Hello All!
I hope that you are doing well this week and that you sense the presence of the Lord in your hearts today. The pastors, staff and I are thinking about you every day. We miss your smiles and laughter and the joy of being with you all. For me personally, I am finding the adjustment difficult as I enjoy Sunday mornings so much. It is truly the highlight of the week for me and I am looking forward to the day when this trial is over, and we can be together again!
I was reading Ephesians today and came across a section where Paul is talking about the trial he is enduring (in prison) and he says, “Please don’t lose heart because of my trials here.” (3:13)
That phrase has a different meaning for us now as we watch a global pandemic begin to unfold before our eyes. It is difficult to comprehend both what is happening, and also, how the future will unfold.
Yet Paul says that in the midst of this trial… “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” (3:12)
This is an incredible promise! We can come boldly into God’s presence with confidence. No matter what trial we are experiencing today, God has promised, in the midst of it, that He is there, and He will see us through it.
1. God has unlimited resources for you.
Paul says,
When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
God has unlimited resources available for you. Stop and think about that for a moment. Apply it to your story… to your current situation. Are you facing job layoffs? Are you facing a declining business? Are you facing health difficulties? Are you feeling angry? Afraid? Frustrated? God has unlimited resources for you. Whatever you need, He has it. Patience. Peace. Trust. A larger emotional capacity. A deeper spiritual reservoir. Financial provision. Whatever you need, God’s got it. His resources are there, and they are unlimited.
2. You will gain a greater understanding of God’s Love during this time.
Paul says,
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
God’s love is most fully understood as He helps us through trials. There is no other way, unfortunately, to deepen our understanding of God’s love than to walk through a dark valley or a deep pit and discover the power of God in our darkest moment. And then, to view that valley from the other side, to look back on it, and know that God’s Love carried us through it. This is the beauty and the tragedy of trials. We don’t want them. We avoid them. We wish them away. Yet our life is better having experienced them. Our life experience is the crucible that deepens our faith and helps us to understand God’s love more completely.
3. You will be more complete when this is over.
Paul says,
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
There is something that God sees in you. A potential. An ability. A gift. A future. Something that is yet to be completed in your life. And this trial will bring about the fullness of the potential that God sees in you. As you fully embrace this time and say, “Yes Lord. Your will be done in my life,” the Lord will use this experience to complete you in ways that could not have otherwise been possible.
I encourage you to pray into that. Ask the Lord to give you a vision, a picture, of what you will look like as a completed person. Maybe you will have more patience. Or you may gain more wisdom. Or you will know a deeper peace when facing adversity. Or you will be a better husband or father. A better wife or mother. A better friend. Ask the Lord to show you what it looks like to be more complete in Him and begin to pray into that vision.
4. Your future will be infinitely more than you can ask or think.
Paul says,
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:14–21, NLT)
Infinitely more. I love that phrase! God is able to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Think about… your hopes and dreams for your kids? Infinitely more. Your hopes and dreams for your marriage? Infinitely more. Your hopes and dreams for your business, your long-term future, your relationships? Infinitely more. As you lay these things at the feet of Jesus. As you embrace this trial, whatever it may look like for you, and for some of you, it may look or feel like it is pretty bad… As you embrace it, remember that you serve a God… you worship a God… you know a God… who is able to accomplish infinitely more that you can ask or think.
And that is something to hold on to.
A final prayer.
Dear Lord,
I pray for my Hillcrest Church family today. Lord, You are aware of every challenge and every difficulty each person is facing right now. You know, at the deepest possible level, every anxiety and every fear, both large and small.
Lord I ask that you would enable Your unlimited resources to work in our lives right now. Whatever is needed Lord, would You provide it?
I thank you that when this season is over, we will know your Love in a greater way. We will be more complete. And we will celebrate Your goodness in our lives.
Lord, until that time, we hold on to the promise of “infinitely more.” We trust in Your word here, that tells us You have infinitely more ahead of us, more than we could ever ask or think or imagine.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
