Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Verses 14-21 being another pastoral prayer of Paul, I feel like repeating everything I wrote yesterday! However, these two verses deserve special focus. Verse 20 gets quoted a good bit, but perhaps not quite as much as it should, because it expresses something we tend to forget, that God is not limited by our imaginations, or actually by us at all. There is too much truth in the atheists’ accusation that we create God in our image, rather than the other way around as it says in Genesis 1:27. God is not limited by what we think of Him, but all too often our experience and appreciation of Him is. That’s why “Your will be done” is such a powerful prayer. When we let go of things, specifically releasing them to God, then He is free to do with, in, and through those things far more, and certainly far better, than we could imagine. Our wrong perception of God keeps us from drawing close to Him in loving trust. Words fail me to express properly what God can do, and will do, when we are totally yielded to Him. Romans 8:28 gets quoted a lot, but all too often without much faith. If we can’t see how God could use something for good, we tend to refuse to believe that He can. However, there are countless examples of God using horrible circumstances to bring about great good, in ways that are humanly incredible. That said, we should not forget the doxology that ends this prayer. In all things our motive should be giving glory to God. Any time our motive is other than that, it means we haven’t seen Him as He really is. Again words fail me to express how supremely worthy of all glory, honor and praise our Creator is. The devil wants to deny Him that, and that’s another strong push behind atheism. The devil wants glory for himself, but failing that, he at least wants to deny it to God. We will not see the magnificence of all that God has planned for us until we recognize that He is worthy of all glory and commit ourselves to participate in giving it to Him.

I obviously could go on for quite a while on this theme! Thankfully I was raised in a family that loved and sought to honor God, so this is not a strange concept for me. However, I deal constantly with people who have a very distorted idea of God to say the least. I am to express the Biblical image of God consistently and clearly, and I am to live as a demonstration of what He can do in people’s lives. I am as prone as anyone to try to imagine how God is going to work in a particular situation, so I’ve got to be careful that I don’t fail to recognize what He is doing and what part I’m to have in it. I don’t limit Him, but I can certainly limit my participation in and enjoyment of what He does. As a Pastor, I seek to impart that understanding to all the believers. Sometimes it feels like really slow going, but there too I need to trust Him and rest, relax, and rejoice!

P: Father, thank You for this reminder. A lot happened yesterday, but my feeling that way doesn’t mean that any more happened than does any other day; I generally overlook most of it. Today looks like a really full day, at least from this end of it. Help me be anxious about none of it, but rather leave it in Your hands even as I walk through it, so that Your plans may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!