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

 

When all you’ve ever known is poverty, abuse and addiction, where would you look for hope?

Thato came from a poor neighborhood with very little hope for escaping the cycle of despair that was all he’d ever known. He didn’t believe there was anything better for him than a temporary high and saw no reason to work for tomorrow when he had no hope for today.

Writer C.S. Lewis talked about our struggles with wanting too little for ourselves, saying, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”[1]

God has a special invitation for hopeless people. He wants us to see Him and know Him who for He really is. The Bible says that God is able to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or even think, through His mighty power at work in us (Ephesians 3:20). When we’re incapable of dreaming, when we don’t even know what to pray, God offers His strength. He tells us He longs to transform us and take us far beyond what we might even ask for.

The Bible sets out how to respond to the God of Hope like this: “Say the welcoming word to God – “Jesus is my Master” – embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation” (Romans 10:9 The Message). That’s the invitation of the God Who is able.

[1] Lewis, C. S. The Weight of Glory. HarperOne, 2001, p. 13.