Recently, I did a devotional for a group of ladies at my church as we met for our night of "Learning Inspired through Fellowship & Encouragement (LIFE 101). I had really struggled to share with them because I wanted to impact and make a difference as I spoke. I wanted to tell them something that maybe would challenge and encourage in such a way that I would make a difference. I thought for weeks on what to talk about and then chided myself for taking so much "thinking" time for a 15 minute devotional. Eventually (the night before) my husband reminded me that God wants us to speak to others from our hearts and as is often the case through our own challenges and lessons. So I sat for a while and realized that the Lord had really impacted me with a devotional from a book on cancer that I was reading for a friend. As a result I became keenly aware that God provides opportunities for us to step out in faith and that many times we are "pushed out, as is the case with cancer"*.
So below is the devotional I gave and I hope you will be challenged to look at God's Word and the power and love He will impart to you if you are willing to be challenged to accept the "new normal" you find yourself in. It is not a matter of why things happen but rather how we can meet them with the faith and love already provided by our Savior.
Be challenged friends.... He is just waiting for you to step out in Him.
Ephesians 3:14-19
“When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15) the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16) I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17) And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. 18) 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 really is. 19) May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
This section in my Bible is entitled “Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Empowering”. As I thought about what to talk about, I realized that so much has changed in my life and I am learning the “new normal” that God is asking of Gary and I. Gary started a job today that was an answer to prayer but the death of a dream. I gave up being home after 35 years to work and help Gary keep us from losing everything. It has been a real challenge and many times I am very tired and wish God would let us have what we had before. However, I am learning much about God’s love these days. I am learning that this “new normal”, while very stretching is just what I need to move forward in my growth. I have prayed and prayed, “Lord, please help me to keep growing…… Lord, I want to keep learning and growing.” Then he puts me in the stretching growth mode and I go “Why” Lord…. Why is this happening this way?
I recently read a devotional* about a woman who was battling cancer and she learned much about God’s provision and love through the story of Gideon. She says, “God told Gideon to raise up an army to fight the Midianites. After needing much confirmation, Gideon gathered close to forty thousand men. Then God told him there were too many! The ranks were narrowed until only three hundred men remained. The Lord then explained that He was keeping the army small so that the Israelites would not boast in their own strength but would know that the Lord saved them.” She continues by challenging us to look to God to do extraordinary things….. Instead of asking “WHY Lord?” she says to ask, “HOW Lord?”
This has really impacted my thinking. I want to challenge you tonight to consider the “how’s” of God and not necessarily the “why’s”. Ephesians 1:19, says, “I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him.” I pray this for you and for myself. That we would truly take God’s love to heart and stop asking Him why in the areas we do not understand, but rather how and what……
1. What do you want me to learn Lord?
2. How can I bring you honor through this?
3. What can I do to help others know you are working on my behalf?
4. How can I take what you are doing and bring you honor and glory as a result?
Tonight I would like to challenge you to take some of the why questions you have and turn them into “how” questions and then remind yourself of the incredible love God has for you and rest in that love while you watch him work on your behalf. If we cannot embrace His love and claim His power than how are we different from the world?
Let’s remember on those days when we are tempted to ask why, Ephesians 3:14-19. Let me read it again for you---
“When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15) the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16) I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17) And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. 18) 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 really is. 19) May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Conclusion…..
I challenge you and myself to embrace God’s love for us as we set our roots deep into the soil of that love. Then we can proclaim Ephesians 3:20 “Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
Let’s pray…..
Lord, you know all things. You know our needs and what each one of us must go through in order to draw closer to you. You know what each of us must go through to grow and to bring you honor and glory. We would probably not choose the process that you will give us to operate in your power and love. So I ask you to remind each of us of your power, and your love as we learn to step out in faith --for some of us we may need to be pushed to embrace the “new Normal” you have chosen. Please "enlighten the eyes of our hearts so that we may know what is the hope" to which you have called us.
Amen.
*Praying through Cancer by Susan Sorensen/Laura Geist
