                                                             John Piper


     There are many promises contained within God's Word. As His children, it is imperative that we not only know these promises but that we also believe them and receive them as our own. At times in our lives, we will even have to contend for these promises in the midst of adverse circumstances. It is God's grace that enables us to cling onto these promises when it feels like all of hell is trying to snatch them out of our hearts and minds. It is "from the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. When we are empty, His life rushes in to fill us to the brim." (John 1:16).
     From God's perspective, it is more important what He accomplishes in us than what He will ultimately do through us. Because we are His workmanship, created in Christ to do good works (Ephesians 2:10), who we are will always supersede what we do. When we allow God to do a mighty work within us, He will eventually do a mighty work through us. God can and will do immeasurably more in us and through us than we can ever ask or imagine! This is a promise God has given to His children:

                 " 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,
                    Forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21).

     In order for God to accomplish immeasurably more in our lives, we must realize He will do it by His own ability. Whenever we say, "Now unto me" instead of "Now to Him" we are in big trouble! The fruit of this mindset is to be crushed underneath the weight of it or to continually be puffed up and prideful. Often, what God will do will not look the way we imagined it to look. Carl F. H. Henry describes it like this, " Not your responsibility, but your response to God's ability."
     Twelve years ago, Brent's body was ravaged by rheumatoid arthritis. Pain wreaked havoc every moment of the day and night. Immobility was his companion and worry began to dominate his thoughts. He was taking four medications and his symptoms were worsening. There were days he had to cancel all of his scheduled surgeries because he could not even move his wrists. We fasted and prayed for several months and we believed that God was going to heal him. We sought counsel from specialists and heeded their instruction. We did what we could do and trusted God with what we could not do.
     Healing did not appear in the way we had imagined. One morning, Brent awoke and was violently ill. He had a fever that was above 104 degrees, which is very dangerous for an adult. He was hospitalized for several days and we were all very concerned. His attending physician ordered many tests to ascertain the etymology of this pesky culprit that was causing debilitating symptomatology. All of these circumstances were beyond our comprehension. After all, we prayed and we believed and it appeared that our situation was devolving instead of improving.
     There were, however, things that were far above our level of knowledge and understanding. At this point, we had a choice to make-- would we receive God's grace and continue to trust or would we throw our hands up in frustration? The apostle, Paul, explains this phenomena, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you; that ye, having all sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8).
     At the exact time we were contemplating a career change, due to necessity, God's provision swooped in in a most unusual way! We did not know that Brent's diagnosis of mononucleosis would reverse the effects of his rheumatoid arthritis. Physicians told us this was remission, but we declare that God has eliminated his R.A. through deletion! For the past twelve years, Brent has had no recurrence of R.A. or its' debilitating symptoms. God's life rushed into our lives and filled us to the brim!
     Sometimes, we limit our prayers because we don't really understand how good God's heart toward us really is. At other times, we pray faith-filled prayers but fail to understand everything that God wants to accomplish through our circumstances. We minimize God by how we pray when we focus on the here and now. We put God in a box, and it is to our detriment. We need to fully grasp the fact that God's heart for us is to do immeasurably more in our lives than we could ever imagine!
F.F. Bruce says, "It is impossible to ask God for too much. His capacity for giving far exceeds His peoples' capacity for asking or even imagining."
     God's activity defies our boundaries or parameters. God is a God of action and He wants to blow our minds in what He wants to do in us and through us to impact all of eternity. When our trust, faith, and hope are solely in God (and the idols in our lives are obliterated), we will see God move in mighty ways. Examples of faith-filled prayers may be:
          "God, give us the opportunity to do big things for you!"

          "God, do so much more in me than I could ever think or imagine!"

         "Thank you, God, for your indescribable gifts!"   (2 Corinthians 9:15).

     When we are in Christ, His power is at work within us. During this time in our world, God desires to increase His power in all the earth. In order for His power to increase, we must decrease (John 3:30).  As we decrease, God will accomplish what only He can do. When we truly know God and are willing to hand everything over to Him (through obedience), He will multiply His goodness in our lives. Resurrection power is what will manifest as a result of this outpouring. Paul tells us:

     "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to 
     which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His
     incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
     He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly
     realms, far above rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, 
     not only in the present age but also in the one to come."  (Ephesians 1:18-20).

     We can encounter the grace of God in such a way that we can believe that He will do immeasurably more in and through us by His power. The result of this faith is that God will be glorified through our lives in a significant way that will impact eternity. We want to give our lives to the things that are only possible with God. This is not for us; it is "Now unto Him".
     In a world that grows darker by the day, we each have an opportunity to partner with The Lord so that our lives will become immeasurably more and He will be glorified in the world during an unequivocally wicked generation. God's Word promises that He will be glorified. This begs the question in each one of our lives:  "Will we decrease so that He may increase and reflect His glory through our lives?"


"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of The Lord as the waters cover the sea."
                                                                                                                                      Habakkuk 2:14