—JUDAH SMITH, lead pastor of Churchome.org and best-selling author of Jesus Is _____.
‘God has a plan and a purpose for your life that is bigger than you. But God needs you to believe it, know what’s inside of you to achieve it, and build the character that sustains it. Brian Houston’s new book, There Is More, will show you the way! Don’t just make it a part of your library; make it a part of your life!’
—A. R. BERNARD, ambassador for Christ in Culture
‘My friend Pastor Brian is a strong man of God and a phenomenal leader to the body of Christ. His new book, There Is More, will challenge you to pursue the calling God has given you with renewed passion and fervor. This book is an invitation for God to take you beyond what you dreamed to be possible!’
—JOHN BEVERE, author and minister, Messenger International
To the wonderful people who have loved me through the highs and lows of my best and worst seasons, none more so than Bobbie and our beautiful extended family, thank you for doing the journey.
To the long-serving board and elders of Hillsong Church, you have led the way and faithfully stood alongside us, always seeking the will of God. I am eternally grateful to each and every one of you.
And to the team who have worked closest to Bobbie and me through all these years, who have always wanted only God’s best for us and spurred us on toward the “more” of God’s ever-unfolding purposes, you have my deepest respect and appreciation.
Contents
Praise for There Is More
Introduction: Exceeding, Abundant, and Above
1. Dreams and Destiny
2. Myth or Mystery?
3. Obedience and Abundance
4. Gifted and Graced
5. Calling and Confession
6. Appointment and Disappointment
7. Ready and Receptive
8. Credibility and Consistency
9. The Walk and the War
10. Troubling the Troubler
11. Uncommon Grace and Unusual Miracles
12. New Roads and New Rivers
13. Ceilings and Floors
14. Spiritually Dead and Spiritually Alive
Epilogue: There Is More
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Exceeding, Abundant, and Above
Please, sir, I want some more.”1 These famous words of a starving Oliver Twist have undoubtedly echoed in the hearts and minds of millions of people who also long to have just a little bit more. Perhaps you long for more time, more resources, more space. Maybe you simply need to find a bit more energy and motivation to continue along the path you currently find yourself on, or maybe you have a dream in your heart that continues to evade you. Maybe you’re walking in your calling but still find yourself asking, What is this all about? Should I be doing more with my life?
The narrative of this book is not about selfishness and greed. It’s not about acquiring more, about avarice and indulgence. It’s not even an essay on satisfaction and self-fulfillment. It’s about calling—God’s amazing plans for your life and the sufficiency of His grace in superseding your wildest dreams, all for a purpose bigger than you are.
Have you ever stopped to wonder what God’s response would be to your heart’s cry for more? It is my firm belief that, unlike Mr. Bumble (the tyrannical caretaker of the orphanage in Charles Dickens’s classic novel), the Savior of the universe would bend down and in the most caring of manners say, “More what? And how much more? My supply is unending. My mercy is limitless. My grace is more than you need.”
You see, the more that God wants for your life is beyond comprehension. It’s not limited to space and time, not able to be measured with earthly devices or human minds. Ephesians 3:20–21 tells us plainly, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us” (MSG). Other translations put it this way: He can “do above and beyond” (HCSB) or “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.”
Have you ever stopped to think about that? God can do anything. And not just a little bit more than you have already asked for or dreamed of. Far more.
What are your wildest dreams? Your craziest ideas, deepest longings, and grandest plans—the things you’ve not dared tell anyone and barely allowed your soul to imagine? Because it is exactly that dream, that vision, those grand plans of yours that I’m telling you aren’t enough. What a small thinker you are! All of heaven is looking down upon you, shaking their heads, and saying, “Is that all?! Is that all he wants? Is that all she can dream of?”
Allow me to stretch your thinking here, dear reader, because we serve the ultimate Big Thinker. No plans of yours even compare to His. Your heart’s cry for more has been answered with a chuckle and a grin from a Father’s heart that takes what you see and expands it into something you can’t see.
God can take every limitation that has been put on your life—by yourself or by others—and expand your heart and purpose in a way that is way bigger, way higher, way more effective than anything you could imagine.
I’ve seen it in my own life. I can testify to His faithfulness when it comes to more—more than I wanted, more than I dreamed, more than I ever thought I would need. I’m not speaking of simple material matters, of monetary things or things that can be counted or valued by earthly standards. I’ve watched as God has exceeded the dreams in my heart, the visions I’ve had for my own life and the lives of my family and those closest to me. I’ve experienced the “much more” favor of God when it comes to my marriage, leadership, children, and friendships.
For many years, while standing in one of our Hillsong Church auditoriums or by the side of the stage at one of our annual conferences, people have asked me, “Could you see all this when you started?” You know, I have always been a determined visionary, but in my wildest dreams I could not have imagined all God has done and is doing. I couldn’t have planned it, executed it, or dreamed of the days we are living in now. And I’ve stopped trying to. You can never out-dream