Beyond the Beyond

Last year, I attended a Bible study where, via DVD, one of the speakers was Priscilla Shirer.  She is a wonderful speaker - funny, down to earth, and powerful.  She's also the daughter of preacher Tony Evans.

I have seen many of her teachings on DVD, but one has stayed with me more than the others, perhaps because I've seen the subject played out so many times in my life.  Priscilla was talking on Ephesians 3:20 and 21.  "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen." 

I've heard the words from those verses spoken many times as a benediction or in sermons, and I confess, until I listened to her teach on them, I never fully grasped the enormity of them.  Perhaps it was her examples.  She gave several, and each time she was done with the example, she'd shake her head and say...no, no, you still don't get it...let me tell it to you this way.

Her last example was of a friend who had a special birthday coming up.  She was lamenting to Priscilla that her husband wasn't the type to make a big deal of such things, and while she loved him dearly, she wished he'd a least make a minor fuss by giving her a card.  The day of her birthday came and her husband gave her more than a card...he actually presented her with a gift!  An...umbrella.  Well, it wasn't candy, flowers, or diamonds, but she didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth - it was more than he'd done before.  Then, he handed her a card.  It said 'don't forget your umbrella - I hear it rains a lot in Paris this time of year.'  Yes, he had gotten her a trip to Paris! 

Okay ladies - focus - this is not about what you didn't get from your husband on your last birthday...and guys, this isn't a tutorial on how you should right that wrong LOL.  This is an example of how we come at God with low expectations...hoping for a card...and how he not only meets them, but exceeds them...he goes beyond the card by giving us a gift...and then beyond that by giving us the gift of a lifetime!  Beyond the beyond.

As Priscilla describes Paul in this passage, she says Paul is running out of words - he is piling superlative upon superlative to get the point across of how much God is able to do - "far more abundantly beyond"...some translations say "exceedingly, abundantly more".

Why do I write about this today?  Because I'm in the middle of watching it happen...again.  In an earlier post, I described what I learned in Kids Camp, which is my church's name for Vacation Bible School.  At the end of Kids Camp this year, an announcement was made.  An opportunity has arisen for us to take this same program to a location in a more economically challenged part of Trenton the week of August 22nd.  It's the first time in our over 155 year history that we have done such a thing, and our goal is to register and reach 150 children.  I accepted the task of creating a menu and finding ways to feed those 150 kids not a snack, but an actual dinner for 5 nights on a budget that amounted to less than $2 per child.

I immediately began writing to different organizations requesting donations of food, but I know many of the chains like a lot of notice - at least a month - and the day I began writing was a month to the day of when the food will be needed.  One large chain sent me my first turn down yesterday.

Of course, 'me' of little faith begins to fret.  Not sure why my first reaction is so often doubt and fear when I've seen God come through time and again, but, the tiny time frame silhouetted against the enormity of the task allowed them to come in, kick off their shoes and make themselves at home in my mind for a bit.  Then after the person in charge told me last night she was going to have to cut my budget to move monies elsewhere, doubt and fear got really comfortable - they even ordered take out because they figured they'd be there awhile.  Enter God.

A few minutes later I was in my meeting planning what the menu would be, detailing who I'd contacted for donations, soliciting suggestions on how we could cut costs, when one of the team members walked in.  It seems while I'd be courting doubt and fear, she'd been counting stock...and arrived to tell us she had access b to 5 types of entrees - kid pleasing foods - and there was enough for 150 kids.  Did you catch that?  God not only provided food, he took care of ALL 5 DAYS from one source.  We still need to provide some side dishes, but I'm not worried anymore...I'm just looking to see when and how many are coming our way.

As Priscilla would have said, you aren't getting this, let me put it another way!  I walked into a pizza place before my meeting...a place where I know the owners...and said to one of the guys 'do you ever do donations?  I'm hoping to get some free pizza for something my church is doing.'  'Sure, sure' he says...and he hands me a receipt for 1 large free pizza.  I thought...that's not what I had in mind...at this rate, I'm going to have to hit a lot of pizza places!

My efforts netted very little.  But God is not a one pizza God.  God was already going exceedingly abundantly beyond what I was asking for or could imagine he'd do - he was taking care of all 5 meals at once.

How big is your God?  Do you trust him to meet your needs?  Do you trust that he can and will do that and even more?  Don't let fear and doubt limit your perspective of what he's capable of...as I learned again last night, He loves to go beyond the beyond.

What I learned at Kids Camp

I've been missing my time at the lake.  Between the scorching heat and a full schedule, there hasn't been much time or motivation to leave the safety of air conditioned buildings and commune with God outside. 



But that doesn't mean I haven't learned from Him. 

It doesn't mean we stopped talking.  Instead, He's been teaching me through the simplicity of a children's program. 

This week is Kids Camp at our church. The overall theme of the week is "God is Wild About You".  Each night covers a different point...God made you; God listens to you; God watches over you; God loves you, no matter what; and God gives good gifts.

They all seem like simple concepts, but are so incredibly deep and rich with meaning for adults as well as children. God's been using these concepts to reinforce so much I know about Him, but don't contemplate often enough.

God made you.  The whole of Psalm 139 goes into such detail about His relationship with us, but here are just a few verses. Verses 13 - 16 "For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.  I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." God created us from the inside out.  From BEFORE conception to our last day, God has seen us and knows us intimately. 

Let that sink in for a minute. 

Think about it the next time you feel all alone or think no one knows or cares about you.  Personally, I'm trying to memorize the whole of Psalm 139, but it took me several days to get beyond the overwhelming concept just in verse 1..."O Lord, you have searched me and you know me."

God listens to you. So often people ask me about my prayer life. "How do you keep it from getting stale?" "How do you not make it a laundry list?"  "You get so many answers - I don't think God hears my prayers." I'm not special...I'm not "super spiritual" - whatever that is. But I talk to God often.  Everywhere. At all times of the day or night. In every day plain language. Isn't that what you do with a close friend or loved one? 

When you're privileged to find another human being who cares about you, loves you, desires to spend time with you and wants to hear what you have to say as well as share their loving thoughts about you...does that get stale? Of course not. So why would you treat a relationship with God - who loves you and cares for you more perfectly than anyone on this earth - differently? Of course, YOU need to listen too...it's what makes it a real conversation.

God watches over you.  There's a prayer you probably said as a child..."Now I lay me down to sleep...I pray the Lord my soul to keep." In Psalm 4, that very promise exists. Verse 8 says "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, oh Lord make me dwell in safety."  I've mentioned in an earlier post that I'm divorced and that being alone for the first time in my life was a real fear.  So much so that for the first 6 months after my husband left, I was afraid to sleep upstairs where I couldn't hear if someone tried to come in. I'm not sure what I thought I could actually DO if someone broke in, but I slept on the couch - and not very well. Then one night, I pictured huge, 10 foot angels, bright and brandishing swords standing around the perimeter of my home, guarding against evil.  Later, I found Psalm 4:8. Getting a good night's sleep is no longer an issue. I know God watches over me - at night, in the day, when I come and go. Going back to Psalm 139, it says in verse 5 "You hem me in -behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." You can't get any more 'watched over' than that!

God loves you, no matter what. Romans 8:38 - 39 says "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing can keep us from God's love...no matter who or what comes along.  No matter what we have or haven't done. Once again, a concept that sounds simple, but is mind blowing when you really consider it. 

We've all had friendships end, experienced family rifts and the like.  Usually it's because someone did or said something we found offensive, hurtful, unforgivable. Even if we are able to extend forgiveness, continuing to love or care for them is quite another matter. Do you think you've ever hurt God that deeply? If you think not, you're kidding yourself. You curse Him, deny Him, ignore Him, blame Him unjustly, break His laws. And you do it in one way or another every day. But the Bible says in Lamentations 3:22 & 23 "The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning." Bottom line...God loves you, no matter what.

God gives good gifts. Ever experience a 'coincidence'? You meet just the right person to help you or maybe you get an unexpected check in the mail that's just the right amount of money to pay a bill.

I don't call them coincidences...I call them God-incidences.  

And of course, He still answers prayers. I know this first hand. God gives good gifts. Some are big, life-changing, WOWs! Some benefit you in ways you might not even immediately see. But any way you slice it, God gives gifts to us...and they are good. Matthew 7:11 says "So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." 

God made you. God listens to you. God watches over you. God loves you, no matter what. God gives good  gifts. God is wild about you. At Kids Camp the response to each of these 'points' is "Thank You God!!" Such a small token in acknowledgement of so much. Thank you God indeed.