More! More, Lord!
Four years ago, on our first visit to the church the Lord sent us to for a season, a couple prophesied to us. At that point, Ken and I didn’t have a lot of experience with personal prophecy. We’d seen it in a corporate setting and had some limited experience with words of knowledge… but no, “The Lord says…”, read-your-mail type prophecy.
Tom and Rachel read our mail that night. Holy Spirit had them repeat to us, word for word, things we’d discussed in private about whether to come to that church, about the call of God on our lives, and a variety of other things. We were stunned. Then Rachel spoke three words to me that have changed the course of my entire life and were the initial catalyst for me ending up “here”… it was upon the foundation of these three words that the Lord began to build the framework for me to become a Kingdom builder.
What were those three words? “There is more.”
That has been my heart’s cry ever since: “More, Lord! More of You! More love! More fire! More power! More presence!” He’s been faithful… so faithful… to give me more… and more… and more.
Some would dispute the theological correctness of praying for “more”… after all, the Cross is finished work, we don’t get Holy Spirit by measure, there really is no “more” than we already have.
All true! And yet I cry out for “MORE!”… why? Because even though we have all of Him, we have not yet experienced all of Him.
Human analogies will break down, but I’m going to use one. Suppose you gained an inheritance: a million acres of prime forest with mountains and rivers and hiking trails and caves… it’s yours! You own all of it! But until you traverse every inch of the land, have you realized all that you have? And will you not return, again and again, to some areas to enjoy them on an even deeper level than you did the first time?
Let’s try another. My husband and I have been married for twelve years. When we married, we gained all of each other. And yet over the years, our relationship has deepened and grown. I know him better now than I did when I first met him… and in twelve years I’ll say that I’ve gotten “more” of Ken over that time period than I’d had before. Why? Because I’m in a constant pursuit of “more” in my marriage. I’m not content to be static in that relationship.
Paul prayed for us to know the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge, that we would be filled with all the fullness of God (which is defined by overflow)1… are you “there” yet? You can’t be. You may have all of Him but you haven’t realized all of Him yet… in Isaiah’s vision2, the train of God’s robe “filled the temple”… the implication is that He filled… and kept on filling… that there was a continuous, ongoing, overflow of God’s glory filling the place. He didn’t stop because there is no end of Him! The Bible also calls Him “Everlasting” and says that “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end3“.
There is no limit to God. He goes on forever (and we go on with Him! I don’t know about you but that’s so exciting to me, I can hardly keep from shouting right here in Starbucks where I’m writing this!!). Since He goes on forever, there’s always more of Him. We can mine His depths, we can scale the heights of the mountain of God, we can go to His lengths and discover His full width… and because His depth and height and length and width go on forever, there’s always more. Always, always more. If we say, “Show me MORE, Lord” He will take us deeper, higher, longer, broader, further into Him. He doesn’t want us to be static, to remain where we were, or even where we are. Yesterday’s manna is insufficient (and it breeds worms, and stinks)… He’s always willing to provide fresh manna… more of Himself.
That’s His heart’s cry for us… for us to cry out to Him for “More!”… and He will be faithful to give more of Himself.
1. Ephesians 3:18,19
2. Isaiah 6:1
3: Isaiah 9:6,7
Leave a Reply