Above & Beyond

Eph. 3:^20-21 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (NIV)

Luke 23:⁴³ “And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” This man asked to be remembered and Jesus said, “you will be with me”. I like to step into the scene when I read scripture. This man probably just meant, ‘Jesus, remember your boy, anything you do for your boy is good’. I always want to be in the place where I can say to God, ‘Anything You give to Your boy is good’. Just like the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:24-30 [please read] said, ‘even if it is crumbs of bread that comes from your table, I am fine because if there is flour in the bread there is flour in the crumbs. If there is butter in the bread, there is butter in the crumbs. If there is sugar in the bread, there is sugar in the crumb. And if there is healing in the bread, there is healing in the crumbs. The crumbs are fine.’ [Luke 7:28 paraphrased].

Put yourself in a place where you are at the mercy of God. David would say, ‘I would rather fall into the hands of God than fall into the hands of men because there is mercy with You, God’. So, this man said to Jesus, ‘Remember me’. It could mean, like in the story of Lazarus and the rich man. All the rich man was asking for was a drop of water. If Jesus had just instructed an angel to be giving him two drops of water while he was in hell, that would have been remembrance. Or He could instruct that the man should not be put in the compartment that is not super-hot. That would have been unmerited favour. If Jesus had said, do not put this one in fire, let him just be walking on the corridor in hell. That would have been fantastic.

The thief on the left hand would have been jealous. Jesus could have said, give him a fresh supply of food in hell, that would have been great. But Jesus did beyond what the man could ever ask or think. Jesus said to him, ‘Today, you will be with me in paradise!’ God does exceedingly, abundantly, above what we can ever think or imagine. Should I tell you a secret? You are getting a lot of secrets already, but I want to give you one additional secret. The secret is, with God, do not write your own cheque – let God write your cheque.  Many people want to write their own cheques by themselves. ‘By faith, I write my cheque, I have faith and I declare…’ It is good but that is kindergarten. You need to get to a level where you let God write your cheques. Do you know what I say to God? I say, “Anything You do for Your boy is good.”

When God writes your cheques, He is going to write it based on what He has in store. If your friend that has two million naira writes you a cheque, what can he possibly write in the cheque? You know that it cannot be more than two million.  If your uncle that has a million dollars writes you a cheque, what can he possibly write? If a government that has ten trillion dollars writes you a cheque, what can they possibly write? But if a God that owns the heaven and the earth, the cattle on a thousand hills, the silver, and the gold, writes you a cheque…  Boom!

Prayer: Father, remember me, remember Your love for me, in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen!