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God’s Multiplication Table

There it is!  In the midst of a conversation with friend, a word of confirmation.  You hear the same words, phrase, or picture that you have experienced in your quiet time with the Lord.  You hear it, not quite believing God is confirming that BIG thing He has asked of you.

Your heart starts pumping, your head starts to swim with thoughts, ideas, visions.  “This can’t be for me you say…it is too big!”  “How am I ever going to do that?”  The voice of logic says “Now just hold on there…let’s think this through”.  The voice of distraction says “You can’t do that…look at all of these other things that must be done.”  The voice of the deceiver says “You aren’t qualified. You don’t have any experience.  Someone else is already doing that.”  You look at yourself, try to “multiply” your talents, your experiences, your connections, etc.  and there is no way to see how you will get from here to that vision the Lord has given you.

The good news is that God’s ways are not our ways.  His multiplication tables do not compute for us.  We learn in grade school that if 5×20=100 then 500×20=10,000.  But God says “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand…” (Leviticus 26:7) What?  That math does not make sense!

  • God took an army of 300 and defeated an army “as numerous as locust” (Judges 7).
  • Jesus took five loaves and two fish and fed over 5000 people (Matthew 14).
  • Holy Spirit took one passionate fisherman and created a church (Matthew 16).

God’s ways are higher than our ways.  He searches for one sheep.  One heart.

Here and There, Above and Beyond

One person who is willing to lay down their own vision of what and how things should be done in order to follow the Lover of their soul.  What can God do with one submitted heart?  His word tells us,  “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according tot he power that works within us.” (Ephesians 3:20)

We can never look logically at our talents, our experiences, or our connections to fulfill our God-given vision.  We look to the One whose power works within us.  There, in His embrace we can say with Paul “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)  There He takes just one, you, His beloved, and multiplies it by His own standard to do “far more abundantly beyond“.    Hallelujah!