Expectations

 Pastor and writer Erwin McManus has said, "God calls us to believe things we cannot see, become someone we're not, and accomplish feats clearly beyond our ability, and then holds us accountable for all of it." In other words, He not only calls us to believe that which is impossible, but to live impossible lives as well. In truth, He doesn't just call us to that life, He commands that we live it. It's His expectation that we will. Are the lives you and I are living today meeting His expectations?

Ephesians 3:20 is, I believe, heavily quoted but little realized in His people's lives. It reads, "Now glory be to God, by His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we could ever dare to ask or hope." We say we believe those words, but are the realties of them happening in our lives? If not, why not?

If not, maybe the answer is found in that we place great reliance on the words, "He is able to accomplish." We focus on His role while feeling ours is to passively allow Him to "take care of business," whether it's the business of the Kingdom or the business of our day to day lives. We look to Him to do great and mighty things while we snuggle down on our lounge chairs and sofas to cheer Him on. We pray fervently for the Lord to move while we are unmoving. We don't want to leave our various comfort zones. We want Him to do the impossible but to not disturb our carefully built, and peaceful lifestyles. We want a God, a faith, that produces great and wonderful things, but at little or no risk to ourselves. We want to enter into promised land without ever having to cross the Jordan or deal with the opposition we'll find if we do. 

The deep truth of Ephesians 3:20 is that He WILL do wonders in and around our lives, but it will be in accordance with "the power that is at work within us." This power will never be realized from our comfort zone. It comes as it did upon the 120, gathered in the upper room. Upon hearts and lives seeking Him, desperate for His life, grace, and overwhelming power. This power knows nothing of a passive, risk free lifestyle. It will come from and with our walking in the footsteps of Jesus, through our own personal wilderness, through ever growing challenges and opposition, and through danger filled places. It begins at the foot of the cross in our surrender. In our dying to our will and being made alive in and to His. It's a life that will believe what can't be seen, that will become what it never believed it could, and accomplish what we knew was far beyond our natural abilities. It's a life that will behold Him doing "exceedingly abundantly beyond all we could ask or think. A life of power and purpose. The life we're called to. Are we living this life? Or are we found on the sideline, in our comfort zone, waiting for Him to do the wonders we've heard about but never really seen or experienced? We know what His expectations are, but will they ever be realized in our lives?

Blessings,
Pastor O