Send me a Text Message!

We have a God who is able…a God who is able to do more…a God who is able to do immeasurably more than anything we’ve ever asked for…a God who is able to do immeasurably more than we can even imagine.  And what we need in today's world of complexity, uncertainty, and chaos; what we need in our neighborhoods and families, what we need in our hearts is a God who goes beyond beyond, the God of immeasurable strength, wisdom and love. That's who we got!

A God who can do more than we can imagine!

Send me a Text Message!

Ephesians 3:14-21 is my all-time favorite prayer. It's a breakthrough prayer filled with faith and expectancy in the God who is able to immeasurably more than we have ever asked for or could ever imagine. But before Paul gets to the prayer. He sets the context when he says, "I am asking that you not lose heart..."

Do not lose heart. Don't quit. Don't give up. I know it's hard, but breakthrough is coming, because we have a breakthrough God. If you are going through a hard chapter in your story. Let this encourage you; let it fill up your heart. God is the God of breakthrough!

Send me a Text Message!

Fix your eyes on the unseen realities of heaven coming to earth. You have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You have been given a seat at the table.  You have been adopted into the family of God. You have been graced. But it's not just for you. You have been blessed so that you can bless others. Grace has been poured out on you, so that others would get caught in the overflow. So the question is for whom has God given you grace?

Send me a Text Message!

In Christ we are accepted and deeply loved by God.  Think of all the reasons why you have thought you were unacceptable to God. Bring to mind the shame and the worry. Bring to mind the list that Satan the Accuser throws at you. Your prayer life is so dry. Your marriage is on the rocks. Your kids don't like you. You have failed so many times. Your secrets sins scream out to God, I'm no good. Whatever is on your list of do's that you've don'ted and don'ts that you've done; let it come to mind. 

 Now hear the word of Father God to you, "I chose you before the foundation of the world. I have adopted you as my very own child. I have a spot for you on my lap and a seat at my table. You are accepted and loved. " 

Isn't that rich?  Do we deserve it?  No.  Did we earn it? No.  Could we ever pay for it? No.  Should we enjoy it?  Absolutely yes. THAT'S GRACE.

Send me a Text Message!

One thing I so love about Ephesians is Paul’s gloriously practical vision of the church. I read Ephesians and I think, "This is the dream in the heart of Father God." Ephesians is a practical manual on church but it looks forward also. It looks forward to the whole family gathered together, from every nation. That’s the end game, right? This is why we go through what we go through and still don't give up on the church. We may give up on structures and strategies and failures, but we don't give up on Christ's church because this dream is pulsating through his nail-scarred veins. Ephesians 2:11-22 passionately inspires me to live His church.

Send me a Text Message!

Out of all the amazing parts of God's creation, it's only when he created (creates) people that He says, "That is very good." God's greatest masterpiece is not the amazing way that your body works together. It's not the color of your hair or the shape of your hips, it isn't even your tan-toned abs.  God's greatest masterpiece is your soul, your heart.  God's great masterpiece is the stories that are written as you live life fully alive.  You are a masterpiece in progress.  We so need this truth to saturate our souls. As you listen to this episode, let it soak into your soul!

Send me a Text Message!

"But God..." There are a handful of "but God" moments in scripture that I call divine reversals. Ephesians chapter 2 contains one of my favorites. "We were dead, doomed, and damned, but God... is so rich in mercy..." I love those two words..."but God." Every time you find that divine reversal in scripture, stop and ponder it, let it soak into your soul. Those two words are the turning point of our stories.  They  mark the point where God turned our story into His-story.  But God is so rich in mercy....

Send me a Text Message!

If there was one and only one question we should ask ourselves each new day, perhaps it could be, every morning, "How well do I know Jesus? And do I know Him better now than I did last year at this time?" Jesus once was overheard praying, he said, "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:3) Moses spoke with God like a friend, and yet he cried out to know more of God. Paul said, nothing matters to me more than knowing Christ. I want to know Christ.

And in Ephesians 1:15-23, as Paul prays from prison for his friends in Ephesus, he prays that they would know Christ more. Knowing Christ more, that's a good goal for every good and hard day.

Send me a Text Message!

Long ago...before all of this grand and awesome creation was even a gleam in Father God's eye; Paul says that God loved us and chose us. He created you in his image. He fashioned your heart with his heart as a model. At the beginning, the warrior-poet David wrote, as he formed you in your mother's womb...he dreamed dreams about your life and he looked forward to all your days. And it's all because your address, your destiny, your life is "in Christ." There's no better place to be, than "in Christ!"  

Send me a Text Message!

Jesus once asked a man, a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, a man who was doing everything he could (which wasn't much) to be healed, "Do you want to be made well?" Before you think, like I did, "that's a dumb question Jesus," ask yourself, "Do I want to be blessed?" That's the question we start with in Ephesians 1. 

And perhaps it's not such a dumb question. Perhaps it's one that we all need to answer.