15-5

The Hammer of a Higher God

God is powerful. Now that's the understatement of the century isn't it? His power is incomparable. "His power isn't just incomparable. His power isn't just great. It is incomparably great. In other words, there is no comparison point. None of us can imagine what God is capable of. Which means none of us can imagine what we're capable of if we give God control of our lives." Doing it on our own was never the plan. Yes we should do things for God, but the weird thing is that we need to do those things we do for God THROUGH His strength. Many of us never make that connection. We all received the power of God when we became Christians, but we settle for living without it! "And without His power, we become nothing more than theological Christians. Our testimony is reduced to words. Our impact is reduced to our abilities. And not only is that less than exciting, it's wrong. Without His power at work within us, we cannot accomplish His purposes."

Again, the problem is that we have a small view of who God is. God is bigger than your biggest problem, and He is bigger than the best idea you ever had...infinitely bigger. "It's not about what you can do for God. It's about what God can do in you and through you. The moment you put your faith in Christ, the best thing you can do is no longer the best YOU can do. The best thing you can do is the best GOD can do."

Would you agree that loving God with everything is hard? I certainly think so. "In and of ourselves, we're not capable of loving God. We cannot manufacture love for Him. We can only respond to His love for us. And I hope that sets you free. Religion is all about doing things for God. Christianity is all about receiving what Christ has done for us on the cross. And what we do for God is a reflection of and response to what God has done for us." Sometimes even that is hard. I find myself from time to time in a slump. It is in those times we need to remember the words of Revelation 2:5, "Do the things you did at first." Fall in love with God all over again by going back to the things you did when you fell in love with Him the first time.

Again, we cannot manufacture love. Our love for God is simply a reflection of His love for us. Check this out: "Albedo is the measurement of how much light a celestial body reflects. Our night-light, the moon, has an albedo of 0.07. In other words, 7% of the light that strikes the moon's surface is reflected. Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has the highest albedo of any celestial body in our solar system. It reflects 99% of the light that hits its surface. In a similar sense, we are called to reflect God-His compassion, His wonder, His creativity, and His energy. You cannot manufacture those things. You can only reflect them."

In the beginning, God spoke the world into existence. Seems a little far fetched, but think about it for a second. Do you know what ultrasonic sound is? It is anything over 20,000 hertz, which is inaudible to us, but "has the power to kill insects, track submarines, break glass, perform noninvasive surgery, topple buildings, clean jewelry, catalyze chemical reactions, heal damaged tissue, pasteurize milk, break up kidney stones, drill through hard materials, and of course give you the first glimpse of your unborn son or daughter via sonogram." Sound is powerful huh? The sound of God's voice isn't limited to our ability to hear. His vocal range is unlimited, and His words are powerful. So maybe you've never heard the audible voice of God, but I'm betting you've SEEN His voice (that's a weird thought huh?)! "Everything you see was once a sound wave in the vocal cords of God. When you look at creation, you are hearing with your eyes an echo of the Creator's voice." So I pose this question to you now: "If God can create billions of galaxies with four words (Let there be light), what can't He do?"

We need to remember that "most of what God accomplishes through our lives isn't because of us. It's in spit of us. God never calls us to do something we're capable of. God calls us to do things that are beyond our ability so He gets all the credit. That's how we learn to rely on Him. And that's how we learn to love Him." God puts things in our hearts that He wants us to do, and that we don't have the ability to do on our own. But when we accomplish those things with His help we have to answer a very serious question. When God gives us our dream we have to decide, "Which do you love more: your dream or God?" "In its purest, most primal form, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is loving God for God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else."

The ultimate goal of life isn't accomplishing your dreams and goals. It's loving God. It isn't getting your dream job, it isn't getting your song published, it isn't retiring at 40. It's loving God. "You can put yourself on the throne of your life. You can try to get everyone to bow down and worship you. But you will run out of stuff to worship real quick and your universe will become smaller and smaller until the only thing that fits inside your tiny universe is you. But if you put God on the throne, you universe will get larger and larger. It will expand chronologically into eternity. It will expand experientially into heaven." It's your choice. Who do you love most?

Enjoy the Journey