I’ll be the first to admit that often, when I’m talking to God, I feel like a broken record. I mean, I’ve been asking him for essentially the same things for my life, my family, and my city for years, with very little progress. Some might say I need to change my requests, but the thing is, I know they’re things that God wants, too. So I keep asking, until…I don’t. Until his faithfulness is hard to see, until I start to wonder if he really only does move powerfully on a daily basis in Africa, if completely transparent friendship with God and others is only possible in the context of a YWAM community, if he wanted my life to peak when I was twenty.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve experienced God powerfully in Montana and seen him do amazing things, and I have certainly grown and matured since I was twenty. You might remember a few posts ago I talked about some healings that have taken place recently, as well. I know God is moving here. But still, I yearn for the close friendship and trust that I used to have with Jesus.
I was praying about all this a few days ago, particularly asking my Father if my life really has already peaked, and telling him how hard I find it to believe sometimes that he’s still doing amazing things in my life.
Then he reminded my of a strange thing. He reminded me that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
My response? Snooze. “God, they’re all long-dead Jewish guys. What does that have to do with me?”
He then explained to me that the reason he is constantly described as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Old Testament is not so that I, or the Jews, would think about these dead patriarchs, but so that we would remember all the incredible things God did in the lives of these men whose faith was weak and inconsistent at best. “I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am that God right now, in this moment. I can do those things again, and more. This is your inheritance in the New Covenant. This promise is for you.”
I’m increasingly grateful that my faith is not about me, but about “him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20 NIV). Did you hear that? He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or can even imagine! So let’s keep asking, even if we sometimes feel like broken records, and asking for even more of his Kingdom to come–more of his healing, more of his restoration, more of his Spirit, more of his glory and power in our lives. Maybe he won’t do exactly what we pray for, but he is able to do more.
ANHarrington 