“Back when I was growing up on the farm,” Stan mentioned one morning, “there was one particular farmer who lived near us who had a tendency to exaggerate.”
“About what?” I asked.
“Just about everything,” Stan replied. “If his wheat crop produced sixty bushels to the acre, it suddenly became seventy or more. If it snowed three inches at his farm, it wasn’t long before it was almost a foot. If you told him how hot it was at your place, it was always much hotter at his. Those sorts of things.”
“I’ve known people like that,” I commented. “The truth just doesn’t seem to be enough.”
“You’re right,” Stan said. “And I was reminded of the exaggerating farmer and the general subject of exaggeration earlier this morning when I was reading in the apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus.”
“Paul wrote about exaggerating?”
“Not really,” Stan replied. “Paul wasn’t writing about exaggeration or exaggerating, but something he wrote could, I think, be seen as an exaggeration.”
“Seen as an exaggeration? How? What was he writing about?”
“The power of the indwelling Christ that is available to each believer,” Stan replied. “How Paul described that power might be seen by some people as an exaggeration, but I think it’s a solid truth we can and are to rely upon.”
“What’s the part that might be seen as an exaggeration?” I asked.
Stan pulled out his phone, opened the Bible app, and said, “Just listen to this: ‘Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us’.”
“Wow!” I responded. “That is a powerful statement. Exceeding abundantly beyond all we ask or think!”
“Powerful indeed,” Stan said. “No exaggeration. And that power is available to each one of us. All we have to do is claim it, embrace it, and live it.”
“So,” I said, “I guess that if we don’t do that, we may miss out on all that God has for us.”
“Good guess, my friend!” Stan replied with a smile.
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Bible verses to consider:
Now to Him who is able to do exceeding 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. Ephesians 3:20-21.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be with you. John 14:16-17.
It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. Acts of the Apostles 1:7-8.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your power that resides within me, the power to be and to do all you have for me in living this life before I board the train to spend eternity in your magnificent presence. I confess that too often I do not rely on the power that you have made available to me through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Please forgive that foolishness, and please help me in following every step of your lead in total reliance on all you have for me, taking fully as truth what is said in your Word. Help me to claim, embrace, and live all you have for me. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: There is no limit on what God can and will do in and through a believer. Do you agree with that? Why or why not? Do you sense that you may not be experiencing all of the power that the apostle Paul describes as being available? If so, what is that all about? Would you like to experience more than you are experiencing at the present? If so, how is that going to happen? Might it have something to do with your understanding (or lack of understanding) of what God has for you to experience as He keeps you on this side of eternity?
Waiting for the Train 