Not what’s probable, but exceedingly abundantly above all

Are you part of God’s plan?  When we keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5) we become useful to Him, effective for Him,  and in that place, we find the deep, rich, fulfilling experience of life promised to those who know Him. If we resist, ignore or - most common with Christians – just miss out on what God is doing because of our business; we will live anxiously and ineffectively.  The Lord I know seldom enters my life with a blast of a trumpet. He moves through the situations that surround us and invites us to see the possibilities that faith creates.

What does the Lord want to do in your life today?
Will you perceive His leading?

After the amazing victory on Mt. Carmel, where the priests of the Baals (the fertility gods of the region) were defeated in a spiritual challenge, Elijah told Ahab that rain was on the way after a long drought. Rain meant life!  However, there was no evidence that rain was anywhere on the horizon.   "Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bowed deeply in prayer, his face between his knees. Then he said to his young servant, “On your feet now! Look toward the sea.” He went, looked, and reported back, “I don’t see a thing.”  It can be tough to trust when nothing good appears, but Elijah knew what God had promised !

He told his servant,  “Keep looking seven times if necessary.” And sure enough, the seventh time he said, “Oh yes, a cloud! But very small, no bigger than someone’s hand, rising out of the sea.” “Quickly then, on your way. Tell Ahab, ‘Saddle up and get down from the mountain before the rain stops you.’ ”  (1 Kings 18:42-44, The Message)  The drought was over, the rain came.

Jesus challenged his disciples to feed thousands of hungry people while they were far from any supply of provisions to say nothing about being flat broke!  “We can’t do this,” they told Him. “There’s nothing to buy and it would take thousands of dollars to make it happen.”  Then Andrew spoke up.  It’s a kind of ‘cloud the size of man’s hand’ kind of moment. His words reveal possibility, if not probability. “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9, NIV)  That lunch, in the hands of Jesus, became enough and more!

I spent all of the past week in a hospital bed.  My prayer was for healing, of course, but another filled my mind and heart:  “Lord, don’t let me define this week by the obvious limitations here. Instead, help me to see the possibilities You are creating.”  Despite an IV tether and physical discomfort, He and I communed, my heart often stirred. God entered a situation not of my choosing and made it part of His plans. The seeds sown in my heart during those days will bring a harvest later on.

Marriage broken or stressed? Give it the Lord and pray for eyes to see His possibilities.

Future clouded by uncertainty?  The Lord knows what is ahead. Pray for insight to see, and then to take hold of the tiniest promise.

Here’s the word from the Word – it’s a passage I cannot read without deep emotion, amazed that God would love a sinner like me and give me such wonderful promises.  Believe His Word today. It’s more than inspiration; it’s Life!   I pray "that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21, NKJV)

________

I'm Standing On The Solid Rock

Thru my disappointments, strife, and discontentment;

I cast my ev'ry care on the Lord!

No matter what obsession, pain, or deep depression,

I'm standing on the Solid Rock.

Even though He's gone now, I don't feel alone now,

With comfort came the Spirit of the Lord.

Now with His Word to guide me,

From temptations hide me,

I'm standing on the Solid Rock.

Now I'm pressing onward, each step leads me homeward,

I'm trusting in my Savior day by day!

And close is our relation, firm is its foundation,

So on this Solid Rock I'll stay.

I'm standing on the Rock of Ages,

Safe from all the storm that rages,

Rich; but not from Satan's wages,

I'm standing on the Solid Rock!

Harold Lane

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