Expect Great Things From God

Have you ever heard any of these things suggested as a philosophy for life? William Carey, the father of Protestant Missions, once said, "Expect great things from God! Attempt great things for God!" The Bible is written to inspire us to expect great things from God.

One of the most important words in the Old Testament is the word shalom. It's used over 250 times. Shalom is sometimes translated "peace." But the "absence of strife" doesn't quite capture the fullness of what the Jews meant by shalom. By shalom, the Bible-writers meant something like completeness, harmony, health and fulfillment. Simply put, shalom means wholeness-wholeness in body, mind, spirit, and in one's relationships.

The classic statement of the scope of God's gift of shalom is found in the promises recorded in Deuteronomy 28:3ff., You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land, and the young of your livestock-the calves of your herd and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

The New Testament writers also had a word for the wholeness God wishes to give his children. They called it salvation. Again, salvation is a fuller word than we commonly think. Salvation is more than the forgiveness of sins and the assurance of heaven. Salvation means being set free from everything that oppresses us (emotionally, spiritually, financially, relationally, politically, etc.). But salvation is even more than freedom from oppression. Salvation is also freedom for the experience of true life under the reign of Messiah Jesus and the community of God's people.

As John the Baptist's father put it in Luke 1:68ff, Praise be to the Lord the God of Israel because he has come and redeemed his people…To rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and in righteousness before him all our days…To give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins…To shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.

What, then, is offered to God's children as part of the "salvation package?" God's shalom includes:

• The forgiveness of sins

• Healing from mental illness and demonic influence

• Healing of the effects of past hurts and the effects of memories of those hurts, including depression, shame and guilt

• Healing of the body including all malfunctions of bodily organs

• Breaking the hold of poverty and oppressive social structures such as racism and sexism

• Healing of broken relationships (in your family, workplace, and world) and the restoration of true community

Now here is the million dollar question: How much salvation, how much shalom, can we really expect to experience in this life? Certainly total restoration and total healing awaits the second coming of Christ (Romans 8:18-25). The kingdom of God is not yet here in all of its fullness. Nevertheless, we believe that the kingdom of God has come and is coming. Sadly, too much of the evangelical world does not live as if the kingdom of God has come. In short, evangelicals act as if everything we can obtain from God awaits the future. But in the words of the great Christian writer, Francis Schaeffer, we can expect substantial healing of this world in this life.

What would happen if God's children started to pray big prayers for substantial healing and started trusting God to answer those prayers? What would happen if you and I got sick and tired of being sick and tired and we truly began asking God for a fuller salvation? What would happen if your faith got stretched just a little to believe God for more healing in your life and in the lives of others around you?

Maybe, just maybe, we (and others through us) would start experiencing a little bit of shalom in our lives-wholeness, restoration, substantial healing! Expect great things from God!