Ephesians 3:14-21
14) For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15) Of whom the whole family in
heaven and earth is named,
16) That he would grant you,
according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his
Spirit in the inner man;
17) That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18) May be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19) And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fulness of God.
20) Now unto him that is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that worketh in us,
21) Unto him be
glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen.
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often we are "hung up" on words and their meanings. We deal with the
word "able" concerning the Lord as if it is possible that He might
do, and not positive He already has. We need to understand that the Lord
possesses the solution to every problem and in fact, has already solved it. We
should not have to exhaust all else before we can say: "Now unto Him that
is able..."
Despite
what we are told—what governments and social service organizations would have
us to believe—"solutions" come from the Lord. At best, what man
offers and leans upon as solutions are "band-aids". We must start
presenting to a world experiencing serious trouble that "Jesus is the
answer."
Even those of us who should understand
best how much we really owe attempt to downplay this issue. No man on the face of the earth can
ever ignore his debt to the Lord, for we owe Him our very existence—no matter
how successful or pitiful. The only way any of us can
pay is through service—not cash, check, money order, or credit card.
The
"strength of the Lord" that we speak of comes from accepting what God
has already doe. Many of our mistakes and missteps (short of sin) are made as
we try to protect ourselves and "aid" God. If one recognizes oneself
in this statement, how does he stop? Simply by reversing the
process. A person need not be brilliant, or even particularly smart to
just accept what God has already done. We miss so much being saved and still
living in and after the flesh. Often, this is our state precisely because of
non-acceptance.
Largely,
God's people are finding themselves cast down and without real joy. So, what
separates us from the rest of the world? No much, except that we have the means
and the capacity to be happy. When one is completely confident and resting in
the Lord, he manifests joy because "confidence" and "rest"
come only through acceptance—acceptance of the facts that our needs are met,
God is in control and that He has only our best interest at heart.
"Change"
is on the horizon. Unredeemed man needs it, nations need it, institutions need
it—and the people of God need it. As badly as it is craved and sought after, it
is impossible for anyone to change his lifestyle on his own—he must accept the
Holy Spirit into his life through baptism in Jesus' name and the infilling of
the Holy Ghost. Once this is done, the individual has taken on a new
"family" and a new Name. As a member, he then becomes responsible for
following the example set by the Head—Jesus Christ. This encompasses conduct,
morals, manners, submission, and attitude. Jesus gave all of His problems to
His Father and so should we.
As
our trials and tests present themselves, we must see them for what they are:
opportunities to learn to trust Jesus. The sooner we accept that it is He who
solves them and not us, the better off we will be.
Recognizing
and acknowledging our "power source" is the only way for us to truly
be successful in our God-appointed roles. you see,
when one realizes that his success is not dependent upon himself, he can say,
"Lord, you said in your word.." with complete confidence and
assurance of success. One quickly realizes that there is no need to beg nor plead. We can simply accept and then praise Him
for what is already done.
The
glorification of God has an electrifying effect upon people. Not only those who
need to be won, but upon us, as well. We are lifted up by lifting His name and
consequently, souls are drawn to the "light" that is emanated.
The fact that we serve God Who is able and willing means that we say to ourselves that "If I can see it, God can take it further. If I can imagine it, God will bless it further."
Yes,
accepting that He is "able" opens our praise, but no one can praise
God as He ought to be praised until he knows Who He is. Even after salvation,
we learn Who He is allowing Him to reveal Himself to us through trials and
tests.
We
often deal with our tests as though optional and seem to believe that by
avoiding them, we will live much more "comfortably." Obviously, the
point to this existence is not comfort and often, existing in
"pseudo-comfort" means living beneath one's privilege. Is a bland
spiritual existence really to be desired over all the revelation and blessing
of the Lord that comes only through the mastery of the test?
One thing the Lord is not "able" to do is end all trouble in our lives. Even though, upon accepting salvation, we are "delivered", the Lord is bound to allow us to be tried and tested. You see, many things come to us that we might learn. It is absolutely necessary that we gain knowledge—not only go God, but of ourselves. If some problems were not allowed to come us, we would never learn exactly what has been invested in us. This is what is meant by "gaining experience". But, even though the problems come, we have One Who will be responsible for them. We have, in Jesus, one Who will "take up our slack" so that we can be free to carry out our responsibility.