“Can you help me figure out how to watch HBO Max on my TV?” my sister-in-law asked. “I got an email that said it’s now included in my plan, but I can’t find it on the TV.” She went on to tell me how she watched movies on Amazon Prime on her iPad, but was hoping to watch movies on the big screen through this new app.
After the first challenge of figuring out which remote control to use, we located the never before seen apps section of her TV. When I saw a brown square that said Amazon, I clicked. And lo and behold, there was her Amazon Prime account! Hundreds of movies and TV shows at her fingertips. All the time she had been viewing her little 9” screen, she could have been watching in living technicolor on a massive 65” screen. After a required SMH (shaking my head) moment, she was thrilled to discover an option she already had in her possession, but never knew.
And how often, do we settle for crumbs when we have great treasure in our possession? <<clicktotweet>> How often are we satisfied with a little awareness of God when the Almighty creator of the universe dwells in us with power beyond our imagination? How often are we content to sip slowly from a puddle when a torrent of Living Water floods our beings. How often are we perplexed as we focus on the troubles of this world when there’s an inexhaustible supply of eternal grace and peace that God wants us to freely access.
In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul asks, “Don’t you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit is in you.” (1 Cor. 6:19). In his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 13:5), he goes on to say, “do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” When Paul writes these words, he means that Jesus was literally dwelling within them. And just like the Corinthians, we believers today need to understand this about ourselves. The Lord isn’t an outside helper we beckon to help us. He is a font that wells up within us to provide the power, peace, and perspective we need.
God’s power within us is beyond our comprehension, but not beyond our possession. <<clicktotweet>> Eph. 3:20 assures us that He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
We’ve all heard stories of people finding an old painting in their garage that in reality was a valuable masterpiece. They didn’t know what they had. Or others who have valuable china pieces buried in a closet. They know they’re there, but they don’t bother to open the door, and so the treasure remains unused, collecting dust.
Let us not be like Jacob, who after experiencing the dream of the ladder to heaven, woke up and said, “Surely God was in this place, and I did not know it.”
It’s time to breathe deep and connect with the treasure within. To look deeper than the top of the iceberg to the mass below the surface. To realize what power we already possess instead of settling for less than best.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Cor. 4:7
Are you asking God for something you already have?
How can you live out of your treasure instead of seeking it?
- Take a breath. Breathe in God’s name, and breathe out your prayer request. Let God know how you’re feeling, and breathe in His peace.
- Let Google be your friend – search for the unconditional promises of God. Print out or write them on index cards. Memorize one or more. Let each one serve as a reminder that you don’t have to ask God for what He has already given you.
- Let music soothe your soul. Find a playlist or create your own.
What tips do you have? Leave a comment – I’d love to read them!
Keep a dated prayer journal. Go back and date and highlight with a bright-colored marker when the prayer is answered. The longer you keep a journal, the more beautiful the pages will become! If you flip through my prayer journal, it looks like a living rainbow. 🌈