I felt so hopeless after reading this verse. I had tried and tried and tried and tried to seek after the “things that are above”. I knew that I could never measure up to that standard. I felt like I was running after God, and just as I would get close, I would lose sight of Him again.
Seek the things that are above. That is the true mark of a Child of God.
But I was lost in the panic of being lost. That seems so oxymoronic, but that’s how it was.
That week, I heard a sermon that changed my life. It wasn’t much, by itself. Just a young pastor giving a long sermon in a small church with lights that hurt your eyes and babies crying in the background. But what really mattered was the joy, the passion that he had for Christ.
The sermon was about the power of prayer and treasuring Christ.
Ephesians 3:14-19 (ESV) “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength 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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
We are called to adore Christ. We are called to “seek the things that are above”, called to pursue holiness. This thing that we are called to is beyond our capacity. We can neither crave nor treasure Christ in our own strength. Trying to do that is like telling a blind man about a wonderful treasure and giving him a map where “x marks the spot”. We are left longing for a glorious state that we can never achieve.
Paul says in Colossians 1:9 “And so, from the day we heard (of your faith), we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
We can only achieve what we desperately want through prayer. Prayer is the answer to our problems.
This kind of prayer is NOT small. It is powerful. It is meaningful. It is victorious.
Father,
According to the riches of Your glory, empower us with strength in our inner being. Help us see Jesus and be satisfied with Him as our Greatest Treasure. Let us lay hold of the riches of Your glory and a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Give us endurance and patience with joy.
Amen
Everything is like a pale shadow in comparison with Christ. To settle for mediocre faith is like settling for a two-volt battery when you could be hooked up to a nuclear power plant! His power and glory will never be exhausted!
How far short does my adoration of Christ fall!
As a church culture, there is a gap between how much we treasure Christ and how much we should. Don’t let the promises of God get stale.
The glory of God is like a river.
A great, rushing river, with a strong current. Are you standing in the shallows or swimming in the middle? Is the water swooshing by your ankles, or are you immersed in the water, being swept along by the mighty current? If you are only experiencing trickles and wooshing, then the problem isn’t with the river. The problem is with your placement in the river.
We need to get on our knees and cry out for God according to His great power and glory so that we can crush sin! Shallow swimming produces shallow knowledge and shallow treasuring. Don’t dive into the shallows because you could break your neck. We need to dive deeper in and be swept toward the Greatest Treasure!
Link to sermon:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/providence-community-church/id585104277
click on set you gaze on Christ and then view in iTunes.
Please take the 50 minutes to listen to the sermon. It’s really worth it!
Written by Alyse Laporte
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