God's mystery revealed

In Colossians 1:26-27, Paul refers to this radical promise as “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed ... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Now you might be thinking, “I’ve known this! When a person becomes a Christian, Jesus comes into their heart and lives in them. It is a great truth, but it’s not a new revelation to me.”

Let me ask you, have you received the glory that Jesus had on earth? Can people see God through you? Not just a faint glimmer at certain times, but enough to convince them that Jesus is the incarnation of God as he prayed in John 17:23, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.”

Mary, did you know?

The Virgin Mary’s story is symbolic of what God wants to do in us. When the angel told her that God would be incarnated in her womb, the promise seemed impossible. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born (formed in you) will be called the Son of God. For nothing is impossible with God.’ I am the Lord's servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May it be to me as you have said.’” (Luke 1:34-38)

In Galatians 4:19, Paul picks up on this birth metaphor when he says, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.”

Later, in Ephesians 3:14-21 he writes, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Less or more than you imagined?

One of the first words my little grand daughter Gracie learned was “more.” When we’re eating, she reaches out her little hand and looks at me with those huge, brown eyes and asks, “More?” How can I resist.

I want to do the same to my Father in heaven. I read about His miraculous works throughout the Bible and my heart cries out, “More?” I read about Him revealing Himself to Enoch, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, and Paul and I reach out my hand and ask, “More?” I look at the stumbling, fumbling way that I live out my Christian life and I know there has to be more.

The thoughts expressed in this blog are the things I have been learning in my quest for more of God in my life. I hope they stir your hunger for a God who is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”

If you honestly evaluate your Christian life up to this point, would you say that your experience of God’s power has been more or less than you expected (let alone imagined)? Why is this? We have Jesus’ promise that we would do greater things (miracles) than He did and that He would “do whatever (we) ask in (His) name” to bring glory to the Father.

If you’re like me, at times you’ve even wondered if He is listening at all. Let alone doing more than we have imagined. Most of us can’t relate to Paul’s claim in Colossians 1:29? “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” My own experience of God’s presence and power has been extremely disappointing. I’m not even close to what I read about in the New Testament.

But I'm finally beginning to understand why. God's mystery is being slowly revealed. I'll share the pieces I'm discovering and hopefully you'll share yours with me. Together, by God's grace, I pray that we'll experience "the fullness of God."