Day 1-  We Can Become More!

Bible Reading: Acts 3:1-11, 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

I’m sure you’ve been in situations when you met one of those old uncles that you hadn’t seen for several years, and then he starts exclaiming about how much you’ve grown. It could be pretty annoying sometimes, especially when they keep at it and make it seem like they expected you to have been shrinking through the years. 

Maybe the more important question is do we ourselves expect that we’re growing- that we’re becoming more than we’ve ever been?

In a strange way, life has a way of making people accept things for what they are and not hold out for more. 

Circumstances start to define us. A season chokes  us till we just sit in that as a standard.

What do you think it was like for the lame man that we read about today in Acts 3? He spends every day meditating on his limitations and how he’s shut out from the beautiful gate. He sees everybody else in a light that he can never walk in. 

Feeling limited is a very tough place to be.

Have you ever gotten to those points where limitations seemed to define you? There’s that strong sense of what you can’t do, or what you don’t have and all that can never happen because of that.

God calls us beyond our limitations!  He always wants us to live full of hope and expectation. Here’s how you can:

1. Refuse The Tags

Don’t throw tags all over yourself. Tags many times describe us in the experience of our past but don’t give consideration to possibilities of our future.

‘I’m lame! It’s who I am’
‘I can never speak in public’
‘I can never lead’
‘I’m shy’
‘I’m the type that must say my mind’

I think there’s a big difference between ‘I can never’ and ‘I have never’.  Refuse every tag that doesn’t recognize the possibilities of Grace. It might seem accurately descriptive, but God sees you more than what has been. God sees you in the light of what more can be. God doesn’t just see the man as lame. He sees the jumping, leaping praiser and He’s committed to that Cause.

2. Keep The Door of Hope Wide Open

I like that the man never got tired of coming out as far as he could. He never quit asking and expecting. The Bible says he was expecting to receive something.  You should too. Don’t let limitation make you lose a sense of expectation about life. You may have lost stuff or lost opportunities, but God is still good and He will always be good!

God’s promise is that the Holy Spirit is working a transformation in us. We are becoming more like Him. We are being helped to see life through His eyes. We are being empowered to do life like Jesus.

We must win it in our hearts and hold out for it. We must be full of expectation and desire. Change is happening! I’m becoming more.

Don’t just attend church. Be strongly aware that you’re being changed.

You’re not just reading the Bible or praying. A mighty person is emerging. You’re not who you used to be. Your attitudes are being helped. Your integrity is getting more resolute. Your character is being shaped. Your love is being established. Your inner man is being strengthened. Your capacity is being enlarged. Your victory is being manifested. Your feet are being quickened. Your thoughts are being purified. Your reach is being stretched. 

Let’s believe in a new way and expect with fresh desire: The past does not define us. We’ve had highs and lows, but the best is yet to come!

Something To Pray:

All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 CEB