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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Pastoral Ponderings ~ Removing Our Limits on the Limitless God


          For a couple of days I have been overwhelmed with the encouragement God is giving me from Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21. It began with the reminder that Paul prayed, according to the riches of his glory” (vs 16). I suddenly realized that there are many ways we limit God in our praying because we do not look at the riches of his glory, but at sight-based experiences that argue against him. Clearly, God is at work to change our minds.
          As I have pondered why there is so little prayer in the church at all, let alone so little prayer that rises up to, “according to the riches of his glory,” I realize that one of the monstrous sight-based enemies of our prayers is past experience. When negative experiences have not been touched by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, they stand like pawns of the evil one, constantly arguing against the revelation of God’s word.
          The problem is that our experiences are sight-based. They are things we have experienced in life, along with all the corresponding negative thoughts and beliefs woven through those memories. We deny what God reveals in his word because something we have gone through, something we have seen with our own eyes, declares that God cannot be trusted.
          What stands out is that we can immediately turn from sight-based thinking to faith-based praying even for the help we need to get over the wrong beliefs associated with traumatic experiences. We can come into God’s word, even as broken and wounded children (God loves to come close to the broken and contrite heart, don’t you know[1]), and meditate on the riches of his glory. Every day, something will stand out to us about God and his glory that will give our faith exactly what it needs to pray accordingly.
          If any of us are not consistently praying “according to the riches of his glory,” what stands in the way? What thoughts come to mind when you read a Scripture of glorious promises and conclude not to pray according to what it reveals? When you think of God as a glorious Father who hears and answers the prayers of his children, what face comes to mind to deny such glorious truth?
          I am constantly reminded that God’s children do not walk by sight, but by faith.[2] Dwelling on past experiences make us sight-based, while dwelling on what is revealed in Scripture makes us faith based. After all, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”[3] When all we hear is what our old experiences tell us, we will continue walking by sight, and will never have the faith to believe God would do for us what is “according to the riches of his glory.”
          On the other hand, when we continually meditate on the word of Christ, the Scriptures, we hear the revelation of truth that builds up our faith. We grow in our faith that we can pray for things that are specifically revealed in Scripture.
          This morning, my meditation on these things brought me to consider how Paul’s past experiences filled him with prayers that were “according to the riches of his glory.” Paul’s past experience was that, “formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.”[4] If life with God truly was about good works, Paul had no hope.
          However, it was also Paul’s past experience that, “I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”[5] Not only did Paul have a past of which he had much reason for guilt, shame, and fear, he also had a past in which the mercy and grace of God overflowed into his life.
          Paul knew that, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and his testimony was that, of all the descriptions of living in sin, “I am the foremost.”[6] In other words, when he prayed “according to the riches of his glory,” it was an expression of a man who was once the foremost of sinners, but now a Christian, and an apostle among Christians, because Jesus came into the world to save him.
          Paul’s prayer were not limited by his sinful past, or by anyone’s sins against him, for the simple reason that his identity was now that of a man who was saved. He had “received mercy,” not the condemnation he deserved. He had experienced the grace of God overflowing into his life, giving him faith and love in Jesus Christ, things he could not have found on his own, and could not have earned through his attempts at good works.
          Paul’s testimony (and it is much richer and fuller than a short post could express), is that we pray “according to the riches of his glory,” not according to the painful experiences of our pasts. We do not need to wait until we “get over” our pasts, or take some long journey to freedom and maturity. We can pray about the condition of our souls, no matter how traumatized and messed-up we are, according to the riches of God’s glory and grace.
          One reason God’s word calls us to meet together as the church in devotion to prayer is because we often need the faith of other believers to help us in what we pray. I have regularly seen what happens when a group of people comes together after a long and tiring day, in the midst of a schedule that barely leaves time to think, let alone pray, and then start praying out of the thoughts and feelings that trouble their souls.
          Soon someone has prayed out of a Scripture the Spirit had reminded them about that week, and other people feel their faith rising up because of what they had heard of Jesus’ word. It seems as though heads clear of sarky (fleshly) negativity, and faith rises up to greet the smiling face of our heavenly Father. As faith rises up to see God as he is, we discover that there is a richness in his glory that spurs us on to pray things we hadn’t even imagined only hours, or minutes, earlier. What no one may have imagined praying on their own, takes flight in the prayers of the body of Christ.
          The conclusion for me today is simple: no matter what thoughts or feelings or beliefs are going through my head, I can turn my attention to revelations of the riches of God’s glory, and pray accordingly. God is not only honored when we pray according to what he is like (rather than the lies of past experiences), but he can now answer prayers we have only prayed because we focused on the riches of his glory. As we pray what is according to his good, acceptable, and perfect will,[7] he will most certainly answer our prayers.[8]
          It is no wonder Paul concluded what he prayed for “according to the riches of his glory,” with the beautiful expression:

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.[9]  

          Now, that being true, let us pray accordingly.

© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

           



[1] Psalm 34:18; 51:17; Isaiah 57:15
[2] II Corinthians 5:7
[3] Romans 10:17
[4] I Timothy 1:13
[5] I Timothy 1:13-14
[6] I Timothy 1:15
[7] Romans 12:2
[8] Luke 11:9-13; John 15:23; James 1:5
[9] Ephesians 3:20-21

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