Welcome to virtual Bible Study! Let’s touch and agree as we study God’s word these 30 minutes together! Feel free to add your comments as you read. We will continue on with Reverend Barnes’ message from Sunday—refreshing in our spirits this scripture: God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. ~Ephesians 3:20 When we face our daily trials, we often forget WHOSE we are. In Chapter 3 of Ephesians, Paul reminds us how to pray—a means of keeping us connected and reminding us that we belong to God and He cares for us. That is GREAT news! Our God is BIG and our problems are small. In day to day life, it is easy to get caught up in THINKING the challenge we are facing is big. We see things on the news about our communities that dishearten us. And up close and personal, there are the many conflicts to address in our commitments between family and work, our health and our desires to do, our income and our bills, our ideas of what we should do and what our loved ones want to do, and even that people of God in our congregations disagreeing or being disagreeable! But we only need to remember: God spoke the entire universe into existence out of nothing by His word alone! The psalmist exclaimed (Ps. 33:6, 9), “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host…. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Or, as Jeremiah (32:17) exclaimed, “Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.” Every day all around us, we have evidence to remind us of God’s omnipotence. God often puts His people in impossible situations to display His power and glory. While God often displays His mighty power by working when we are incapable of doing anything in our own strength, at times for reasons we do not usually understand, He chooses not to display His power in such ways. At those times, His power is displayed through the patient, joyous endurance of His people in the midst of their suffering (Col. 1:11-12; 2 Cor. 12:7-10). But even when God chooses not to deliver us, it is not because He is lacking in power. He is able to do far beyond what we ask or think because He is omnipotent. Consider that Satan tempted Eve by getting her to doubt that God and His commandments are good. When we are facing impossible trials, we must be on guard against the same temptation. It is easy to begin to doubt that God really cares about us. But, Paul reminds us (Rom. 8:31-32), “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” If He did the greatest thing in giving His own Son, He will now do the relatively smaller things, according to His good and perfect will. In the same vein, Peter writes to those who were suffering terrible persecution at the hands of the wicked Nero, telling them (and us) to cast all of our cares on the Lord, because He cares for us. Then he warns about the devil’s prowling around like a lion to devour us, and adds (1 Pet. 5:8-10), “But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” So, even in the worst of trials, we should remember that God in His goodness is willing to do far beyond what we ask or even think. Let’s look at this scripture in three parts: 1) God’s ability; 2) What we ask or think; and 3) Power that works within us!
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:00:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015