Typically, like many evangelical churches that host a mid-week event, we'll have dinner then break up into various groups such as a Women's Bible Study, a Pastor's Study, a study on Biblical finances or something like that, and Adult Choir (my favorite for obvious reasons).
While I have no problem with any of these studies, or as they've been labeled, "programs", earlier this summer the staff took a day retreat where our pastor told us that God was clarifying some vision in his heart for the future of the church. I think his exact words were "I want prayer to be the engine that drives everything that happens around here." So we as a staff made some changes to how our wednesday night gatherings will look this fall. Instead of various studies we're going to host a time of community where we both learn about prayer and have chances to implement it in small groups.
This got me excited. I realized that I needed to be preparing for this so I started by picking up a few books on prayer. I've already talked about Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire in a previous post but, I'm also reading through a devotional book on praying scripture back to God by Ken Boa and then reading a book called Indescribable by Louie Giglio and Matt Redman. The purpose of that last book is to regain perspective in the immensity of the God we serve and follow. Each short chapter talks a bit about some aspect of the universe and the ties it back into our personal relationship with God. It's a great, yet easy read.
That was a lot of back story to get to my point of this week's post.
We serve a big, big, big GOD.
If that's all you get from this post, that's fine, but if you've got the time, and the attention span - keep reading.
In a chapter entitled Superstars, Louie Giglio talks about the Sun and the next biggest stars, Betelgeuse, Mu Cephei, and Vy Canis Majoris...don't get me started on the names. Astronomers, I would wager are all Trekies too.
Back to the point.
Giglio quotes Galileo saying "The Sun, with all those planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the Universe to do." Then, with articulacy Giglio goes on to explain the sheer size of the subsequent stars I listed above and how, compared to the Sun, they are all millions of times larger and more powerful than the Sun in all it's generous, atomic terror.
Then Giglio sties Ps 33:6.
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth."
God breathes out the stars.
Did you read that?
Do you get that the most powerful elements we know of in humanity are but EXHALES of breath to God??
What???
God truly is big and not only that, He's powerful too! More powerful than anything we can even come close to comprehending.
Finally, Giglio challenges the reader by saying "...a good plan would be to pause more often, turn down the volume of the earthbound "super-stars" we so quickly gravitate toward, and rest in the shadow of a God who exhales luminous balls of uncontrollable combustion as if they were merely fireflies on a warm summer night."
So I did.
I sat there at that coffee shop and just pondered it for a few minutes (though not nearly long enough).
Then my eyes caught the next book I wanted to read a few pages in - Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.
As I opened toward the middle of the book, I began reading more about Brooklyn Tabernacle's prayer meetings and the power of God on display through those people.
And it struck me.
Here's where my brain just fell into a fetal position.
The God who just "...exhales luminous balls of uncontrollable combustion as if they were merely fireflies on a warm summer night" is the same God we have direct access to. He is a God who has immense power to hear and answer our prayers. He can choose to intervene in any situation He chooses to, and change the course of people's lives. If He can create this Universe in all it's unbridled power and enormousness, how can I stand here and have such a pathetic prayer life that barely ever calls upon the power of God to move!
We serve a big, big, big God.
My prayer life is something I am trying to allow God to grow in me. But I'm realizing that for my prayer life to grow, my perception of who God is must also expand to something much bigger, beyond my imagination, beyond my understanding of what big even is.
"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
 |
| Starburst Cluster NGC 3606 "Like a fireworks display, a young, glittering collection of starts looks like an aerial burst. The cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust - the raw material for a new star formation. The nebula, located twenty thousand light-years away in the constellation Carina, contains a central cluster of huge, hot stars called NGC 3606" (Taken from NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia). F. Paresce (National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna, Italy), E. Young (Universities Space Research Association/Ames Research Center), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)) |
Ready. Go.
