Well, we’ve come to the end of another week and I trust that I’ve succeeded in my mission to get you thinking more. I am convinced that you are capable of thinking more than you can ask, more than you should be, more than you have and more than you can see. I know the Lord is empowering you to do it even at this moment, and I’m absolutely excited about what He’s sending your way.

Be reminded that, while we are limited in what we can do on our own, we serve El Shaddai—The Almighty, All-Sufficient God, who is more than enough. How would life change if we faced each day with a real awareness that The Almighty God allows us to call Him Daddy? I gotta tell you that life for this stay at home mama would do a major 360 if that was at the forefront of my thoughts while sweeping the floors! How about you? What transformation could occur if your thoughts were on His power instead of your weakness; His provision instead of your lack; His favor instead of your opposition; His love instead of your fear?

Don’t just glance over those questions. Allow yourself to imagine how life would be if His sufficiency topped the list of your most pervasive thoughts. I’m certain the faith you’d develop would have you breaking through walls to get to the next Kingdom-mission. Wouldn’t that be something! I’ll leave you to think about that a little more.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.  Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength. Isaiah 26:3-4 NKJV

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You are not limited by what you have right now.

Thanks for coming. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Actually, before I go, let me elaborate a bit. Just two quick points and I’m outta your hair. First, regardless of the limitations you might be facing, where you are right now is not where you’ll always be. Perhaps you’re experiencing some deficiency or wondering when you’ll see increase in a particular area. Know that God is working (have I told you that enough?) and He is an expert in restoring, growing, maturing and turning things around for the people who love Him.

Last point: Don’t sleep on God’s ability to use whatever you have. Whether it’s a small amount of time, talent, money or fill in the blank, God is capable of using what you make available to Him for His glory and the cause of His kingdom. Ever read about the feeding of the 5,000? A little boy’s fish and bread, placed in Jesus’ hands, made a difference in the lives of all those people. You’ll be surprised how a little can go a long way when we entrust it to the Master. It’s not up to us to figure out how He’ll use it, our job is to simply surrender it.

So, think more when it comes to whatever you consider small in your life.  Instead of emphasizing your inadequacies and insufficiencies, think more about your all-sufficient God. I’m certain that will lead to opportunities to see Him move in your life. If I end up being right about that, drop me a comment and let me know!

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV

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How about a quick, mid-week check-up? I hope you’re making progress in our quest toward thinking more.

Are you convinced that God is doing more than you ask?

Are you convinced that you are capable of doing and being more than you are (or should be)?

Today, I’d like to get you thinking about what’s going on beyond what you can see. God is always working behind the scenes, regardless of what we observe with our natural senses. There is always supernatural stuff going on on our behalf and keeping that thought in mind will get us through more of life’s challenges.

We once had a pastor who seemed to have a PHD in ignoring what was seen. He’d always remind us to not be moved by what we saw or heard, and his ability to model that in matters of faith was uncanny. I felt like I was in  Jedi training with Yoda—“Much to learn, you still have, young Jedi.” Though I’d known the Lord for some time, the idea of focusing on the unseen was quite foreign to me and remains a challenge.

It’s hard to convince a control freak, like me, that the work behind the scenes is of greatest importance. I always emphasize what I see. I have to do that in order to maintain control! You can imagine the struggles I’ve had as I learn to walk by faith and not by sight. Seeing is a huge deterrent to living by faith and placing my thoughts and focus on that fact has brought great freedom.

I’ll end with a story about Elisha from 2 Kings 6:

Elisha was keenly aware that God was always working beyond what he could see with physical eyes. After hearing of Elisha’s prophetic prowess against him, the king of Syria sent horses, chariots and a great army to track Elisha down. Elisha’s servant panicked and began asking about a plan. Elisha said to him,“Do not fear, those who are with us are more than those who are with them,”  then simply prayed, “Lord, open his eyes that he may see.” The Lord did what the Lord does, and the servant saw horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. You’ll have to read the chapter to see how God saved him (oddly enough, that too, had to do with sight).

I’m sure that servant never forgot Elisha’s words, and I hope you’ll never forget them either. May they ring regularly in your ears, reminding you that God is always working and doing more than you can see.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29b NKJV

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If researchers had predicted my future at birth, their conclusions would have likely been bleak. They would have factored in my race, absent father and socioeconomic status, and used words like “poverty,” “dropout,”  and “teen pregnancy” to describe what was ahead.  With statistics in hand, they might have checked off their little boxes, before putting my life in a box and slapping on their labels. They would have compared me to others born into similar circumstances and predicted that my life would run a similarly hopeless course.

But God.

In the face of seemingly insurmountable circumstances, He intervened. He went beyond what human wisdom said I should be, created something meaningful with my life, and taught me to begin thinking of myself the same way He does.

It reminds me of Gideon’s story. He was from a “weak” clan and considered the “least” of his father’s house, yet the Lord called him “mighty” and gave him a great work to do. He had to begin seeing himself as more than he was, and capable of doing more than he should be able to. After a little coaxing, he began to think of himself what God already thought of Him and went on to do what the Lord had chosen him to do. He had to think more.

It wasn’t easy for Gideon and it’s never easy for us. Thinking less takes much less work than thinking ourselves capable of being, doing and achieving more. I’ll leave you with a little reminder of the Father’s thoughts about us and invite you, one more time, to think more. Come back for a little more tomorrow (and forgive my silly overuse of the word “more”).

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

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What is the big “ask” in your life right now? What is that one request you’re virtually begging to see fulfilled?

Mine? A house for my little family. If you were a fairy granting wishes or a game show host making dreams come true, that would be my final answer.

Sadly, I don’t know any fairies and I don’t anticipate any game show appearances. I do, however, have a huge God who loves to have me ask of Him, although He rarely answers the way I’d like Him to. He has a knack for seeing right past the asking to the real need behind the request, and just when we think it’s the right time for Him to answer, He throws in a little waiting to make us more like grown ups and to keep us on our toes. That’s rarely fun.

But, oh does He know what He’s doing.

Take a page from Abraham’s story. All he wanted was a child. One sweet little child, a son and an heir. The Lord, on the other hand, was looking beyond Abraham’s little family to the generations that would come after. His answer to Abe’s request for one child was the promise that his descendants would be as innumerable as the stars. Talk about “more than you can ask!” (I wonder if He has innumerable houses waiting for me).

I love the lesson—God is usually thinking more when we’re asking for just enough. I wonder how He’d respond if we shot for bigger asks that went beyond our own needs and shortsightedness and took His bigger picture into account. I’m learning to ask Him about that bigger picture so that I can adjust my requests accordingly. I leave you with a few verses to boost your faith and ask you to return again tomorrow.

Psalm 2:8, James 4:3, Ephesians 3:20, Matthew 7:7

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I am losing my mind.

Don’t worry about me, though. I’m happy to be losing my mind. It’s filled with doubt, limited thinking and debilitating fear. Quite frankly, it needs to go.

I’ve heard about a newer model, one that thinks bigger, imagines greater and challenges human frailties. It’s The Mind 2.0 and it thinks Philippians 4:8 thoughts in a flash and has an imagination that’s stamped “Ephesians 3:20” in bold, block letters. It’s gonna take me far.

That is, if I choose to hold on to it.

I’m so used to the older model. I’ve been comfortable thinking it’s lazy, been-there-done-that thoughts and quite used to the status-quo induced sleep it’s lulled me into. It’s not going to be easy to let it go. Yet, I’m pretty eager to see what it feels like to think big yesses instead of little nos; to think in terms of possibilities rather than impossibilities; to think more is available even when little to nothing is staring me in the face.  That’s right, I think I’m ready.

And, I hope you’ll join me this week as we discover what it means to think “more” and to ultimately experience how big our God is and how little our challenges are in the light of that truth. If you’re up for it, I’ll “see” you on Monday. Until then, I leave you with this:

“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” Ephesians 3:20, NIV

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