More Than Bread

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I kind of hope that you will be tempted to respond to the question that titles this episode with a quick and resounding no. Absolutely not. We cannot do anything greater than what Jesus did. And if that's how you responded, that will make John 14:10-12 even more fun. Because Jesus said otherwise. Now there are some restrictions that Jesus gave, believing in Him and prayer to Him. But... well listen to the episode and let me know what you think.

Can we do anything greater than what Jesus did?

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Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, that you are God's masterpiece, created anew in Christ to do the good works He's prepared in advance for you to do. God is all-in on you. You are what God does and no matter where you find yourself at this moment, I can tell you without a doubt in my heart, "God's not done doing what God does and you are what God does!

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In the last few episodes we’ve looked at Ephesians 6, which gives great detail for at least one reason why prayer matters. It matters in the battle between darkness and light, the spiritual battle. For this episode, we're going backwards in Ephesians to Ephesians 3, which contains my favorite prayer in the whole bible. It is my core prayer. If there is any prayer that has shaped my life, it’s this one. 

So rather than a scripture passage that tells us why prayer matters, we're going to look at a prayer that matters, really matters. It might even help you dream a little.

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Really what Paul is saying in Ephesians 6:10-20 is "I don't want you to quit.  No matter what happens, don't quit. Never give up." Stand up against the darkness.  Not just in the moment, for a moment, do it for a lifetime. Really Paul is challenging us to finish well. It's never too late to finish well and it's never too early to start. Bobby Clinton defines finishing well as coming to the end of my life; being more in love with Jesus than I was in the beginning; having a sense of the unique contribution that God has desired to work through me, and not flaming out through moral sin.

None of that happens without perseverance. Perseverance is hope in action.  Don't give up. Always pray. 

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The Bible is clear, God is looking for people to empower, people whom He can use. no matter what kind of battles you find yourself in, no matter what kind of slippery slopes you find yourself walking upon on your life-journey, nobody, no situation, no circumstances, no past, can ultimately keep you from living the destiny that God has planned for you. But that will only happen, if I will commit my heart fully to Him. If we will commit our hearts fully to Him, we will stand in the battle and pray like it matters..

So in this episode as we look again at Paul’s description of how to find victory in the battle, I want to give us 5 commitments we need to make in order to stand strong regardless of what comes our way. We'll use the specific parts of armor that Paul describes to understand the commitments. And the bottom line is that when we aim for these commitments, our prayer lives will really matter.

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In this episode we will look at Ephesians 6 and Luke 18. There is an insightful connection between Jesus' story of a desperate widow and Paul's challenge to prayer in our spiritual battle. This isn't just a teaching about prayer in general. It's spiritual battle prayer. Jesus is telling us, "This is a prayer you should pray. All the time. Don't give up praying for justice over our adversary. God give us justice over our adversary." We are in a battle against the enemy of our souls. He's brought so much destruction. And God says, "Cry out for justice over your adversary and I will quickly answer.

Prayer is a battle, but we have Jesus on our side! 

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For the last while, every Monday, the episode I drop is my message from this last weekend. This weekend, we started a new series, on the book of Colossians entitled "More." The tagline is "There is more to life than I can see, and Jesus is more than enough." 

I have to be honest, I'm really looking forward to this series. "More" has been at the heart of my prayers for years. God we need more of you. It was a good day at Calvary today, as we talked about the unseen realities that we so often miss. I'm glad that you are joining us!

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Paul's challenge to Timothy about prayer is the same challenge, with different words, as his challenge to the church in Colossae. "Be devoted to prayer." Being devoted to prayer doesn't mean that prayer is the only thing that you ever do. Just like being devoted to a job, or a cause or a spouse doesn't mean that is the only thing you will ever do. But if I am devoted, there isn't much in my life that my devotion won't touch. Right? If I am devoted to my wife, it will cause me to give myself to her in many different ways. It will shape my decisions, shape my day. She will come to mind often. But it doesn't mean I am with her 24/7, that wouldn't be good for her!

 Being devoted to prayer doesn’t mean that all we do is pray, but it does mean our passion for prayer will shape our day, our decisions, and our relationships. There will be a practice of prayer that looks like devotion. That practice won't be the same for each of us and it won't be the same in every season of our life, but it will be noticeably different from not being devoted to prayer. 

Are you devoted to prayer?

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In this episode we are going to look at one of my favorite visions from the book of Revelation. It's a vision of the bowls of heaven being filled with our prayers and then emptied out before God. It's a vision that shows us how much prayer matters to God, as it describes a silence in heaven, the hush of heaven as our prayer are heard. Prayer matters. Prayer matters more than we think. 

Last week we had a week of 24/7 prayer. 300+ people prayed for about 1200 hours. In fact 80+ of our Myanmar family prayed for close to 500 hours! Kids fasted and prayed for us. You talk about the bowls of heaven being filled up.  During the week I had some opportunities to see God answer prayers in pretty incredible ways, so incredible that it makes me want to do it again soon. But even more shaping for me during that time was just this occasional sense that God was there. Listening. With a smile on his face or a tear in his eye. Those times gripped my heart. Prayer matters to God. It should probably matter more to us.

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I'm just going to close the Overflow series with some generosity stories, a few of my favorites. I hope that they inspire you to put God to the generosity test. See if he will actually make all grace abound to you so that you can abound in every good work. I really do think that He is eager to help us become living proof of a loving God! Enjoy some generosity stories!