Pastor Gary's OYB Devotion Archive for September 24

WHAT MIGHT GOD DO THROUGH ONE WHO GIVES HIM ALL THE GLORY?

From: September 24, 2023

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT).

The apostle Paul closed his prayer at the end of chapter three with a beautiful benediction. He reminds us that all the glory (credit, thanks, honor, worship) belong to our omnipotent God. When we are able to rightly give God all the glory, we no longer limit what our all-powerful God might do through us. For His power is so great that we are unable to even ask or think of all that He is able to accomplish in and through us.

We read of the great things God has done in days gone by and we believe. Yet we doubt that He will do even greater things through us today. Could it be because we fail to give Him the glory due Him? What might God do through one who would give Him all the glory?

PRAYER: Dear Father, You are able to do all that You have decided to do. We give you the glory due Your Name today. Forgive us for taking credit or forgetting to honor You for even the smallest blessings You have bestowed on us. Today we are determined to give You all the praise and glory as Your mighty power works in us to accomplish all that You desire. Have Your way in us. Release Your Spirit to move and to save in our city, nation and world. We are amazed at You, O Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit” (Ephesians 3:16 NLT).

From: September 24, 2022

A PRAYER FOR INNER STRENGTH

The apostle Paul prayed that the Lord would empower the believers in Ephesus with “inner strength” from the Holy Spirit, whose power is glorious and unlimited. Literally, he prayed for strength for their “inner man,” which is the human soul.

We seem to know more about how to find strength for our bodies. We know to sleep and rest, to eat and to exercise, but we know little about strengthening our souls. Yet God, who made both the inner and the outer man, is the real source of strength for both. And His power is “glorious and unlimited.”

Are you facing something today that requires inner strength? Look to the Lord! He is able to empower you with glorious and unlimited strength from His Spirit.

PRAYER: Dear Father, You already know the outcome of the day before us. We don’t even yet know what inner strength will be needed to face the trials of today, much less tomorrow. Empower us from Your glorious and unlimited resources in our inner selves through Your Holy Spirit. Help us to stand for You and bring glory to Your name this day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21 HCSB).

From: September 24, 2021

WHAT MIGHT GOD DO THROUGH ONE WHO GIVES HIM ALL THE GLORY?

The apostle Paul closed his prayer at the end of chapter three with a beautiful benediction. He reminds us that all the glory (credit, thanks, honor, worship) belong to our omnipotent God. When we are able to rightly give God all the glory, we no longer limit what our all-powerful God might do through us. For His power is so great that we are unable to even ask or think of all that He is able to accomplish in and through us.

We read of the great things God has done in days gone by and we believe. Yet we doubt that He will do even greater things through us today. Could it be because we fail to give Him the glory due Him? What might God do through one who would give Him all the glory?

PRAYER: Dear Father, You are able to do all that You have decided to do. We give you the glory due Your Name today. Forgive us for taking credit or forgetting to honor You for even the smallest blessings You have bestowed on us. Today we are determined to give You all the praise and glory as Your mighty power works in us to accomplish all that You desire. Have Your way in us. Release Your Spirit to move and to save in our city, nation and world. We are amazed at You, O Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20 NLT).

From: September 24, 2019

WHAT MIGHT GOD DO THROUGH ONE WHO GIVES HIM ALL THE GLORY?

The apostle Paul closed his prayer at the end of chapter three with a beautiful benediction. He reminds us that all the glory (credit, thanks, honor, worship) belong to our omnipotent God. When we are able to rightly give God all the glory, we no longer limit what our all-powerful God might do through us. For His power is so great that we are unable to even ask or think of all that He is able to accomplish.

We read of the great things God has done in days gone by and we believe. Yet we doubt that He will do even greater things through us today. Could it be because we fail to give Him the glory due Him? What might God do through one who would give Him all the glory?

PRAYER: Dear Father, You are able to do all that You have decided to do. We give you the glory due Your Name today. Forgive us for taking credit or forgetting to honor You for even the smallest blessings You have bestowed on us. Today we are determined to give You all the praise and glory as Your mighty power works in us to accomplish all that You desire. Have Your way in us. Release Your Spirit to move and to save in our city, nation and world. We are amazed at You, O Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his anointed one, whose right hand he will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear. Their fortress gates will be opened, never to shut again.” (Isaiah 45:1 NLT).

From: September 24, 2018

THE PERSIAN KING WHOM GOD ANOINTED

Nearly 200 years before he was even born, Isaiah prophesied the coming of an anointed king named Cyrus who would overthrow and rule the kingdoms of the land. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Persian King, Cyrus the Great, conquered the many kingdoms of the Middle East and beyond, including the Babylonians, who had defeated Judah and taken its people captive. These Judean exiles had lived in Babylon for 70 years, when Cyrus not only overthrew Babylon, but also later decreed that the exiles could return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple (Ezra 1:1-4).

The details of the Cyrus prophecy in Isaiah are amazing. God revealed both the fall of Jerusalem and its future restoration to Isaiah. This prophecy not only encouraged the prophet Daniel and the Jews who were exiled in Babylon, it continues to encourage believers today. For we understand that the fulfilled prophecies in God’s Word show that the unfulfilled ones will also be fulfilled, perhaps in our lifetime.

One other note, don’t you find it interesting that God would anoint a Persian king to rescue Israel? I wonder what God has in store for the modern peoples of Persia now dwelling in the country called, Iran?

“according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him” (Ephesians 3:11-12 NKJV).

From: September 24, 2017

Americans may point to the First Amendment as the protection of free speech in our country. But it was revealed to the apostle Paul that it is actually those who are in Christ Jesus who have been given freedom of speech with God the Father. For those who are in Christ Jesus have been given both “boldness and access” to God. “Access” means that the curtain of separation between sinful man and holy God has been removed. Christ has opened up the “way” to God. We may enter into the very presence of God in Christ. Not only have we been granted an unlimited audience with God, we have been given freedom to speak all that we have on our hearts to Him. Yet, as Albert Barnes’s has noted, this “boldness is not rashness” and this confident access “is not presumption.” But we are able to approach God the Father with the freedom of being His children without fear of rejection.

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself” (Isaiah 44:24 ESV)

From: September 24, 2016

That God is still at work, even in our being “formed” in the womb, is a consistent biblical theme. From God’s point of view, there are no unwanted pregnancies, for He wants that which He has formed. Surely, He made the heavens and the earth, but He also leaned in to make us. And He leaned down to give us Jesus, born of the virgin, crucified, died, buried and raised to be our Redeemer, that we might be born again.

“A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation” (Psalm 68:5 NKJV)

From: September 24, 2015

Are you raising children without a husband to help? You don’t have to go it alone. I often heard my mother quote this psalm in prayer after my father died. She was only 31 years old when she found herself a widow. She raised four children alone. Yet, not alone. She called on God to keep His promise to be a Father to her fatherless children and a Defender, a Husband, to her. I think He heard her prayers. My life and calling are a testament to her prayers and God’s promise.

“Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy” (Psalm 68:5 NLT)

From: September 24, 2014

I often heard my mother quote this psalm in prayer after my father died. She was only 31 years old when she found herself a widow raising four children alone. She called on God to keep His promise to be a Father to her fatherless children and a Defender, a Husband, to her. I think He heard her prayers. My life and calling are a testament to them.

“Of this gospel I was made a minister” (Ephesians 3:7 ESV)

From: September 24, 2013

The apostle Paul believed that God had not only saved him by the gospel, but He had called him to be its servant, declaring it to all. This is not a call unique to Paul, or even to “ministers,” but to all who believe and are saved by the gospel’s power. We are all “made ministers” of the gospel when we receive it!