Do You Rejoice In Small Packages?
Good Morning Friends,
The Christmas music has already started and Thanksgiving is not yet here. It is that time of the year to be filled with good and rich food and drink. But more importantly we need to be filled with God’s Spirit so that our life might be characterized by divine power. Interestingly we find this power in things both big and small. If you bite into a mustard seed you can feel its flavor permeate your body. The smallest of seeds can grow into something very big. You see, God is not confined, defined or aligned by our limits…our size or strength either. It is about faith in the Spirit and during the start of this Holy Spirit Season it is my hope and prayer that we all are drawn to the miraculous mercy and intense importance of the infinite infant so we might grow together. Do You Rejoice In Small Packages?
Scripture: he will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great.
Psalm 115:13 (NRSV)
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21 (NRSV)
O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
Psalm 104:24-30 (NRSV)
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Matthew 13:31-32 (NRSV)
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NRSV)
Message: Today we look at how our big God works in small ways. And it really is a witness that we all can leverage the power given to us through the Holy Spirit but we need to practice the presence by expecting the best…by fearing God and acknowledging our dependence on Him. Certainly, He exceeds the boundaries of our bodies and the parameters of our imagination. Certainly, God is able, and in His ability we are to expand our expectations for the body of believers…expand our expectations of what God can do through each of us….expand our expectation of Grace. In small ways each day we are to rejoice in the fullness of God and His creation… rejoice in His grace and love…rejoice in the miracle of a boy and his lunch that feeds 5000…in little things like yeast that makes a big difference. We are to rejoice in the richness and power of the Holy Spirit that shows up when we surrender to new things and give up control… rejoice when we fellowship coming out of isolation…when we are honest giving up all pretense…when we see life as a journey not a destination…when we seek transformation not information…when we become filled with grace not judgment…when we take personal responsibility setting aside blame…when we give away what we have, knowing that control is a sin. We are to rejoice in our powerlessness. Friends, you can always count on Jesus. He thinks about us even though we are so small and unworthy. He looks at us with the desire to make us into children of God. He talks with us through scripture and in a still small voice of the Spirit. So never underestimate the Spirit-filled power of small acts of love …of small acts of kindness. There is power in the plan of God whether we understand it or not. And in this Spirit we learn that God has begun a good work in us and will complete it. We will experience new changes, new challenges and perhaps the birth in us of a new champion proclaiming God’s season.
Pray that we put heart into our prayers. Pray that we pray according to His power that is at work within us. Pray that we trust God to do immeasurably more than what we even ask or imagine. Pray that we know the surprising and surpassing Love of God and that it empowers us to live holy lives. Pray that we give God all the glory. Pray that we turn away from purely human solutions. Pray that we trust in the Lord. Pray that we position ourselves to receive His help and blessings. Pray that we hear God’s still small voice. Pray we give thanks when we realize that God is and always has been in the small stuff. Pray we look for God in small miracles and in small groups and in small ways. Pray that our faith give meaning to small acts of service. Pray that our faithfulness in small things leads to greater opportunities to glorify God. Pray that we enter a season of service where we unwrap the joy of growing in love of all the small things.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 