Series: What was I thinking? Week 1: God is More Powerful.
What do you think about God? Who is God? What do you believe about him?
Satan, the enemy of our soul, is trying to get us to believe that there really is no God. And if there is a God, He’s weak, distant, harsh, Corrupt. When the truth is our God is more powerful, more present, more active, and more holy than we think.
ASA, king of Judah, would teach us. I’m not helpless, yet I’m often powerless. But God is more powerful than I think, and He invites me to tap into His power.
#1 I’m not helpless, but I’m often powerless. 2 Chronicles 14:8. He’s not helpless. However, he’s often powerless, even with that army. And you see why in verse 9. Double his army. You might not be helpless, but many times you’re powerless because what’s coming against you is bigger than you. That’s true in all our lives. You face problems & challenges & issues that are bigger than you. There are things that I can do, but what I can do is limited. Because while I’m not helpless—I have an army & I can battle—I am often powerless.
Truth is, most of what you’re navigating in life is where you don’t have control. The question is, what do you do? What did Asa do? Look at verse 11.
Asia was not helpless, but he knew he was powerless on the big scale. And what did he choose to do? Pray. Why did he pray? #2 Because he knew God is more powerful than we think.
Asa’s great, great-grandfather was King David PSALM 20:7.
Asa is being tested—Asa’s family, Asa’s finances, Asa’s career, Asa’s future—is all on the line. When you’ve done the little bit that you can because you’re not helpless, but you’re quickly powerless, what do you do? Who do you trust? He prayed.
Can you imagine looking across the battlefield, facing an army twice theirs, “Asa, you’re going to do what?” “I’m going to pray not cause it’s the last thing but because it’s the best thing. Because our God is more powerful than we think.
2 Chronicles 14:12- 13. They were given victory & became wealthy. There had to be moments where Asa, prior to this prayer when he’s wondering, he’s doubting “I don’t know if you can really trust God. I don’t know if God’s more powerful.” And now, he had to ask himself, what was I thinking? Why did I doubt? Why did I question God? Now that I’ve seen the power of God, the hand of God, now that I’ve seen God fight for us. Our God is more powerful than I ever thought.
For 35 years Asa & Judah lived in relative peace & prosperity. BUT that’s not the end of the story. 2 Chronicles 16:1. Basha king of Israel is attacking Judah. Asa is in the same powerless position once again. What does he do? What he did was PAY, not PRAY. Asa came up with his own best idea. He bargained.
2 Chronicles 16:2 he bargained with one of his enemies Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram. And Asa gave up all of the gold & silver in the temple, (what belonged to God), & his own personal treasure. He bankrupted himself and came became subjugated to the King of Aram to solve this problem.
Solved his problem … temporarily. Asa became a practical atheist—I believe in God, but no longer do I practice trusting God. He looked to a human source first to fight his battles.
2 Chronicles 16:7-9 Hanani the Seer (Prophet) what were you thinking?
God is looking across the earth in order to grant His strength & power to those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. Not halfhearted, not those who speak of faith, but don’t practice it. But true followers.
Asa – When I relied on God’s power, I added God’s blessing and missed hardship. But when I relied on my own power, I missed God’s blessing and added hardship. Asa discovered that the peace and prosperity he had wasn’t by his own hand.
God is more powerful than you think. He will give you strength, if you are fully devoted to Him, and seek Him because you are not helpless, but you’ll soon realize that you spend most of your life in the arena of the powerless. And that’s why we pray. Because we all need more than what a human can do. What we all need is the power of God over our lives. You can’t control it all. If you could, you wouldn’t be where you are.
How would I live, if I knew God was more powerful than I think? I would tap into the power of God. #3 God invites us to tap into His power.
3 reasons why to tap into the power of God. (1) To live Fearless. This world is filled with fear, and … You have all kinds of reasons to fear, but God is sovereign over everything. Jesus was fearless. Jesus before Pilate. Do you know how that would change your life if you could live fearless? Not problem free, but fearless.
(2) To conquer what conquers me. We all have challenges. JADON— Nehemiah 3:7—in Hebrew means governing. All of us love the idea of governing if we’re the leader at the top. But the most important part of leading is to govern yourself. As you get older, you’ve got to mature from a child to an adult. Every person must navigate 2 great challenges in their life. The first one is their will, the second is their emotions. Your will is how you choose, what you choose to do. Your will leans into achievement. Your emotion is how you feel, what I feel like doing. And your feelings lean into entertainment.
Engine—what pulls, and Caboose—what gets pulled. A child makes their emotions the engine of their life that drives everything, and there will become the caboose. They make decisions based on how they feel. What makes you an adult is that you make your will the engine that drives you and your emotions become the caboose.
An adult chooses the right thing to do & does it no matter how they feel. If you live out of your emotions & entertainment instead of achievement, your life will become a disappointment.
#3 To live larger. Jadon— Nehemiah 3:7—was a builder of the wall, the builder of the things of God. We exist for more than ourselves. You need to learn to tap into God’s power, because this is no hoax, this is the only way to navigate the powerlessness that most of us live.
Tap into the strength of God in your life. Prayer is the most practical thing you can do. Because God is more powerful than we think.