Out of the box

Ephesians 3:14-21 – “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

This is a lot of verses, I know. But do you realize what Paul is praying for the Ephesians here? He is asking God to show these people how to let Him out of the box.

You see, I think we put God in a box too often. I think that we try to contain Him, to control Him. We don’t fully understand Him and, therefore, are often scared of Him and of what He might do. I mean, we are talking about the Creator of the universe here. The One that spoke things into existence! That is Huge! How do you understand Someone like that? How do you wrap your brain around The One that is capable of all that and still cares that you stubbed your toe the other day?

Paul knew that we, as human beings, would have a problem with that. He knew that in order for us to possibly attempt to comprehend all that God is that we would have to limit Him in some way. That is why he was praying for the Ephesians and, essentially, for us today. Because you see, we have the same problems as the Ephesians. Ecclesiastes 1:9 – “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” No new thing under the sun. The problems they had are the problems we have. They struggled with understanding all that God is. They put Him in a box. In verses 18, he asks God to help us to understand the “breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of God, specifically, His love.

And then he asked that the Ephesians, and us, to be filled with the “fullness of God.” Now, let’s just stop for a moment and think of the possibilities of that statement. There is a lot of potential in that one. Can you imagine what it would be like if we allowed God to fill us with His fullness? We would be busting at the seams! Persecution? No problem. Doubt? What doubt! Fear? No fear whatsoever. Weariness? Never felt more alive!

By putting God in a box, we put ourself in a box as well. We limit our possibilities by limiting God’s. We allow fear and doubt and weariness into our life because we are too scared to live outside of them. We have never experienced the fullness of fearlessness or doubtless-ness or non-weariness (yes, I know I am making up words, but they work!). We have allowed these downers to become so much of our life that living outside of them frightens us.

So, my challenge to you today, princess, is this – Let God out of the box. And when you let Him out, get out of your box too. Decide today that you are going to do something amazing. Decide that you are going to expect God to do something amazing. And don’t be surprised when He does. The other day I was talking with my son’s soccer coach. He said that he doesn’t get all excited when the boys score because he expects them to score, all of them. So, when God does something truly remarkable in your life, don’t be surprised. You let Him out of the box. Let Him do His thing!