04/25/2021
God gives us hope, and the power that He used when He raised Jesus from the dead. If this doesn’t thrill your heart then you are stone cold and hard indeed. Let’s pray for one another so that our eyes will be opened, and our hearts circumcised in preparation for these blessings. In this way we will accept God’s strength, and power, as ours.
“having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,”
Ephesians 1:18-20 ESV
Hope in God gives us amazing strength and greatness to our faith. Paul tells us that it is the same might that He worked in Christ as He performed His most awesome miracle... raising Jesus from the dead, and seating Him at His right hand. Do we think about this when we first believe, or do we simply accept the blessings of grace, our promised eternity, and all that Jesus has done to redeem us? When we are children in our belief, and faith, we accept the fact that Jesus suffered and died, was resurrected, and ascended into Heaven, but do we consider the power that this took to accomplish, and do we dare to hope that we might one day have that power ourselves?
““Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12 ESV
Jesus knew the power of God, and what He was being asked to do in His final days. His belief was astounding in its strength, and His hope for our future was such that He knew we would one day perform the miracles He had accomplished during His life... and then do far greater things than these. In our scripture today, Paul tells the Ephesians about the nature of this strength that Jesus was telling His Apostles about. I wonder if they had a clue regarding the enormity of this power that Jesus was discussing.
When I was a boy, and first believed, I trusted in words like suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. I knew they happened in the life of Jesus, but never once considered the power of God behind them... I simply believed that God could do this as easily as I could throw a baseball, or shoot a marble. I never once considered that such a thing required Jesus to hope, and God to have immeasurable greatness. In my mind there was no chance that Jesus might falter under the whip, or that God might fail to raise Him from the dead. This is what is meant when Jesus tells us in scripture that Heaven belongs to people of such childlike faith. We have this faith as children, then as we mature, and we struggle through the rest of our lives trying to recapture it.
“but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.”
Matthew 19:14-15 ESV
So now, mature in our understanding, we know of the hope of Christ, and the incredible power of God, but is our faith strong enough, and our belief founded in such a way that we can believe like a child that God will give us the same hope that Jesus had, and the power it took for Him to raise His Son from death... and seat Him at His right hand?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the faith we have as children, and for trusting in you without so much as a sliver of doubt, or a quiver in our belief. Thank you for the promise of hope, and that we will receive the same power that you had as you raised Jesus from the dead. Help us Lord to believe this is true as a child might, and help us trust that you will bless us in this way without reservation. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who desires us to do mighty things, and go forward with you as your heir and as a joint heir with Christ. Praised be your name as you return our faith to its childlike strength, and our faith to the faith of babes... who never doubt the breast. Great are you who defends us, and mighty are you in all your ways. Your grace covers us with the blood of Jesus, and your giving nature adorns us in hope and strength as you prepare us for eternity with you. Lift us up father, and find us worthy in Christ. Seat us at your table for eternity, and feed us your Word like manna.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:27 ESV
Rich Forbes