Series Recap: The Immeasurable Life

For the past three weeks we have been studying Ephesians 3:14-21 with Joel Thomas, North Point's campus pastor. We specifically focused on Eph 3:20-21. It reads, "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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (NIV)

He started with a question, "Have you ever wanted more?" It doesn't matter what you have wanted more of, but the truth is that you have wanted more of something at some point in your life. You begin to think that if you could just get "there", you wouldn't want anything more. Let's say that "there", is getting a promotion or raise at work. You work hard to show your boss that you deserve the promotion/raise. You work extra hours, take on tasks you normally wouldn't, etc. Eventually you get rewarded for all of your hard work and get that promotion/raise. You're happy and you've finally gotten "there". But after a while, you begin to realize that you still want more. We get stuck in this endless loop of wanting more. When does it end?

What do you measure? Time? Money? The things you measure are the things that are important to you. Do you believe that immeasurably more than you could ever imagine is possible for you? In your family, relationship, career, future, etc.

More is possible because God is able.

He has immeasurably more planned for us. We forget this, and I think that some of us don't believe it. Remember that one time when something amazing happened to you that you never thought would? A job opportunity, a relationship, anything. They are works of God. I know I take Him for granted sometimes, and in light of recent events with my family, I have to remember that all things work together for good.

I know that He has something more planned for you as well. Joel ended the first week with this prayer:

      God, help me to look beyond what I can measure and to believe that, because of you, immeasurably more is possible for me.

The next message in the series was about, "What happens next?"So we know that God has more planned for us. But how do we get there? There is nothing more frustrating than knowing there is more out there and not knowing how to get it. (I am totally in this situation right now, so this message really hit home for me.) 

We looked looked at Eph 3:14-20 this week, and looked more in depth at Eph 3:16: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

So what? So, my dear reader, immeasurably more is possible for you, but not until it happens in you. Confused? I was too at first. Immeasurably more starts within you. It is about a change in your inner self, it is not external change that makes this happen.

Have you ever been loved? By anyone. Your parents, a significant other, a friend. We all have, whether it is expressed or not. Love is life altering. Whether it is present or not, love is the driving force behind most decisions. If someone you love achieves something great, you want to be there for them in celebration. If you get your heart broken, you may not want to leave the house for a few days. 

When the most powerful force, love, is directed at you by the most powerful being, God, you will change. Slowly at first, but when you allow His love to empower you, it will happen more radically. I have experienced this first hand over the past year. I am grateful for His love every day.

Here are two suggestions for you on how you can begin to let His love empower you.

• Pray for the capacity to grasp God's love.
• Pursue intimacy with God, community with insiders, and influence with outsiders.

And onto the last week in the series, which was this last weekend. The most important thing to remember from this last weekend in the series is that it's not about you. 

One of the things that Joel said that explained this best to me was, "When more is about you, immeasurably more seems impossible." The moon doesn't give off any light of it's own. (I'm sure you already knew that.) It reflect's the sun's light. We should be like the moon, not giving off our own light but reflecting God's. 

I forget the man's name that Joel mentioned, but he gave a couple of quotes from a book about how the first Christians changed the world. Some of the examples were:

• The value of human life was raised.
• Sexual immorality was confronted.
• Women received freedom and dignity.
• Christian symbols and expressions permeated the culture.

In a time when the world was enslaving their own children and leaving healthy babies for dead because they were unwanted, Christians began to reflect the light of God. They changed how the known world viewed them.

When you live a life worthy of God's calling, your life outlives you. A friend of mine recently lost a close friend of his. He was a man of God, very involved with his church. I have tried to console my friend, but sometimes I have felt like nothing I have said has helped. After this weekend, I told my friend that he can miss his friend. I would too. I told him that he should keep talking about his friend, keep listening to his music. The legacy he left behind can only be told by those of us left on Earth, and my friend should keep his legacy alive.

To conclude this series recap, ask yourself the following questions:

Are there areas of your life that you are living that aren't worthy of God's calling?

Are there passages in the Bible that you ignore because you don't think they apply to you?

To truly live a live worthy of God's calling and to be empowered by His love, these are things that you might want to consider editing. The Bible was written over 2000 years ago, and it is all still relevant in our lives today, if you can extract the lesson being taught and apply it to your life. You can either jump in, there is no "testing the waters", or miss out. You're either all in or not in at all. There is no "in between" with this.

Until next time, dear readers.

How did I get here? (part 4)

So I left off with my acceptance to my job in ATL, which is why I am here and have the opportunity to attend North Point. My man, P, agreed that ATL would be the best option for both of us. We made the decision and I accepted the job offer here in about April. I was unsure when I wanted to start working, but I knew I wanted to take some time off between college and "real life". So all of a sudden graduation was upon us. Before I knew it, I was walking across the stage accepting my diploma and my man was smiling at me from the risers where the Glee Club was sitting. It was by far one of the best days of my life so far. 


So that brings me up to about the point where I had to make the move here from school. My man and one of my new best friends from my small group (who also happened to be my neighbor) helped me pack up my apartment and load it all into a Uhaul. My parents made it to school to help me with the last of the cleaning and loading of the truck. My dad drove the Uhaul here and my mom went back home because of the animals. My man and I drove my car and we got into ATL at about 3am. My dad got here with the Uhaul at about 7am (he stopped and took naps along the way) and we unloaded the Uhaul, found my towels, showered and then napped.


So really, that about catches me up to present day. Well, at least until I started regularly (sort of) blogging. Speaking of, I've been thinking. I know I've been trying to update weekly but I'm not sure that's working out for me (especially based on the fact it's been a month since I've posted). So I think what I'm going to do is update monthly, and at the end of series at North Point. Like a monthly life update and then a series update. We'll see how it works. At least that's my plan for now.


Also, two more things for this update. 1) I am addicted to Pinterest. 2) My goal for 2012 is to read 52 books. I've added a book list page, so if you have any recommendations, I would love to hear them from you. I'm open to almost anything. I'd rather avoid lots of biographies, politics, and factual history. One or two would be okay, but they aren't exactly the most interesting books (in my opinion). 


Anyway. Look for more updates from me, once in a while, and eventually crossing off books on my list. Maybe I'll do some book reviews as well. 


Until next time, dear reader. And thanks for sticking with me. I wasn't sure if I was going to update, but a very good friend of me told me the other evening that she missed reading my updates. So she's the reason I updated this evening. So thank you to her for giving me the desire to write again.