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Dear Friends in Christ:
We are blessed to live in such exciting times for the
body of Christ. Although there is much turmoil and destruction
around the world, we in the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ stand in a position of great opportunity. Never
has there been so much opportunity for a generation
of believers to impact the world for Jesus like our
generation. One thing, however, that can limit our effectiveness
is thinking too small. God needs big thinkers to emerge
for His plan to be fulfilled in its’ fullest measure.
A good example of some big thinkers is the four men
who carried the lame man to Jesus in Mark chapter 2:1-11.
The house where Jesus was preaching was full and they
couldn’t get in but they thought of something
that nobody else did; they tore a hole in the roof and
let their friend down through it so he could get to
Jesus. The Scripture tells us that Jesus recognized
their faith and the lame man was healed. But notice
what verse 12 tells us, “Immediately he arose,
took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them
all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying,
We never saw anything like this!”. This is always
the result of people who choose to think big, we get
to see things that we’ve never seen before, we
get to have things that we’ve never had before,
and we get to experience things that we’ve never
experienced before! Now that sounds like fun to me!
I believe it’s time for us in the body of Christ
to get ready to see some things like we’ve never
seen. God wants to move in a big way in this end time
generation! (Acts 2:17-21). It’s time for us to
start thinking BIG!
We can say a lot about what it means to think BIG but
let’s summarize it in three easy words, B stands
for Build, I stands for Increase, and G stands for Grow.
Build, Increase, Grow!
Our first key to thinking BIG is found in Matthew chapter
six and verse 33, where Jesus exhorts us to seek first
the kingdom of God. This is to be our priority, the
main focus of our lives, to build the kingdom of God.
This works both ways. Big thinkers are needed to build
up the kingdom of God but also those who commit to living
their lives for the good of God’ s kingdom will
find themselves being stretched in their thinking. Focusing
on His kingdom forces us to see beyond ourselves and
see the big picture, it will help expand our vision.
We become BIG thinkers by committing ourselves to building
the kingdom of God.
The next key can be found in 2 Corinthians chapter
nine and verse 8 where Paul tells us that God is able
to make every good thing abound toward us so that we
will lack for nothing and be able to abound to every
good work. In other words we must maintain a vision
of increase. It takes increase to fulfill the plan of
God for our lives. God wants us to enlarge our capacity
to receive so that we can have more than enough to carry
out His work. Let’s begin to believe bigger, let’s
begin to expect bigger, let’s begin to make room
in our lives for increase. If we desire to do much for
God we must be ready to ask much of God.
The third key is found in 2 Peter 3:18. Peter encourages
us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. If we are going to be BIG thinkers then
we must commit to personal growth in Christ. Following
Jesus with all of our heart will demand that we grow.
He will stretch us and cause us to think in ways that
challenge the status quo. We will find ourselves adopting
new values, new desires, new ambitions, and new beliefs
as we purpose to stay close to Him. In order to think
BIG and be someone that God can use in this hour we
must continue to grow up in Christ in all things (Ephesians
4:15). I challenge you to start thinking bigger and
let’s get ready to see some things that we’ve
never seen before from the hand of God!
For His Name,
John Merola
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