Great Grace! Acts 4:33
What an adventure this year with our Happy Mondays!! I hope the words have encouraged, inspired, and enlightened you throughout the year – as my own words have comeback to do the same with me!
I did some driving on Saturday, what I often do to clear my head, and I started to think about my 2011. Candidly, lots of things I feel like I got right, and I identified areas where I was simply too comfortable.
The Holy Spirit started to show me opportunities where I could have extended my faith more, but I actually stopped at the point of my comfort level, or better stated, I stopped at the point of my “convenience” level. In other words, I was rocking out with the plan that God had for my life during 2011 as long as it didn’t inconvenience me too much! Do I have any witnesses?
It was revealed that in some cases my faith had been on park, with the emergency brake still on! And, as crazy as that may sound, given the year I had – it was true! There was a time in my life when I depended on God for lots of things because my ability to make it happen in my “own strength” simply wasn’t present. However, your faith-in-operation does at some point bump you to a place where things are going somewhat better than the way you started, and you suddenly find yourself “Self-reliant” instead of “God-reliant” and eventually stop believing!
Don’t get me wrong, you are seeing manifestation in your life – but it’s all connected to “your” ability to produce that result, if God showed up or not! Your faith can sometimes be camouflaged by your works or deeds – and then we give the credit to God like He made that possible!
In reality, God works in the realm of impossibility (Luke 18:27)! Not human-possibility! In His world, impossible is very much possible. As a matter of fact that’s where we get one of His names from, El Shaddai, the all-sufficient one, or God who is more than enough, willing to make impossibilities possible! (Genesis 12)
So, I started thinking…what seemingly-impossible scenarios did I believe for in 2011? Boy, I struggled to come up with some stuff! Look, I came up with some of my best examples, and God was like, “Oh, that wasn’t me, that was you!” LOL! He continued, “I was waiting to blow your mind, but you never entered into the realm of impossibility!” Glory to God!
Don’t even remember the drive-back home, and I said, “OMG, you are so right God, my faith was on park the entire time!” "I believed you, but I only believed you for things that I could’ve made happen myself – shut the front door!"
I believed for the two-piece chicken dinner, and He was trying to get me to believe for the restaurant the whole time! I believed for my healing, He believed for everyone’s healing! I was believing for the car payment, He was believing for my children’s-children to be debt free! I was believing for a space in the YMCA, He was believing for multi-site locations! I was believing for my Southwest plane ticket, He was believing for the private aircraft to spread the Gospel!
“HIS WAYS ARE HIGHER THAN OURS AND HIS THOUGHTS ARE HIGHER THAN OURS!” For God wants to do exceedingly, abundantly, above ALL that we can think or imagine!!!!!!
...Wherever you are right now, set your will to believe God for seemingly-impossibilities to come to pass in your life!
I declare right now – in the name of Jesus that 2012 will be the year where God sees an abundance of faith flood this earth realm like never before…
That we believe for the impossible to happen in our lives – like cities being transformed, families being renewed, wayward-Christians to come home, healing to take place – the lost to be found! In the name of Jesus! May this be the year where we set our affection on the things of God and on the House of God, where Kingdom is on the forefront of our mind and the grace showers us all constantly in the name of Jesus!!!!
May your 2012 be the year of “Grace – to Believe!” 2+0+1+2= 5 (Grace)
I call you blessed in the name of Jesus! See ya’ in the New Year!
We Won!
John
