God is BIG Enough

God is BIG Enough!
Over the past few weeks at Journey, we have been talking about the names and character of God. Each week I have said, "the more we know about God the more we can trust Him."

We have seen Him as Elohim - the "Creator" and our "Powerful God." The we saw Him as El Roi - the "God Who Sees." He is always there when we need Him. He protects and provides for His children. We have also seen Him as El Shaddai - the "Almighty" and "All-Sufficient One." We have seen Him as "Jehovah" - He gave us His personal name because He wants to know us personally. We have seen Him as Lord - "Adonai." We have seen Him as the "Healer God" - Jehovah Rapha. And this past Sunday we talked about God as Jehovah Jireh - The Lord our Provider.

The reason many of us feel God isn't answering us or isn't providing for us is because of our vision of what His answer looks like. When we pray, we ask for what seems to be the real issue - "a bill to be paid," or "for healing for someone," or whatever. And the truth is, God could snap His finders and you could be wealthy beyond description or completely healthy. However, God is not just into quick fixes. He is about the bigger picture of our lives...the bigger picture of the entire kingdom of God.

It is like tapestry. The top of the tapestry is beautiful - full of colors and design. The bottom is a different story entirely - hundreds of knots, pieces of thread hanging everywhere, no noticeable design. Where BEAUTY is a word that describes the top...a word that would describe the bottom would be CHAOS.

We are focused on the chaos of our lives - not enough money for the bills, too few customers, health problem still not resolved, stress at home, and on and on.

God is looking at the top - the finished product of our lives. He is more concerned with what it takes to teach us to be godly and develop character than the "quick fix" in our lives. Simply put - the problems and stresses that you are dealing with right now, have an eternal purpose.

Maybe you have been praying the same prayer for a while:
- "God, I need more money..."
- "God, I need a different job...or I need a job that I like..."
- "God, I need to be healed...my spouse or child needs to be healed..."
- "God, I want peace in my home..."
- "God, I want to be married..."

If our prayer has not been answered to our satisfaction (I just laughed out loud - "our satisfaction" - that's kind of funny) we probably need to change our prayers. Remember Paul's words...

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

So when we find our prayers not being answered like we wanted or in the time frame we wanted, we would do well to change our prayer...

"God, I have been asking for (your specific prayer request) for some time now. I know you are so powerful and could answer my prayer instantly if you chose to..."
- "is there something in me that needs to be changed?"
- "is there sin in me that needs to be dealt with?"
- "what am I supposed to learn about you through this time?"
- "is there some action you have already told me to do that I am not yet doing?"
- "God move in my life however you choose to...I trust you."
...or any number of other prayers that open our hearts and minds to what HE wants to do in us. It is at this point that we will see God in a new way...

God is BIG Enough!

His masterpiece

Becoming His Masterpiece

Recently at Journey we talked about the fact that God is making us into masterpieces. But if you are like me, when you woke up today, that may not be how you "felt." Maybe you are tired from the holiday yesterday and you just tried to do too much...or maybe you worked on the holiday. Maybe you awoke to a spat with someone in your home. Whatever the reason is, you don't feel too much like a masterpiece.

Remember this verse?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?"
Jeremiah 17:9

Don't live on the shifting sands of your feelings. The enemy, the devil, does so much damage there. Instead, choose to live your life on the reality of God's love and faithfulness.

One of the greatest ways to experience God's best is to alter the way you live to fit what He says - simply when He shows us something, we obey. On the other side, when we are constantly wanting more and more, we develop a selfish life that is never content.

However, when we live our life for the glory of God, there is power and peace that happens. Everything we do, we do for HIM. That is the mentality.

Johann Sebastian Bach placed "S.D.G." on the bottom of every musical score he wrote. S.D.G....Soli Deo Gloria...For the Glory of God Alone.

What would happen if there was an SDG:
- on the bottom of the proposal you did at work
- on our report cards at school
- on our homes and marriages
- on our kids lives
- on our bank account
- on our relationships with friends

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

If we made it our goal to live that way, in whatever we do or say, our lives would be so different. God would be freed up to do so much more in us and through us.

For the Glory of God Alone! He is creating a masterpiece...this is just one more way we can cooperate with His process.