Back in early February, I attended the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Conference (or MACC) and the speaker for the weekend was Drew Frazer. He was an absolutely fantastic speaker! He’s on staff with the Navigators in Boulder, Colorado and if you ever have the chance to hear him speak, I highly recommend that you do. Our topic for the weekend was “Dangerously Close to God”. Since the MACC, I have been meaning to go back over the notes from that weekend and read over the verses that he shared on that particular topic. Here in CO, I finally found the time!
One thing I am struck with over and over again is how BIG our God really is! We have so many false perceptions of who God is. The God of the bible is GOD!! He is not the “Big Guy Upstairs” or the “Cosmic Mr. Rodgers”. He is the Creator of the Universe! He called light from darkness! He says in Isaiah 40:12, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” and verse 15 says, “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, are accounted as the dust on scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.” Do you see that? Dust on a scale is like a microscopic difference. And you know what’s even more incredible? God created us to reflect His glory. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” You know what I like the most about that verse? Is that God says that he prepared them beforehand. God didn’t say, “I’m just making it up as I go” like Indiana Jones, but He has everything planned for us; for me. He formed my inward parts (Psalm 139:13) and He knows the exact number of hairs on my head (Matthew 10:30). I/we have got to realize our beauty in Jesus Christ! He has a special and specific plan for each and every one of us.
All too often, I serve a small God. I don’t always believe what He has said in His word to be true. Why? To me, I am too tied down with my worldly views and mentalities. Yet it’s right there in God’s word. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us”. Another translation says “immeasurably more”. Think about that…if I can measure it, then He can do more! More than we ask or think! That is a powerful God! Jesus knows the power of His name (John 16:24).
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” -2 Peter 1:3-4
A promise is only as good as its giver. God is faithful to His promises. I love Numbers 23:19 because it says that, “God is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” God will not give up on us. God hears us and is there to supply and fulfill not only our needs, but our desires if we bring them to Him. John 14:12-14 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” Stop! Think about that verse and don’t move on until you believe it. It is definitely a challenge for me. I always seem to come up with the “well…” or “but not if…” or even the “what ifs”. But that is not what Jesus is saying here. He says in 1 John 5:14-15 that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Drew suggested that a good way to pray according to God’s will is to pray through the scriptures.
Thinking and praying over these issues, I wrote down some promises that really encourage my heart. I have a great list, but I will only list a few.
“Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” -Isaiah 43:19
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” –Jeremiah 33:3
“The Lord’s lovingkindesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.” –Lamentations 3:22-23
“And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” -Colossians 1:17
“Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” -Psalm 37:4
“The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee.” -Isaiah 26:3
What an AMAZING God we serve! Who can compare?
Look at you becoming all blog savvy!!
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