GOD IS ABLE TO DO MORE THAN WE ASK OR IMAGINE
Sep
25
Written by:
9/25/2010 12:00 AM
GOD IS ABLE TO DO MORE THAN WE ASK OR IMAGINE
Sept. 26, 2010
(Eph 3:20 NIV) 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,
It has been almost 30 years since I have become a Christian. During that time I have studied the Bible and have read it many times. God has answered many prayers and led me to many places that I never dreamed I would go. I have come to realize that God is much greater than I have imagined. In the first few years after I became a Christian I sometimes tried to put God in a “box.” However, I soon learned that God was not in the “box” I had made. In fact, it is difficult for our minds to conceive of the greatness of God. God is greater than anything we can imagine! He is greater than our dreams. God is even bigger than any mountain we can climb! Many songs have been written to try and express how great our God is, but words cannot adequately express the greatness of our God!
For this message I have chosen five times that God has moved in amazing ways in our lives. There have been many, many times God has done amazing things. Choosing only a few was very difficult.
The first time happened before I became a Christian. My wife wanted special clothes to wear for church. She did not want to ask me to buy clothes for church since I was not a Christian as she thought I may not think special clothes were necessary for church. She decided the best thing to do was pray and ask God for the clothes she needed. The prayer was answered in a very amazing way. One of my best friends came to our house on the farm with a big box of clothes his wife was giving to her niece. My friend told my wife that she could choose the clothes she wanted from the box. My friend was going to take the rest of the clothes to his wife`s niece`s house. Driving to our farm meant a much longer drive for my friend. My wife received the clothes she wanted for church including shoes. What was the most amazing was the shoes as my wife has small feet and finds it difficult to find shoes in stores that fit her.
The second time was on my way to a prayer breakfast. I was praying in tongues while driving our truck on a gravel road that fresh snow had fallen on. I should have been driving slower! As I drove up a hill on the road I noticed some animal tracks in the snow. After driving over the hill I saw four or five beef cows on the road. Immediately I tried to stop, but the truck began to skid out of control. It was impossible to stop. I was going to hit the cows! I said, “Christ Almighty” and closed my eyes expecting to hit the cows. Amazingly I did not hit the cows. It was a miracle! To this day I have one regret. I am sorry that I closed my eyes. Without the miracle I may not be here today. I believe I would have hit the cows.
The third time happened the morning after we moved to Japan on Aug. 1, 1989. Pastor Aoki invited us if to attend a breakfast at the Royal Hotel in Osaka. Pastor Aoki said Pastor Yongi Cho would be there. There were about 100 people at the breakfast and Pastor Cho prayed and laid hands on each person. Wow! We were not even in Japan one day and the Pastor of the world`s largest church prayed for us. It was a great encouragement to us. We were called to Japan at a prayer meeting in Tokyo in Jan. of 1987. During the 2 ½ years from the time of our call to Japan we had to sell businesses and do many things to prepare for moving to Japan to become missionaries. Since we are independent missionaries we even had to choose the day of departure. Amazingly God led us to choose to arrive in Japan the day before Pastor Cho would pray for us in the Royal Hotel in Osaka.
The fourth time concerns the land God choose for us to build this church and preschool on. On Dec. 1, 2006 my wife and I agreed that God wanted us to start a pre-school. A few days later my wife had a dream and saw the land God had chosen for the pre-school. We soon realized the preschool site would also be for a new church. However, we did not know where the site was. We began looking in early January 2007. During the next few weeks we considered many sites. A number of people helped us. We received information on many different sites in many parts of Sumoto and looked at many sites. I told people that God had prepared the best place for us. However, we still could not find the site. On the last Friday of January we saw the fourth site that we seriously considered. It was a beautiful quiet location. Just before we left the site I told my wife that if God had a better site for us I wanted to see it. The next Friday, Feb. 2, 2007, we saw the site my wife had seen in her dream. I remember standing on the site in excitement. I was amazed that God had chosen such a beautiful site. (Eph 3:20 NIV) 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, After looking for a site for five weeks we finally found the site God had prepared for us. The long search for a good site made us realize that God had prepared the best site for us. Praise God!
The fifth time happened during the time John and Hyoncha Clark were in Sumoto from Sept. 13th-24th. There were two amazing things that happened during that time, but I will tell about the second one. The last time the Clarks had visited Sumoto Chapel was shortly before the flood hit Sumoto in October of 2004. This time they were disappointed they could not meet the Nishiyama family because their children`s school was having a sports day on the Sunday the Clarks were at Sumoto Chapel. They had remembered the family from the last visit to Sumoto. However, God had a surprise for us the next day. My wife wanted to take John and Hyoncha Clark for lunch to a sushi restaurant where the plates of sushi go around on a circular conveyor belt. Everyone chooses the sushi they want. Jim did not think it was a good place to take the Clarks. He thought John might not like to eat sushi. My wife replied that there would be other food besides sushi. My wife also said we should go there because she had never been to that kind of restaurant. I still wasn`t sure it was the best place to go for lunch with the Clarks, but finally agreed with my wife. The restaurant was very crowded. There was no place for us to sit except for four stools at the back of the restaurant. As we were sitting down we were surprised to see the Nishiyama family sitting at the table right next to us. I learned again that it is good to listen to my wife! God does immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine!
I would like to close this message with a Bible verse from 1 Corinthians. (1 Cor 2:9 NIV) However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- We serve an amazing God!