Is God Enough? 

"You are COMPLETE in Him"

Colossians 2:10

Paul said it so eloquently, "For IN Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are COMPLETE in Him." Colossians 2:9, 10 ... Complete means you are filled up. You are full. No deficiency whatsoever!

Does that describe you? Or are you still searching? Adam and Eve had everything, yet the great deceiver convinced them they needed something else. They took the bait and lost the fullness.

Is the great deceiver baiting you? Do you feel empty, unfulfilled and incomplete? Then perhaps you haven't allowed, "The Fullness," to fill you up and make you COMPLETE in Him. Or perhaps you are searching for it, where it cannot be found.

Sally and I were working with a ministry couple that was on the verge of breaking up. She was thinking of leaving him. It just wasn't working. They called and asked for help. She was getting conflicting advice from many of their constituents that were confusing her. We suggested she needed to take some, "Escape to God," time.

She needed to take a week away from everything and everybody to, "Be still and KNOW." Psalms 46:10 She asked what that meant. We told her God had her answers and she needed to unplug from everything and plug into God and God alone!

"What do you mean I need to unplug?"

That means no I-phone, no Internet, and no Face book, no out side stimulation whatsoever. Just your Bible, a notepad and God.

"I don't think I can do that." She said.

Why not?

"I, I, I would be bored. I need outside stimulation, some other input. I don't know what I'd do for 7 days with God and God alone.

Is that you? Is God enough? Would you be bored? Do you mentally assent that Christians are to be, "COMPLETE in him," but lack the experience? If so perhaps that's why Christianity is sooo powerless today. We have the FORM but lack the SUBSTANCE, the POWER. (2Timothy 3:5)

Elijah, one of the greatest of the greats had such a close connection with God that he was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot, without seeing death. I'm sure we all admire and would like to have his experience. What a chariot ride that must have been!

Elijah declared to king Ahab that there would be neither dew nor rain for 3 � years. Then God hid him beside the brook Cherith where ravens fed him and he drank from the brook during those years of drought.

Now let me ask you a question? Could you be alone with God for 3 � years with only a raven to feed you and a brook to quench your thirst? No entertainment, no Face book, no Twitter, no E-mails, Internet, videos, I phones or...!

Alone with God? Complete in Him?

Is He enough? Or, do we need God substitutes? I daresay most couldn't make it 3 days let alone 3 years with out God substitutes.

Ouch! This is where it gets a bit sticky. This is where our human nature wants to justify itself, to become defensive. I'm sure a lot of us would have many excuses for not being able to be, "Complete in Him," for 3 days let alone 3 years.

I believe it's because we haven't really received Him. "He came unto his own and his own received him not" John 1:11 or we desire, like Adam and Eve, something more than Him.

If this thought is a bit agitating, ask yourself what is it in your conscience that is troubling you? Say, "Speak Lord for thy servant heareth." 1st Samuel 3:9. In asking this question God may reveal to you what your God substitutes are. What REALLY comes before you and your God, before you and your Savior?

Next, I thought I would list a whole lot of worldly and religious substitutes that most of us actually rely on instead of, " Christ in me the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27 But instead I think it would be beneficial to show the all sufficiency of God.

God promises to provide everything we need in Christ.

When we're weak ... He will be our strength.

When we're discouraged ... He can comfort us.

When we suffer anguish ... He can mend our broken hearts.

When we're tempted ... he can empower us to overcome.

When we're rejected ... He accepts us.

When we've sinned ... He forgives us.

When we're confused ... He can give us His wisdom.

When we go through trials ... He can provide His all-sufficient grace.

Yes God is enough. Even when food calls me to be comforted, we can turn to the God of all comfort which is much greater than the comfort's food/drugs/passions/people offers.

Yes God is enough. When you're timid spirit wants to reign, God can cause you to speak up in His power and strength and know God asked and empowered you to speak.

Yes God is enough. When others turn friends and family against you, Jesus can calm your inner turmoil of your feelings, emotions, and thoughts.

Elijah had the, "COMPLETENESS," that's missing among us as a people. That's why the church is sooo powerless today. That's why there is sooo much bickering, gossiping and back fighting in the churches today. That's why sooo many of our youth and new converts aren't sticking around. That's why marriages and friendships are falling apart. Just tooo many substitutes for the only thing that can make us complete, full and indivisible-God and God alone!

Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." John 14:6 The apostle Paul declared that, "For in Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28 He also states radically, "That in all things He may have the preeminence." Colossians 1:18

I believe Jesus is saying to each and every one of us that in this New Year ahead, He can make us COMPLETE! This COMPLETENESS is proportionate to our daily surrender and trust in Him. He wants us to give it ALL to Him. Whatever our substitutes are, we need to lay them down and pick Him up. Day in and day out we need to let Jesus fill our thoughts, complete our words and become our joy and our comfort.

We need to realize we cannot have Elijah's & Paul's completeness without their seemingly extremeness. So let's let all the legalism and liberalism go and let Him be our life.

May this be our resolution all year long!

He IS enough,

Jim & Sally