"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 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."
Ephesians 3:14-20 (NKJV)
Each year in June we start to consider our Vision Builders program. Jesus tells us to go beyond our own circles to reach the world with His good news. We cannot do everything but each of us can commit to what we can do. Reaching out to just one person can start a chain of inviting people to church.
Paul’s prayer in Ephesians is for all believers to have a revelation of God that we can share with others. This is the reason that brings him to his knees: That we would know “the width and length and depth and height” of the love of God. Let your mind be opened to:
- Know how big God is,
- Know how powerful God is,
- Know how rich you are because of the riches we have in Christ, and
- Know how high the hope is of God’s calling on your life.
Verse 20 in other translations says that God is able to go “above and beyond” (HCSB). God is able to go above where I’m thinking and beyond where I’ve been. Verse 20 also says above & beyond what we can ask [in prayer] OR think. It doesn’t say “pray AND think” but OR think. What I can conceive and perceive is as loud in Heaven as my prayers. God has called us to pray but also to dream and think of bigger things.
C3 has more members, more church plants and more books published than ever imagined. We need to expand our thinking because our God has no limits. Nothing is impossible with God. But when we forget who He is, Psalm 78:41-42 warns we can limit what God can do in a situation. God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) and He often told people in the Bible to “come up here” and see things from His way of thinking. God told Abraham to come out of his tent and look up. If Abraham had looked up inside the tent, he would have seen his ceiling, a limit, a boundary. Outside he could see God’s ceiling, which was limitless.
Knowing God’s ways brings His power. Jesus told His disciples to change their perspective to see that everyone on earth is programmed to seek God (John 4:35). Just before He said this, reaching one person (the woman at the well) had brought about a revival as people were so hungry for God. Paul received a vision of people across the sea crying out for God (Acts 16:8-10). How many this year are crying out for God all around the world? We must lift up our thinking and see all the ways that we could bring God’s life and light to them.
The world is currently experiencing much turmoil. Pain, trauma and anger won’t heal injustice on their own. But Jesus can. Our prayer is that peace, healing, wisdom, repentance and reconciliation will flow to the nations (Amos 5:24). So now we consider what part each of us can play in bringing Jesus closer to a hurting world.
SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT
- Have you ever encountered God’s ways or thoughts about a situation that were so far above your own?
- Would your life look different if you had a revelation of how big God and His love is? Brainstorm together some passages, books and other resources about God’s love.
- Have you taken part in Vision Builders before? Plan as a group whether you will be tuning in on 24th June.
- Are there people around you that you can invite to online services, zoom connect, the healing service, or online Alpha course? Pray for opportunities this week.
