Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:12-14).
Do we really believe this promise? The smallness of our thinking limits what we believe is possible in our lives and even what God can do in and through us. Our lives are made to adventure with the Almighty. As we abide with Him, we take on the mind of Christ and get His perspective on all that concerns us. Gone is all fear, self-loathing, acts of self-righteousness, compulsions, addictions, and other hindrances of the flesh. We were created to walk with God and know Him and operate in His power and authority. The way to this place is through Jesus Christ, and all that we read in the New Testament is what we who are in the new covenant of Jesus Christ can partake of and experience in this life.
I once heard a dear beloved in the Lord say, “When people accept Christ they have to give up the things of the world. They no longer get to do the things they enjoyed.” Really??!! I was saddened by these statements, for this proclamation made me consider how our limited ways of thinking hinder what God wants to do in our lives. Sin may be enticing, but the false wonder and temporary delight of immoral acts and thoughts soon lose their luster as emptiness and destruction overtakes us. When we accept Christ, the Holy Spirit brings conviction when we try to move in areas that are no longer part of our new nature for we are now one in Christ Jesus. He does not do this to keep us from enjoying life, but to protect us, lift us to His higher ways of walking, and give us life more abundantly. His ways are never empty, but life-giving and produces beautiful results/fruit in our lives.
We are in the world and not of it, we are a set apart people of God. Ours is not a life of a “don’t get to do” list, but a life of living free from sin and experiencing His abundance. We GET to experience the rivers of living water filling us and overflowing from us through the Holy Spirit at work in us to restore and refresh those around us. We GET to enjoy His wonderful presence which is the source of complete satisfaction. All of our desires, cravings, and yearnings point to one thing and can only be quenched in one place – in His Presence. We GET to raise the dead, cast out demons, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, feed the hungry, give hope to the hopeless, accept the unacceptable and give them a new and firm place to stand, and shine light in this dark age through various miracles and the meeting of needs of those around us. We GET to operate in the Gifts of the Spirit as God pours them on us:
“To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines” (I Corinthians 12:8-11).
No matter what our circumstance looks like and no matter the limitations we think we have let us know that it is God who works in us to will and do according to His good pleasure, that all things are possible through Jesus Christ who strengthens us, and that He works all things for good to those who love Him. Meditating on these truths right where we are will begin to expand our limited mindsets and set our minds and hearts upon His higher ways.
Prayer: Oh God, enlarge our vision to imagine and walk in all that You desire to do in us and through us. Replace our limited mindsets with your unlimited ways, so that we can view each circumstance the way You do and bring forth that blessing You desire to pour out. In Jesus Name.
Ephesians 1:15-23
“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 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 all 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. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”