What Was I Thinking? God IS Loving

What we think about God is important because our thoughts shape our behavior.  How we picture God not only shapes how we respond to God, but it also shapes how we interact with others.  For example, if we think of God as harsh, we will resist God.  Why come close to a God who only wants to be demanding and difficult?  Why allow ourselves to get close to anyone if all we think will happen is that we will get hurt?  And if we see God as judgmental, always trying to catch us and punish us for doing something wrong, then we will live in fear.  And if we only see God as someone who takes, takes away fun, joy, life, and laughter, then we are going to resist God, and we are going to resist the fullness of life that God wants to share with us.

How we think of God shapes our behaviors and our lives, which is why it is important for us to see God, and think about God, in ways that are in keeping with who God truly is.  This month we have been learning, or remembering, the truth about God’s character so that we can make wise and faithful decisions so that we never have to look back and say, What Was I Thinking? 

We learned that while the world often sees God has weak, God is actually powerful, and we can pray to God for that power to be experienced in our lives.  Last week we learned that while the world often sees God as distant, and at times we feel isolated and alone, God is present with us always, and we can lean into God’s presence to find what we need.  Today we want to explore another one of the characters of God that often goes against the conventional wisdom of the world. 

The world often sees God as harsh, and unfortunately many churches also talk about God in ways that are severe.  When the focus is on sin, judgment, and the fires of hell, we begin to picture God has a judge just waiting to catch us in our sin and condemn us.  While God is holy, and David is going to talk about that next week, God is not harsh, quite the opposite, God IS loving.  In fact, what we need to remember and hold on to is this truth – God IS Love. 

God is not love, and his actions are not loving, the way we might define it, as conditional upon our good behavior, God Himself defines love, and when we see God’s unconditional love, and when we are able to receive that love, it can forever change our lives, our families, our communities, and our world. 

Through this series we have been looking at the life of King Asa.  Asa was the king of Judah, and when he was a young man, he trusted God to be powerful, and he knew God was present in his life.  In fact, God’s presence and power were experienced by Asa for 35 years, and his love for God helped bring peace.  This is what it says about Asa’s heart.  2 Chronicles 15:12, 15, 17b. 

Asa wholeheartedly loved God.  He was able to commit himself to God completely, and worship God only, because he knew God’s love, and had received it.  But slowly, over time, Asa began to doubt that love.  Later in his life, Asa failed to trust God wholeheartedly.  He turned away from God’s presence, and power, and he failed to live in the knowledge of God’s love, and because of this, Asa made a very poor decision that cost him everything.  Asa stopped trusting in God’s presence, power, and love, and turned to the super power of his day to find an ally.  Asa formed a coalition with another king to help him fight his enemy instead of trusting in God, and that decision cost Asa the victory. 

At some point, Asa reflected on that poor decision and must have said, what was I thinking?  God was always powerful and he could have helped me if I had prayed.  God was always with us and we could have leaned into that presence for strength.  And God always loved us, and if I had remembered and received that love, if I had loved God wholeheartedly, I would have made a better decision.  If we can remember and receive God’s love, if we can love God wholeheartedly, we will make better decisions. 

No matter what we may think today, or what we hear in the world around, or what we may have learned growing up, God IS love.  God defines for us what love looks like, and God loves us.  Completely.  Unconditionally.  Eternally.  God loves us, and if we will receive that love, our lives will be transformed, and we will live with purpose, power, and peace. 

From Genesis to Revelation, what God has tried to make clear to us, and what God still wants us to remember today, is that He loves us.  In fact, if there is one verse that might sum up what it is that God wants for us, it would be this, Ephesians 3:17-18.

We read this as Paul’s prayer for the people of Ephesus, but this is really God’s prayer for us.  More than anything God wants us to know that his love for us is wide, and long, and high, and deep, and eternal.  God wants us to know that his love is
• wide enough to cover our fear, 
• long enough to reach and redeem our past.  
• high enough to support our dreams, 
• deep enough to touch insecurities. 

God loves us so much that he was not content to just tell us about his love in a book, God had to come to us in person.  God came to show us just how wide and long and high and deep his love for us really is.  Jesus is the fullness of God’s love revealed to us.  Jesus shows us that God’s love is wide enough to touch every person, it is long enough to reach into our past to forgive us, it is high enough to reach up into heaven and open a door for us and it is deep enough to set a firm foundation on which we can build our lives. 

If we can receive God’s love through Jesus, our lives will change, we will be transformed.  Not everything will be easy, not every problem will be erased, but we will have strength and power to make it through.  Let me share 2 ways that God’s love transforms us all. 

1. Insecure to Secure.  God’s love moves us from being insecure to being secure, and I’ll let you in on a little secret, we are all insecure.  I used to think that I was the only one who was insecure in life and that everyone else had it all together, but by listening to the stories of many other people, I have come to realize that we are all insecure, and we can deal with our insecurity in 2 ways, we can power up or we can power down.

We power up when we try and lift ourselves up, make our own decisions, and do what we can to make ourselves look good.  Asa powered up when he made a treaty with the King of Aram to fight his enemy.  Asa was feeling insecure when he looked at his enemy.  He didn’t trust what he had in himself to fight against them, so he did what he could to lift himself up.  Asa made himself look good, and strong, by forming an alliance with a more powerful nation.  He powered up, and many of us try to power up in life when we feel insecure, and that can lead us to all kinds of bad decisions. 

When I first started as a student at Michigan State University, I was as insecure as it came, so I tried to power up.  I tried to make myself look good and I did what I could to fit in among my peers.  I went to the orientation meetings for all the fraternities thinking that was one way I could make myself look better.  It didn’t work.  I couldn’t keep up that image, so I then took the other road when we struggle with insecurities, I powered down.

When we power down, we talk ourselves down.  This isn’t being humble, it is feeling hopeless.  We give in to the thinking that we are crushed and defeated.  We tell ourselves we can’t do anything and that there is no hope.  After my first few weeks at MSU, I had gone from trying to power up to powering down.  I was ready to quit.  I was ready to pack my bags and head home, my insecurities were getting the best of me.  But then something happened. 

God directed me to a group of people who in their own insecurities neither powered up nor down, they looked to Jesus.  I started attending a campus group called Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and through large group gatherings, times of fellowship, and a small group Bible study, I learned that God loved me just the way I was.  In time, God’s love filled my insecurity, and gave me a peace that allowed me to find a renewed sense of purpose and life. 

God’s love slowly started to transform my insecurities and I began to understand more fully who I was as a child of God.  By receiving God’s love, by acknowledging that we are valuable, gifted, children of God, we move from being insecure to being secure, not secure in ourselves, but secure in the God who loves us and gives us life. 

2. Striving For to Resting In.  The second thing God’s love does is that it moves from striving for acceptance, meaning, and the fullness of life and allows us to rest in these things.  Here is the most difficult thing we often have to accept about God’s love, there is nothing we can do to earn it.  God’s love is just NOT conditional.  If we are better – it doesn’t mean God loves us more.  If we fail – it doesn’t mean God loves us less.  God’s love is never changing, all powerful, and ever present, and when we receive that love we stop trying to earn it and simply live in it.

This is a hard concepts for us to understand because in our world everything seems to be conditional.  If we make the right decisions, say the right things, and behave the right way, we are loved, respected, and honored.  But if we slip up just once, all that love is gone.  All around us we see this played out on a daily basis.  As long as people in the public eye say and do the right thing, we support them, but if we find one flaw, one mistake, one misstep from today or yesterday, we toss them aside.  This way of “loving others” shapes us.  When love and acceptance are conditional and we have to strive to always make the right choice in every thought, word, and deed, we will be miserable and live in fear of our own mistakes coming to tear us down, but when we can receive God’s unconditional love, we can stop striving for acceptance and rest secure in God’s grace and peace. 

That first year at MSU, I struggled with this whole concept.  I read in John 14 that we need to abide in God, so I asked a friend, how do I do this?  He kind of laughed and said you don’t do it, you rest in it, you trust it, you accept it.  I said, right, how do I do that?  I kept missing the point.  I kept asking what I had to do to rest in God’s love, instead of simply resting in God’s love.  I was striving for and not resting in, and I still find myself striving for and not resting in. 

God’s love is this amazing gift that we don’t deserve, and can never repay.  It is a gift that touches the totality of our lives.  It is a love that is wide and long and high and deep.  When we receive this love, when we simply open our hearts and accept God’s love, in time we learn how to just rest, and feel secure.  I have learned it doesn’t come quickly, it doesn’t happen overnight, and I’m not sure we every truly come to terms with it, but the more we simply accept God’s love, the more God’s love transforms us.   

God is loving, and his love can transform our lives, so let me close with 2 final thoughts. 

1. God’s love is available today.  In this moment, we don’t have to do anything to receive God’s love other than open our hands and our hearts and our lives and ask God to fill us with his love.  For each one of us today, God’s love is available.  It is here to assure us we are accepted and valued.  It is here to quiet our anxiety and give us peace.  It is here to guide us into good decisions and a better life.  It is here to be received, today and every day, it is available. 

2. God’s love is to be shared.  In John 15, Jesus went on to say, when you keep my commands you will remain in my love.  And then he gave us just one command to follow. Love one another.  And the amazing thing about the love of God is that when we release it to others, it comes back to us 100 fold.  The more we release, or share, God’s love, the more we receive God’s love.  The more we tell others about God’s love, the more we experience God’s love.  The more we love others, the more we experience the love of God in our own lives.  God’s love is not just be received but shared and when we share it we receive more in return. 

So today, receive God’s love.  Stop powering up and trying to do it all on your own, stop powering down thinking you aren’t worthy of God’s love, and simply receive the love of God and allow that love to shape your life, allow God’s love to lead you into the fullness of life and faith and watch God’s love truly transform your life.   

Next Steps
What Was I Thinking?  - God IS Loving

1.  This past week was Valentine’s Day. 
• How were you able to receive the love of God? 
• How were you able to release (share) the love of God? 

2.  Read Ephesians 3:17-18.  This is not Paul’s prayer for the church but God’s desire for each of us.  In what ways is God’s love:
• wide enough to cover our fear
• long enough to reach (and redeem) our past
• high enough to support our dreams
• deep enough to transform our insecurities

3.  How have you experienced God’s love in each of the situations above?  Write down these circumstances to remind you of God’s love when you need it in the future.

4. We are all insecure in life.  In what ways do you power-up (lift yourself up in life) and power-down (beat yourself down in life)?  Ask God to transform your insecurities by filling you with His love.

5. In what ways do you strive for God’s love and acceptance?  How do you try and repay God for his love and acceptance?  What would it look like for you to rest in God’s love?  Read John 15:5-17. 

6. If you have never specifically asked for it, ask for God’s love today. 

7. In what ways can you release God’s love to the world?
• Who do you know that needs to hear God’s love? 
• How can you share God’s love? 
• What will it mean for you to love one another?

What Was I Thinking? God IS Present

In the fall of 1986, a friend dropped me off in Studio City, CA, at the home of my mom’s cousins.  I had just graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Telecommunications, TV production, and I wanted to get a job in the TV industry, so Hollywood, or Studio City, was the place to be.  I had no experience, no contacts, no car, and no money and yet somehow I thought I could arrive in LA and get a job.  Have you ever made a decision that looking back on you shake your head and ask, What was I thinking?  Well this was one of those times for me.  What was I thinking?  I really thought that somehow a degree in a related field would land me a job in TV – boy was I wrong.

I quickly realized that I was in way over my head and had no real plan for how to move myself forward.  I also realized just how alone I was.  While in a city of millions, and living with extended family who tried to be supportive, I still felt isolated and alone.  I often spent my afternoons listening to a Christian radio station while in bed with the covers pulled up over my head.  It was one of the lowest moments of my life and I still say, what was I thinking?

Last week we started this series called, What was I thinking, and our goal is to learn some truths about God that can help us make faithful choices so that we never have to utter those 4 dreaded words.  Last week we learned that while we often feel powerless to change our circumstances in life, we are not helpless, and one important thing we can do when we are in trouble is to pray.

This week we are going to learn a truth that I really needed when I was in Studio City.  What I needed most during those difficult days was to know that God was with me and that I was NOT alone.  I felt alone.  I tried to hide in my loneliness.  I tried to run from my loneliness, but what I really needed to know was that God was more present with me than I could have possibly known.

Now here’s the troubling part of my story, I knew that God was always with me.  I had read that in the Bible many times and I had personally experienced God’s presence in my life.  I had already been through those times when the unseen hand of God suddenly became visible.  So while I knew that God was always with me, I had forgotten it, and I doubted it during those dark days.  In many ways I was like King Asa, the King of Judah, who felt so alone that he made a foolish decision that cost him dearly.

If you weren’t with us last week, Asa was King of Judah, and when he was a young man, Asa trusted God to help him during a very difficult time.  God not only helped Asa and the people win a battle, but God was present with them for 35 years, bringing God’s people peace.  Asa knew that God was powerful and he trusted that God was present with him, but over time, these were the very truths that he forgot.  This is often our problem.  We forget, and when problems come up we lose sight of the very truths that helped us in the past and can help us in the future.

Much later in his life, when he was once again confronted by a large army, Asa didn’t trust God to be powerful and fight for him.  Instead of leaning into the presence of God, Asa went out on his own and formed an alliance with the superpower of his day.  It was this failure to trust God’s power and lean into God’s presence that made trouble for Asa, and it is this lesson we need to learn in our own lives.  God is always present with us which means we can lean into God’s presence and find strength in God’s power.

We may not feel God with us, we may doubt that God is hanging around ready to assist, we may feel that we have wandered too far away, or sinned so greatly that God simply can’t be with us, or doesn’t want to be with us, but nothing could be further from the truth.  God is always present with us.

God is always present.  We can’t run from God, or hide from God, and we can’t even sin so greatly that it pushes God away, because the Bible is pretty clear on this, God is always present.  If nothing else, this is a truth we can read in order to remember.  In fact, I want to invite you to read this with me.  Psalm 139:1-18.

This psalm is powerful because it talks about all the times we might feel alone, and yet in those moments God is there.  There is no place so high, or low, that God is not already there.  There is doubt, or sin, so dark that it can keep God away.  There is no decision we can make that God cannot redeem because God is always present to help us.  We might struggle, we might suffer some consequences because of our actions, but even then, God is present.  Even while I was lying in bed with the covers over my head, God was there, and God was at work in helping me find a way through the darkness.

If Asa had known that God was with him, he might not have made an alliance with the King of Aram, and relied upon the power of the world instead of the power of God.  If Asa had seen that God was there to fight with him and for him, Asa might have made a better, more courageous decision.  We need this kind of vision, we need to see God not only with us, but with us in power.

About 50 years after Asa, the prophet Elisha also faced a large army from a king looking to capture him.  When Elisha and his servant awake in the morning, this is what happened.  2 Kings 6:15-17.

At first, Elisha’s servant couldn’t see the army of God.  He couldn’t see the powerful way God was present with them, but then his eyes were opened.  How often do we find ourselves in this very situation?  We feel overwhelmed and pressed in by troubles on every side, and we think we are all alone, but the truth is that we are not.  God is always present with us, and present with us in power.  We need this kind of vision, this kind of spiritual vision, or faith, to know that God is with us.

If we will look for God, if we will ask God to open our eyes so we can see him, God will open our eyes so that we can see him.  Look at 2 Chronicles 16:9.  God is constantly searching the world looking for those who are looking for him, and if we will turn to look for God, we will find him.  God said, when you search for me with all your heart you will find me.  And Jesus said, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

There is not a time or place where God is not with us, and if we can lean into this truth, we will find the strength and power to walk forward in faith.  Here are the ABC’s of what will happen in our lives if and when we lean into the presence of God.

A – We will experience less Anxiety.  When we feel isolated and alone, we feel anxious and unsure, but when we know that God is near, we find peace.  Philippians 4:5-7.  Knowing God is with us brings a peace that passes our understanding and a peace that can guard our hearts and minds.  If I had truly known the Lord was near, the outcome of my time in LA might not have changed, but I might not have had to spend so much time hiding under the covers.  We can reduce our anxiety by leaning into the presence of God.

B – Our Behavior will change.  When we lean into God’s presence it will lead us to better choices which will lead us to a better life.  The world often tells us that God is absent and that life is simply what we make it.  To me, that is a pretty hopeless situation because I know how powerless I am to change anything.  Without God’s presence, there really is no larger sense of meaning and purpose that can help me not only make good choices, but guide my life.  But with God at our side, life takes on new meaning.

When people really feel alone in life, they often look at desperate measures to either make life full, or make life end.  Our behaviors can become desperate and dangerous when we feel isolated, but if we can truly see that God is with us, our behavior might change in many ways – for the better.  Knowing God is with us can turn our despair and desperation into power and purpose.

What would change in your life if you knew that God was with you?  What behaviors might be transformed?  What attitudes might be lifted up?  What dream might be fulfilled if you knew that God was with you?  If we had this vision, the same kind of vision that Elisha had, it might lead us to stepping out in faith because we would have more courage.

C – We would have more Courage.  If we know that God is with us, and we know that with God’s presence comes God’s power, then we will have more courage to step out in faith.  Too often it is fear that holds us back in life and in faith, but when we learn to lean into the presence of God, when we can see that God is with us, it can give us the courage to do so much more.

If you knew God was present with you, what would you do?  What change would you make?  What mission would you undertake?  What risk would be worthwhile?  What reward would you experience? Courage comes from the presence of God. 

When the people of Israel were finally on the brink of crossing over the Jordan River and taking possession of the Promised Land, Joshua was their leader and he had just one word of encouragement.   Joshua 1:7-9

Be strong and courageous, not because you are physically capable of doing this on your own, not because you are smart and have made all the right decisions, and not because you have horses, chariots, shields, and spears to protect you, be strong and courageous because the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

If we can lean into this truth and trust that God is with us, we will have less anxiety and more courage, and with less anxiety and more courage we will make better decisions, and better decisions means that we will never have to look back at a time in our lives and ask, What was I thinking?



Next Steps
What Was I Thinking – God IS Present

1. When have you felt isolated and alone?
     • What led you to this place?
     • What helped you move beyond this place?
     • Where was God in your isolation and loneliness?

2. Read and reflect on Psalm 139:1-18.
     • In what ways have you tried to run from God?
     • In what ways have you tried to hide from God?

3. Identify three ways (spiritual practices) that you can remind yourself that God is always present with you.
     • 1
     • 2
     • 3

4. Leaning into God’s presence can change your ABC’s.
     • Anxiety
          o Read Philippians 4:5-7.
          o What anxious thoughts do you need to give
              to God?
          o How & why does prayer & thanksgiving
             remind us of God’s presence & reduce
             our anxiety?
           o Give thanks for God’s constant presence.

     • Behavior
          o What one behavior would you like to change?
          o How can God’s presence help you make
             that change?

     • Courage
          o Read Joshua 1:7-9.
          o What step of faith would you take if you
               truly knew that God was with you?
          o Take that step this week – God is with you!

What Was I Thinking? God IS Powerful

Last week I poured over pictures from my childhood looking for the picture of our dog, Ginger, and me on my bed – and in case you weren’t here, well, here it is again.

Just too cute.

But as I was going through old pictures there were several that I looked at and thought to myself, what was I thinking?  Did I really think that plaid bell bottoms looked good?

Absolutely, in fact they were my favorite pants.  And what about that bandana I wore around my thigh?  Thankfully there aren’t any pictures of me like this, but I did it because Chachi on Happy Days wore one.

What was he thinking?  

Now obviously styles change and what made sense 20, ok 40, years ago doesn’t make sense today, but we have learned from our mistakes and we have changed along with the styles.  I no longer wear a bandana around my thigh.  Aren’t you glad?  Looking back on poor style choices is humorous, but what is not funny is when we make decisions today without taking into consideration what we have learned from the past.  What’s not funny is making a decision today only to ask ourselves tomorrow, what was I thinking?  We need to learn from the past how to make wise decisions for today.  We need to learn from our past experiences how to make better choices, and we need to remember those things we have learned about God to live faithfully into the future.  And we need to learn some new truths about God to shape our decision making in the future.

For the next few weeks we will either learn some new truths about God, or remember some things we have forgotten, so that either way we can make good and faithful decisions moving forward.  We are going to focus and reflect on five fundamental characteristics about God that we need to keep in the forefront of our minds and hearts so that we never get to that place where we look back on a bad choice and have to ask ourselves, what was I thinking.

These five truths also push back on how the world often thinks about God.  The world often thinks about God in these terms:
Weak – Distant – Harsh – Corrupt – Silent.

But the reality is that God is
not weak but Powerful
not distant bur Present
not harsh but Loving
not corrupt but Holy
not silent but Active.

During this entire series we are going to learn these lessons from King Asa, who was the great grandson of King David, and the King of Judah.  To set the stage for you, Israel was one nation under King David, and his son Solomon, but when Solomon died, there was a growing division among the 12 tribes.  In time, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin pledged their loyalty to Solomon’s son, while the other 10 tribes broke away.  So the nation of Israel divided into the Northern Kingdom, called Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, called Judah.

The Divided Kingdoms of Israel and Judah

Asa was the King of Judah and when he took the throne he was faithful and obedient to God.
2 Chronicles 14:2, 8-10

So Asa had an army of 580,000 men.  These were strong and courageous men who were ready to fight.  By no means was Asa helpless, he had a huge army, but he soon found himself powerless against a much larger army.  Asa had 580,000 men, but the enemy was double the size and they didn’t have shields, they had chariots.  Asa was not helpless, but he was powerless to win a battle against this stronger army, and this is often where we find ourselves in life.
I am not helpless, but I am powerless!  

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were not helpless, but you were powerless?  Powerless to change a situation, or find a quick victory?  Several years ago I was hiking in the smoky mountains on a beautiful day.  I was going for what I thought would be a short hike, just 4-6 miles, but when I got to the 6 mile mark I realized I had misread the map and was nowhere close to being near the end.  I had no choice but to keep going, in the hot sun.

I soon was out of water and beginning to feel pretty lousy.  I was powerless to get myself water.  I was powerless to get myself to the car quickly.  I was powerless, but I wasn’t helpless, I could walk, so I kept going.  I walked from one rock to another, and then would sit down.  I told myself that I could walk to the next big tree and then stop to rest.  I have never hit the wall hiking like I did that day.  I was sick.  I was exhausted, and I considered laying down in the woods to sleep through the night, and then hike out the next day.  I was powerless to change my situation, but I wasn’t helpless, so I just kept going.  Literally one step after another until just before dark I could finally see my car where I knew that I had some water.

We often find ourselves powerless in life’s situations.  We are powerless to change the circumstances in our children’s lives.  My niece struggled after college to find a meaningful job, and I was powerless to help.  My nephew struggled with migraines that meant he could not be a pilot, which had been his life’s ambition, and I was powerless to change his situation.

We are often powerless over our health, and powerless in our jobs.  We are powerless in the political circumstances of world, and powerless to change people’s hearts and minds.  We are powerless, and yet we are not helpless.  Asa was powerless against his enemy, but he was not helpless, and he shows us exactly what we can and need to do in times like this.  2 Chronicles 14:11-13.

Asa was powerless to change his circumstances so he called on the one who was powerful.  Asa prayed to God because he knew that God was more powerful than he could possibly imagine and in his present situation, he needed God’s power.  And God’s power was there in a dramatic way.  God not only drove back the enemy, but the men of Judah were able to plunder the Cushites and return home with more wealth than they could have ever gained on their own.

Asa was able to call on God because while he had not seen this kind of power in his own life, he had heard the stories of God’s power from his great grandfather, King David.  Asa was familiar with the words of Psalm 20:6-9.

Asa called, and God answered, and now Asa knew personally that God was powerful, but over time Asa forgot this.  Let’s fast forward 35 years, 35 peaceful years where God had watched over and cared for Asa and the people of Judah.  In the 36th year, Asa once again faced a strong enemy.
2 Chronicles 16:1.

Remember Judah and Israel are divided right now, so Baasha king of Israel was an enemy of Judah, and they have a stronger army than Asa.  But instead of asking God for help, this is what Asa does.
2 Chronicles 16:2-4a

Asa doesn’t pray, he plans and plots and pays another king to help him overcome his enemy.  Asa paid to form an alliance with another nation to get help and support instead of praying to God, and this is where we want to stand up and shout, Asa, what were you thinking?  When you prayed, God was powerful and drove out your enemy, but now you don’t pray, you don’t seek God’s help, you don’t listen to your great grandfather David who said you should not trust in horses and chariots, but instead you pay to form an alliance with the super power of your day?  What were you thinking?

Actually, someone does confront Asa with this very message.
2 Chronicles 16:7-9.  The prophet asks Asa, what were you thinking?  You knew God to be a God of power, you trusted God to help you when you were powerless, and yet here you don’t pray for God’s power but pay for the power of this world – a power which will let you down.  What were you thinking?  In time the worldly power does let Asa down and he spent the rest of his life leading the people during times of war.

When Asa relied on God’s power, 
God blessed Asa – Asa missed the hardship.  

But
when Asa relied on human power, 
Asa missed the blessing – Asa experienced hardship.  

All because he forgot that God is more powerful than anything we can imagine.

We are all vulnerable to forgetting that God is more powerful than we can imagine, and we can easily forget that God wants to help us if we will just pray.  Prayer should not be our last resort, it should be our first line of defense when we are feeling powerless.  Whether it is the economy, our finances, our children, our marriage, our work, or our world, when we feel powerless we shouldn’t figure out how to plot and plan and pay our way into the future, we should pray because prayer opens the door to God’s power.

When we pray, we tap into the power of God and when we have God’s power, at least these 2 things happen.

#1 – We can live without fear.  When Asa trusted God he was able to move forward with courage because he knew God was greater than his enemy.  Prayer helps us focus on that game changer – God is greater than the storm.  God is more powerful than we can imagine, so what have we to fear?

#2 – We can live large.  When we tap into God’s power it doesn’t mean that everything will work out the way we want it to, that’s not what it means to live large.  What I mean is that we can live large in faith.  We live large when we are living for God’s kingdom, finding the fullness of life through the Spirit of God that dwells within us, finding meaning and purpose when we help others, and make a difference in this world.  When we pray and allow God’s power to flow into our lives – we start living powerful lives that bring God’s kingdom into our lives and into our world.

Asa knew all of this, he had experienced it as a young man, but he forgot it as he got older.  He allowed other ideas to enter his mind, he allowed other priorities to enter his heart.  Over time, Asa trusted in himself and in what he could see around him, instead of in the power of God.  At the end of his life, when Asa reflected on this moment I’m sure he said, what was I thinking?

We can learn from Asa how to protect ourselves from this mistake if we will take this truth with us today and tap into every day.
God is always more powerful than what we think, 
if we will turn to God in prayer, and ask God for help, 
we will tap into God’s power.  


 
Next Steps
What Was I Thinking?  God IS Powerful!

1.  Read the full story of King Asa that forms the foundation of this series.  2 Chronicles 14-16.

2.  When have you felt powerless?  In these situations, were you truly helpless, or simply powerless to change your situation?  What is the difference between being helpless and powerless?

3.  When we are powerless, King Asa teaches us to pray.  Where do you need God’s power to be known in your life today?  Pray for God’s help.

4. Use the words of King David to help form your prayers.
Psalm 20

5.  Tapping into God’s power helps us live without fear.
• What fear do you need God’s power to help you overcome?
• What would you do today if you had no fear?

6.  Tapping into God’s power helps us live large.
• What one thing would you like to do in order to faithfully serve God?
• What one step can you take this week to share this vision, or make it happen?
• Where do you see others “living large” in our church, community, and world?
o How can you join them in the adventure?

7.  In every situation you find yourself in this week, pray.
• Give thanks for the success, victories, and blessings.
• Ask for help in the failures, defeats, and sufferings.