Able to Do More

This morning while praying, I paused for a moment to reflect on whom I was speaking. God. Almighty. Omnipotent. Omniscient. Omnipresent. Meaning He is all powerful, all knowing, and all present. He is so much more capable of working than we can imagine. We don't always remember that when we pray. We often are overwhelmed by our circumstances and trials that overshadow our awesome God. We need to glance at our problems, but to gaze at our God. 

Ephesians 3:20 is a great reminder of how powerful God is. The verse starts off with the phrase, "Now to Him." That is where we have to start when we pray. The focus is on Him. Not on our problems. Not on our adversities. Not on our impossible situations. If you start with your problems, you may doubt in faithless praying. When we keep our focus on God first, our faith is encouraged so we pray more effectively. 

Our God is able. What does that mean? He is capable. He is powerful. He is mighty. Simply put God can do anything. Nothing is impossible to Him.  He is able. That should bolster faith. Increase our belief. He can do more than we can ask or think. Not just more. Abundantly more. I don't know about you, but I can ask and imagine a lot. I have a very vivid imagination. I can and have asked a lot. It is not based on our ability to pray. It is all based on His ability to answer. He does not even have to move a finger to accomplish great things. He can just speak and great things follow like creating the universe. 

What does God want you to believe Him to do? I ask that question based on the promise of I Jn 5:14-15 where we are exhorted to pray in the will of God. If we do this, we have confidence that God will answer. It just makes sense that if we are going to apply the truth of Eph 3:20, we need to believe God for the things that He wants us to believe Him to do. I did that this morning and waited for Him to guide me. I sensed Him directing me to ask and believe Him for eight things. Most of those things are related to growing His kingdom. The specifics are not important. What I can tell you is that I am powerless to accomplish even one of those eight things. It does not depend on me. It all depends on Him. He is able to do all eight of those things over and above what I can even think or imagine. 

The end result of such praying is that God gets glorified. He will be praised. People get to testify about the wondrous things that God does. That inspires faith in those who listen. It encourages those who grow discouraged in praying when they do not see things change the way they want or as quickly as they want. They are reminded that God is able to do more. I look forward in the very near future to posting more articles testifying about what God does because He is able to do more. There are answers just around the corner. Don't forget that God can always do more. 

Truth and Fire

 There are many preachers of truth. It is estimated there are five million preachers around the world. Many have been thoroughly educated in expositing the truth of the Bible. They have learned the Hebrew and Greek languages. They have immersed themselves in Bible history. They have wrestled with systematic theology and honed their skills in preaching classes. Yes, there are actually classes on preaching where students preach sermons to the professor and other students. These men fill pulpits of all shapes and sizes to proclaim God's word. They do so with great knowledge, oratory skill, and precision in expounding the texts. They are professional and polished. 

On the other hand, there are preachers who are fiery. They preach with great passion. The yell, pound the pulpit, walk all around, and preach with great emotion. They may read a text, but often incorporate many other texts in a shotgun patterned range of topics in one sermon. They are intense, laser focused, and preach hell fire and brimstone. These preachers often come from a Pentecostal background. What they may lack in education they certainly make up for in zeal. 

The preachers of truth may proclaim the Bible, but they do not always do so under the power of God. They lean on their education and preaching experience in sermon preparation and delivery. While their sermons are definitely Biblical, they are also often dry and boring. 

The fiery preachers preach with great zeal, but they do not always expound the truth of the text. They lean on emotional deliveries to get their desired results. Some of these do not any study before preaching. They just rely on the Holy Spirit to give them a fresh word from the Lord. Listen closely and you may find these people preaching the same sermon over and over again just shuffling different texts. Those texts are not exposited frequently. Any sermon without Bible truth is just a speech. 

We need preachers who will preach truth on fire. Those who proclaim the entirety of God's word and do so with the fresh empowering of the Holy Spirit. Not preaching with persuasive words of human wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power. [I Cor 2:4] We need truth and we need it on fire to come and set apathetic hearts aflame. 

This anointing with fire can't be found in the classroom, but rather in the prayer room. It can't be bought with money, but earned in the secret place in travailing prayer. We should judge sermons by their Biblical content and accuracy. We should also judge them whether they have the fresh fire infusing them in our hearts and minds. Truth and fire are needed today. Not just one or the other. We need Bible saturated sermons that are ablaze with Holy Ghost fire to brand them into our souls.