MORE, LORD.

You can have as little or as much of God as you want. Let me say that again, you can have as little or as much of God as you want. 

How many of you get excited when you get a full coffee punch card? That tenth stamp means you can get the biggest, fanciest, most complicated drink you want with who knows how many extra shots and it may as well have whip and sprinkles on it, right? It's go big or go home! How crazy would you think I am if I was to forfeit that for the smallest simplest, plainest drink I could get on the menu? It was free and yet I said, nah I'm good. I think sometimes that's what we do with God.

There's always more to experience! There's always more of His character to discover, His love to know, more power  to see. The Bible says that to those who seek find, that those who knock, the door is opened. If we ask, we receive. That even He is a rewarder of those who seek. The Bible also speaks of fullness, the depths of God, about being filled with the Sprit. He is a Father who gives good gifts! He loves bestowing such on His children, but so often we don't ask. It wasn't until this last October that I really asked for more for the first time. This quote was what did it for me: "It actually takes more trust in God to step back from our understanding of Him so that He may explain Himself." I didn't want what I had always known, what I had heard, to leave God in my very limited view of Him. Now I'm out to leave behind needless rules, or confining thoughts, or even some parts to conservative Christianity (don't stone me yet). I wanted more. I wanted to take His word literally, because it seemed I was seeing too little of that.

And we have too little. This analogy was an aha moment. We often come to God with a cup and think we're full, because that's what we brought and so we go away thinking we're full. We say, "Jesus fill me up!" And He so lovingly does just that. I can hear Him saying, "Absolutely! Sure thing!" But perhaps do we come to Him with a cup, not knowing that we could come with a gallon jug? We were content with the cup, but how much more He'd be willing to offer! How much more we could be filled! Or perhaps, at times we don't want more. Because if He gave more, we know we'd have to do something about it. In "Forgotten God" Francis Chan writes, "...we ask for less, expect less, and are satisfied with less because we afraid to ask for or expect more. We convince ourselves that we don't want more -- that we have all the "God" we need or could want. I can't imagine how much it pains God to see His Children hold back from the Holy Spirit out of fear that He won't come through...Empowering His children with the strength of the Holy Spirit is something the Father wants to do. It's not something we have to talk Him into..."

I believe that we have a limitless God and as a result He doesn't want us to live with limits. I believe He wants to answer your prayers. I believe that through some of you, He wants to do miracles. I believe that He is waiting to dream big dreams with others of you.

Because I had (devastatingly) left my Nalgene water bottle behind on a van in Alaska, I happened to I jokingly say to someone that I was going to carry a gallon jug around at camp (of the Risen Son) that said MORE LORD. And then when I further thought about it, that's what I knew I needed to do. I needed the constant reminder, because I'm forgetful and stupid--I am the one who also tattooed "walk in Love" on their foot--as I was literally being filled, and basically carrying around a 5 pound weight all the time, that I need more. I needed to constantly be filled up, and that I could always ask for more. And not just a prayer upon waking up. Guys, It's nuts. We have the Holy Spirit residing IN us. With us! Jesus Himself said that it was far better that He go, so that He could send you Someone who can walk out life with you every day of our lives. And not just every day can we ask for more, not just every hour, but every minute. Because we can never have too much of God, nor can we ever come to the end of all that He is!

And so that's what I did. MORE LORD was proudly written on my gallon jug and I couldn't get enough.

I want more. I want more for you. That we would experience God in new ways, that we would let His truth wash over us. That we have lives that continually cry, "MORE LORD!"