Imagine ~ Ephesians 3:20-21

Many of you have requested the "Imagine" section from Sunday's sermon.  I typed it up below.

Imagine

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask 

or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” Ephesians 3:20 

 

I can imagine your relationship with God restored.

I can imagine you being awakened anew with a dramatic vision of who God is, His profound love for you, His unconditional acceptance, and his dreams for your life.

I can imagine you embracing your forgiveness through Jesus Christ and overflowing with new energy for life in Him.

I can imagine your worship of God taking over your thoughts, emotions, spirit and body.

I can imagine you loving God deeply.  Not afraid of God. Not bitter with God.  But in love with God.

I can imagine you being able to recognize and be familiar with God’s voice.

I can imagine you going entire days aware of God’s presence in your life.

I can imagine you being honest with God, honest with your doubt, honest with your disappointment, honest with your sin.

I can imagine your confessed life before God extinguishing all shame and bringing profound freedom, fresh vitality, and new hope.

I can imagine you filled up with God, thinking God’s thoughts after Him, and embodying God’s life here on earth with God.

I can imagine you aware of His power. 

I can imagine you aware of your high calling.

 

I can imagine your relationship with yourself restored.

I can imagine you completely at home with your in Christ identity.

I can imagine you not being the you everyone else wants you to be, or the you, you think you should be, or even the you, you think you want to be, but I imagine you becoming the you God dreamed you to be—the you, you were meant to be.

I can imagine you discovering how God has uniquely gifted you.

I can imagine you intimately aware of how God has wired you, what makes you thrive, and how God speaks to you, encourages you, challenges you, and helps you grow.

I can imagine God giving you a vision and hope for your life and why he is so excited for the story you are living.

I can imagine your past sins and failures redeemed—bringing new life, hope, and comfort to others.

I can imagine you being free from your addictions. 

I can imagine you feeling comfortable in your own skin. 

I can imagine your life so full of God that you are able to handle anything that is thrown at you.

 

I can imagine your relationship with others restored.

I can imagine that your patience, self-control, unconditional love, wisdom, and grace in dealing with difficult people is second nature for you.

I can imagine you freely choosing the suffering of forgiveness over the death of holding on to the sins done to you.

I can imagine you with eyes to see every single human being the way God does.

I can imagine you refusing to demonize your enemies, but creatively and practically loving them.  I can imagine unbelievable new hope springing up because of your posture toward them.

I can imagine you loving that your heart has broken wide open for the poor.   

I can imagine you generously giving of your time, energy, and resources in order to meet Jesus in the most forgotten and marginalized in society.

I can imagine you having a light and winsome spirit when sharing the burdens of others, because you live life with God’s energy and not your own.

I can imagine your relationship to God being so contagious that others around you are awakened to new life in Christ.

I can imagine God bringing new life to the relationships that you have failed at.

I can imagine you being given grace and energy to do the hard work of reconciliation.

I can imagine your life completely blessed because of an amazing Christian community of people that you are committed to do life together with. 

I can imagine your relationships with others restored.

 

I can imagine your relationship with God’s creation restored.

I can imagine our community living as stewards rather than owners because the earth is the LORD’s and everything in it.

I can imagine our community not enslaved by our possessions, but able to fully enjoy God’s blessing and generously employing our stuff for service in God’s Kingdom. 

I can imagine our community taking a long view in how we make decisions.  Living in a way that will be a blessing for three and four generations beyond ourselves.

I can imagine our community empowered by God to seek out and create new ways of living and doing business that helps eliminate the exploitation of people, natural resources and animals in order that global restoration rather than selfish advancement becomes the new normal for human behavior.

I can imagine God restoring the way we relate to his creation. 

 

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

 

Comments

[Scott]

Awesome... thanks for sharing

[dlandt]

Thanks Scott!