Today we continue our series “God is faithful!” The Lord led me to 2 Corinthians 4. In this passage, we are looking at what it looks like to believe God is faithful. Because of God’s faithfulness towards us, we can withstand and overcome anything!
(2 Corinthians 4:1, 7-13, 16-18 TPT)
1 Now, it’s because of God’s mercy that we have been entrusted with the privilege of this new covenant ministry. And we will not quit or faint with weariness.
7 We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.
8 Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option.
9 We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out.
10 We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
11 We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
12 So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you.
13 We have the same Spirit of faith that is described in the Scriptures when it says, “First I believed, then I spoke in faith.” So we also first believe then speak in faith.
16 So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day.
17 We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison,
18 because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.
We have also been looking at Ephesians 3. Let’s go back to it again today.
(Ephesians 3:16-20 TPT)
16 And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.
17 Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.
18–19 Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!
20 Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.
So what does this mean to you today? I will share a few things from Ephesians 3:20.
1. God is able to take your life and make it something that exceeds your wildest imagination.
Ephesians 3:20 teaches us that:
a) God’s mighty power is available TO you, and it actually IN you.
b) If you yield to God’s power (His grace), He can do, through you, what you could never do without Him.
c) If you let God do what He planned to do in/with/through your life, “He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all,” by His miraculous power (i.e. His grace).
— The Bible is clear about everything I just said. This is not theory. This is a divine fact. Once you are Born-Again, you are walking around with a God on the inside of you. Not just any god, but the one true and everlasting God. The King of Glory, in all of His majesty, is locked up inside of you, waiting for you to let Him out!
— You are simply the container (the clay jar). God is the content. He is the glory. Wouldn’t it be a shame for you to walk around with God on the inside of you for decades and then die and get to heaven, only to realize that you never LET HIM OUT?
— To become the man/woman God called you to be, you must be willing to die to the person you became on your own. If you are, and you place God’s will above your own, God will live/work through you, and the rest will be history. Your life will be amazing (far greater than anything you ever imagined), because it will be the life God planned for you before the world began.
2. For God to use your life the way He planned to use it, you must be willing to die to self and give up control.
(Mark 8:34,35 ERV)
Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you for following me. Any of you who try to save the life you have will lose it. But you who give up your life for me and for the Good News will save it.
Jesus made it plain when He said you “must stop thinking about yourself and what you want.”
— Jesus was speaking to a crowd. He was looking at people who were already destined. They were already called to greatness. Their path to victory was already mapped out. But Jesus also knew that in order for them to RECEIVE the victory God had already prepared, they would have to DIE. They had to die to self and selfishness. Guess what? What was true back then is still true today!
— Long before you were born, God planned your final outcome and the path to it. Your life is not a mistake. However, to experience the life God planned, you must first have a relationship with the planner and then be willing to die to the plans you came up with without Him.
— God’s plan for your life is already mapped out. It is waiting on you to yield to it. But one of the hardest things for many humans to do is GIVE UP CONTROL of their lives, especially those (like me) who are planners. People who like to plan are people who like control. They want to feel like they are in control of their lives. Many feel like they are mapping out their own destiny. If they want something, they plan for it, and they then execute the plan in hopes of creating the future they desire. While this type of diligence, discipline, and determination is good, it can also be counterproductive when it comes to God. There is a certain level of mystery to walking with God. To truly live by faith, you are going to have to get comfortable with a certain level of uncertainty because God won’t give you all the answers upfront.
— If you truly want to live the life of faith and receive everything God planned for you before the world began, you will have to GIVE UP CONTROL of your life and place it in His hands. This can be very difficult and uncomfortable at first, but take it from me; it will be worth it in the end because God’s plans are better than your plans!
3. You will never give up control of your life to God until you trust Him.
(Prov 3:5 KJV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Solomon was the wisest man on the planet when he said, “lean not on your own understanding.” To get the full weight of what he is saying, I want you to read this from a few other translations. The Bible in Basic English says, “Not looking to your reason for support.” The Darby Bible says, “Lean not unto thine own intelligence.” The Contemporary English Version says, “Do not rely on your own judgment.” The Easy to Read Version says, “Don’t depend on your own knowledge.” And finally, the Message Bible says, “Don’t try to figure out everything on your own.”
Solomon warns us against attempting to live our lives based solely upon our own intellect, judgment, reason, and logic. Solomon knew that God’s wisdom far surpasses that of man and that God makes His wisdom available to man. Solomon understood this, and he only experienced a portion of what we, as Born-Again believers, have available to us. The Spirit of God came upon Solomon and others in the Old Testament, but they did not have a permanent indwelling. In the New Testament, God’s Spirit lives In us, and He gives us direct access to His wisdom.
Paul explains this well in his first letter to the church at Corinth. Paul said, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” If we stop there, it sounds like humans are simply incapable of receiving and comprehending the deep things of God. But Paul did not stop there. He went on to say, “But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God… no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”
Paul explains that the deep things of God are revealed by God’s Spirit, whom we (Born-Again believers) have received, and then Paul says something very important. Paul explains that one of the purposes of God’s Spirit coming into our beings is so that we may understand! Wow! Praise God! Paul then goes on to say something that brings us back to our focus text in Proverbs. Paul says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (see 1 Cor 2:9-14).
— Our intellect, reason, and logic cannot make sense of spiritual things.
— Many times, spiritual things are diametrically opposed to our intellect, reason, and logic.
— Humans attempt to make sense of everything because men are sensual beings. We filter information through our senses. But God is Spiritual, not sensual. God can provide us revelation that far exceeds the information we get through our senses.
— God can give you more insight in a minute than you could ever receive otherwise. So please stop living your life based solely on your human intellect. Trust God. Give up control. Allow Him to lead you. If you do, you will live a life that will be greater than anything you ever imagined!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of LEVELING UP for me. I LEVEL UP by resting in Your love. I rest in Your love so long that I get to the point where I trust You with all my heart. I trust You so much that I am willing to give up control. I yield to You. I am led by Your Spirit. I will do whatever You lead me to do, and I refuse to allow common sense, reason, or logic to cause me to THINK my way out of my blessing. I am Spirit-led in all things. I yield to You every day, in every way. By doing so, I position myself to live the life You destined me to live, and it will be greater than my wildest dream! This is how I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
