Philippians 3:14-15 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude ; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;
Ephesians 3:19-21 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
When Paul wrote to the Philippian church he spoke of pressing forward for the prize of the high calling. Though he was physically content whether rich or poor, [Philippians 4:11] the apostle was not content with his spiritual condition, but constantly seeking a deeper, more intimate, and fruitful walk with the Lord. Paul had great expectations for his own lifetime, and he accomplished tremendous things, yet if he'd known while writing his epistles that they would edify the lives of billions of people for 2000 years, I think he'd be saying to himself, "This I could never even have imagined!"
I was reading a quote by legendary preacher, D.L. Moody; "We honor God when we ask for great things. It is a humiliating thing to think that we are satisfied with very small results."
Why do we honor God when we ask for great things or expect more from Him? Simply because He is great, far greater than we can imagine, but also because we are made in His image. His greatness is glorified by what He performs through our lives. If we desire great things, it's because we're reflecting His awesome nature. It is in us by nature to seek more and greater things -- just as Paul and D.L Moody did. We should not be ashamed of it when our motives are pure, because our Lord will be glorified all the more. Not seeking fame or fortune, but the glory of Yeshua (Jesus) crucified and risen, will be a lifetime of pressing forward, and accomplishing more than we ever could have imagined!
Allow your mind and your heart to think and to dream of great accomplishments for Yeshua. He Himself said through Paul that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, so let's honor God by seeking the greatest things and then watch Him fulfill more than we could ever have imagined!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Revivals, that is, genuine Divinely ordained seasons of the activity of God among men, have a universally unusual character. Normal activities and behaviors give way to the tangible influence of God’s Holy Spirit, whose inspiration brings a freedom of expression, emotion, conviction, worship, and other variations from normal experience.
During the Catholic inquisitions, as millions of Christians were being killed by the Jesuit Priests for apostasy, throughout Europe, Christians were fleeing. In Bohemia alone, there were an estimated 4,000,000 Christians before the Jesuit inquisition, and ten years later, only 800,000 people remained in Bohemia – all of whom were Catholic. These terrible events prepared the ground for one of the greatest moves of God that have ever been recorded, the Moravian Revival, which lasted for over 100 years. Gustav Warneck, the German Historian of Protestant Missions, testified, “This small church in twenty years called into being more missions than the whole Evangelical Church has done in two centuries.”
I love to study past revivals and in studying them, there are two recurring themes that stand out:
First, that He has often used obscure and unknown individuals to lead revivals, and that even these men whom He used so powerfully never considered themselves to be “special”, but often wanted to stay out of the limelight.
During the Great Depression, poverty swept across America like a whirling tornado, ripping up dreams and scattering hopes to the wind. One such poverty twister hit a small part of Texas where a man named Yates ran a sheep ranch. Struggling even to keep food on the table, Yates and his wife did all they could to survive. Finally, they had to accept a government subsidy or lose their home and land to the creditors.
When Joseph was thrown into prison, his life was thought to be over. How could anyone escape an Egyptian prison? But then, in one day, according to God’s perfect timing, he was instantly promoted to reign over all Egypt with only the Pharoah, (“god on earth”) as his Lord…
As we continue our study of Mashiach ben Yosef, we observe that both Joseph and Yeshua (Jesus) were chosen or ‘anointed’ for a special task. When Jacob gifted his son Joseph with a coat of many colors, lifting him up above his brothers, he reflected Joseph’s calling by the Lord for a life work as a leader.
Joseph interpreted dreams and revealed their meaning to those around him, and so Pharaoh gave him the name, Tsofnat Paneach (Zaphnathpaaneah) which means the “Decipherer or Revealer of Secrets”. Yeshua, (Jesus) at his first advent as “Mashiach ben Yosef” also came revealing secrets; not as an interpreter of dreams, but as one who disclosed the secrets of men…