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Luke 17 tells us of a time when the apostles came to Jesus to ask for more faith.

Look how Jesus responds……

The apostles came up and said to the Master, “Give us more faith.” But the Master said, “You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it.  - Luke 17:5 (MSG)

When it comes to faith, maybe our focus should be on adding to instead of adding more.

Check out 2 Peter 1:5……..

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.  - 2 Peter 1:5 (MSG)

basic faith + good character + spiritual understanding + alert discipline + passionate patience + reverent wonder + warm friendliness + generous love + a focus on others

(image by urbanmkr)

When I was younger I had an incorrect view of God.  My view of God is now correct, but still incomplete.

• An incorrect view is to not see God as loving.  An incomplete view is to not fully understand how loving he is.

• An incorrect view is to not see God as powerful.  An incomplete view is to not fully comprehend his power.

• An incorrect view is to not see God as gracious.  An incomplete view is to not fully fathom his amazing grace.

Incorrect & incomplete. There is a big difference.

Dallas Willard says this about one’s view of God in The Divine Conspiracy…..

Central to the understanding and proclamation of the Christian gospel today, as in Jesus’ day, is a re-visioning of what God’s own life is like and how the physical cosmos fits into it.  It is a great and important task to come to terms with what we really think when we think of God.

Willard goes on to include this description of God by Adam Clarke…….

the eternal, independent, and self-existent Being; the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence; he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, the most spiritual of all essences; infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made; illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only by himself, because an infinite mind can only be fully comprehended by itself.  In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived, and from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just and right, and kind.

Love that description.

An accurate and correct description of God…yes.

A complete description of God….probably not.

How do you see Him?

At church we are in the middle of a series titled Where The Wild Things Are: Capture The Wonder of an Untamed God.

This past weekend, Tierce Green presented a great message called Wild Grace.  It was an incredible reminder of the wild grace that God has extended to us and a challenge for us to extend wild grace to others.

3 characteristics of Wild Grace were presented……

1. Wild grace goes beyond what is required
2. Wild grace serves those who are undeserving
3. Wild grace expects nothing in return

A few other notes from the message……

• Grace is the environment where spiritual growth occurs.
• The Bible never tells us to grow in the law.
• We are to be extravagant with grace.
• God’s grace enables us to serve those who have denied, deserted, or betrayed us.
• Holding a grudge is like drinking poison expecting someone else to die.
• If you go beyond what is required, serve those who are undeserving, and expect nothing in return….they might not change, but you will.

Our God is an untamed God who extends wild grace to each of us and He enables us to extend wild grace to others.

Usually, you go to church expecting answers.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit Gateway Church in Austin……….

and I got a bunch of questions.

But they are good questions.

• What is my hope for this life?
• What is my joy?
• Am I giving lip service to the cause of Christ or am I really living for the cause of Christ?
• What is it that I pray for earnestly?
• What do I beg God to do?
• What am I waiting for?

On Tuesday evening, I took a quick look at the weather forecast and it said something about ‘rain and snow by morning’.

My response on Twitter because it doesn’t snow in Houston…….

I mentioned the forecast to my 7 year old son, Caden, and he got so excited.  He started thinking snowballs, snowmen, school getting cancelled, etc.  I warned him not to get his hopes up because it doesn’t snow in Houston.

I tucked Caden into bed that night and noticed a piece of paper on his nightstand with one word on it….Snow! He had placed the reminder there so that he would remember to look out the window as soon as he woke up in the morning.

He prayed in his bed for snow, even though it doesn’t snow in Houston.

We woke in the morning to cold rain as I suspected.  He was so disappointed.

My response on Twitter……….

My wife used it as an opportunity to explain that God sometimes answers our prayers with a ‘No’.  Plus it doesn’t snow in Houston.

This afternoon a coworker stops by my cube at work and says, “Hey, It’s snowing!”

It didn’t snow very much and it didn’t accumulate on the ground and it may have snowed even without the simple prayer of a 7 year old boy.  But Caden’s faith was big enough to ask, fully expecting that God would make it happen.  His older, wiser, more experienced dad didn’t even think to ask because it doesn’t snow in Houston.

Is there anything impossible in your life?  Do you believe God can make it happen?  Or is your experience preventing you from even asking?