Imagining the Possibilities!

Do you remember your youth? Who did you want to be, and where did you want to go? What did you want to make of your life? I remember wanting to be everything from Spider man, the President and a Zookeeper. I wanted to live in a palace and stay up as late as I could eating all of my favorite foods daily. Back then I had a vivid imagination. As an adult I have at times found myself suffering from what many adults suffer from; the reality of too many broken expectations. This reality has led to the demise of  our ability to imagine the possibilities of this life. Instead we become content and comfortable in our current situations, leaving the imagining to the children.

Regardless of our age God calls us to always keep imagining the possibilities for our lives  and our ministries. Websters dictionary  defines possibilities as: abilities or qualities that could make someone or something better in the future. This just means that there are some things in store for our future that are yet to be developed and revealed. Our job is to cultivate the soil within us by imagining what's to come and seeking God's will during the process. While on Safari in South Africa, our group informed our tour guide of all the Lions and wildlife that we expected to see. Then we asked if we would encounter all of them on our trip and our tour guide responded saying "I can not promise you that you will see every animal or wildlife species, but the possibilities are great!" Family God has great things in store for us all we must do is keep on imagining the possibilities.

By now some of you are probably wondering where is the word of God in this devotion, and rightly so. let's look to 1st Chronicles 4:9-10. (NIV)

⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” ¹⁰ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

Here in Chronicles among the midst of  family list and genealogical lines in chapter four we pause for two short verses to see about this person named Jabez who stood out. He stood out because he was honorable despite having a painful birth, living a painful life and having to live with all of this pain every time someone called his name. He endured all of this because his name Jabez meant sorrow, trouble and pain. Even dealing with all of that Jabez still was able to imagine the possibilities that God had for him, and he cried out to God. Just like Jabez when we are honorable and imagine the possibilities that God has for us, when we call on God to bless us and increase us God responds.

I pray that today each of us takes time out to read chapter 4 of 1st Chronicles and then spend some reflection time in holy imagination with God exploring all of the heavenly possibilities that God has in store for us on earth. 

Be Well, love love pastor Sirchester.