Ephesians 3:20-21 The Message
20-21 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.
Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
A lack of, or troubled faith may make us expect far less than God is willing to do.
An unexpectant faith may make us feel far less able to be bold and courageous in these days when too many people do not hold God in high regard or at all.
Too many people, believers and non believers alike have the idea that with so much turmoil going on, so much division and rancor, strife of every imaginable description behind every single blade of grass every weed, both alive and dead, it is simply not possible for everyone to believe God cannot raise to the moment.
Yet the Word of God from Paul’s letter to the new followers at Ephesus is clear when it tells us to exceedingly expect our God to answer when we pray in faith.
But, nowadays, who is it with any exceeding boldness and abundant courage does anything to go above and beyond to raise OUR expectations beyond ZERO?
What are your expectations?
Specifically, what are your expectations of God and what are your expectations of yourself this day?
Consider these words from Ephesians chapter 3:
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT)
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV)
Apostle Paul is writing to both believers and skeptics God is able to accomplish infinitely more or do exceeding abundantly more than we can ever ask or think.
Matthew Henry commenting on this truth wrote:
“There is an inexhaustible fullness of grace and mercy in God, which the prayers of all the saints can never draw dry. Whatever we may ask, or think to ask, still God is still able to do more, abundantly more, exceedingly abundantly more. Open your mouth ever so wide, still he has the wherewithal to fill it.”
What are your expectations?
What are your all too human expectations of God?
What are your eternal expectations from God
Do your all too human expectations of God include the steadfast belief God is able to do more in your life and mine than we can hope or think or imagine?
There may be many things we believe we can not ever do in our own strength or our own ability as we acknowledge what Jesus said in Matthew 19:26 “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
When we pray according to God’s will all things are possible.
Perhaps our problem when we pray is we often put limits on what God can do.
Often we can think our problem or circumstance or situation is beyond the scope of God’s ability.
If we think that our problems are bigger than God is able or willing to handle,
then we show a lack of faith in the God who loves us and cares for us.
A lack of faith may make us expect far less than God is willing to do.
Yet the Word of God is clear when it tells us to expect God to answer when we pray in faith.
Luke 18:1-8 English Standard Version
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Listen to these verses to encourage your expectation:
Psalm 16:11 – You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 23:1 – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Isaiah 43:1-3 – But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Jeremiah 33:1-3 –
The Lord Promises Peace
33 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: 2 “Thus says the Lord who made the earth,[a] the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: 3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Matthew 18:19– “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.
Matthew 21:22 – You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
Mark 11:24 – I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
John 14:13 – You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.
John 15:7 – But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!
John 15:16 – You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.
John 16:23-24 – At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and He will grant your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.
James 1:5-6 – If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
James 1:17 – Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
1 John 3:22 – And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.
1 John 5:14-15 – And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.
Fellow Children of God, the eternal truth of the matter is this: when we pray, we need to pray in faith, we all need to pray expectantly, expect God to do infinitely more, exceedingly and abundantly above all that we all ask or think or imagine.
Be exceedingly and abundantly honest with God who 100% already knows what is going on, when you pray, what are all those things you think about, that you do not, wont, pray about because you are too worried that God will not answer?
Are there things that you do not pray about because in your heart you do not want or do not expect our exceedingly abundant God to answer your prayer?
What?
Let me give a couple of examples:
What if the thought of sharing your faith with other people scares you, you may choose not to pray for God to provide those exceedingly abundant opportunities to share the truth of Jesus with others.
If you are exceedingly, abundantly comfortable being in a small church where everybody knows your name, you will never pray for God to grow your church.
The truth is we may expect many things of God, but He also highly expects us to be abundantly willing to follow His purpose for us, our church, our community.
We need to pray in an abundantly expectant faith, trusting God, obedient to His plans, His Word, His Truth, His life, His covenanted precepts, His perfect will.
We can expect God to answer prayer in the right way at the perfect time.
One thing God keeps teaching me through prayer is patience.
His timing is perfect in every situation.
God will act at the right time and He is willing to do far more than we ever ask, or think, or imagine.
What is going on in your life right now that needs a touch from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
Your health… your relationships… your family…
your work… your prayer life… your faith…
your daily walk… your witness for our Lord.
Don’t try and carry it on your own, don’t let it draw your attention away from God.
Joseph Scriven wrote some very appropriate words in his hymn ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus’:
What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer!
Whatever the situation, whatever the circumstances, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Pray and ask God to speak, to act, to move, to bless.
Pray in faith and expect God to move.
Here is another question:
How Big are Your Expectations of God?
How big is your expectation of God?
When you pray do you limit your expectation of what God can do?
Are you praying for someone in your family who as yet does not know God?
Are you praying in faith that God will change their heart?
Or have you given up praying for that person because your expectation is they will never turn to Jesus and be saved?
The Bible from our passage from Ephesians 3 is clear when it says God can and will do infinitely more, exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.
Don’t let your expectations limit your prayers.
Don’t limit what God can and will do!
Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:20,
“I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
Throughout the Bible, we can read of many people who dared to ask God to do make the impossible possible.
God answered their prayers.
Maybe in your own life you have experienced God doing the impossible.
When you thought there was no hope,
when you thought the odds were against you,
when you thought it was impossible for circumstances to change,
when you expected the worst,
God stepped in and everything changed.
God stepped in and did infinitely more, exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask or think or imagine.
God is Almighty, God is exceedingly incredible, God’s mighty power works an exceedingly abundant array of miracles in this messed up world every day.
God’s love and mercy is poured out into our lives every day; we are His children; our salvation is secure and certain in Jesus Christ; we are empowered by the Holy Spirit; God listens when we come to Him in prayer, God answers prayer.
God can abundantly exceed our expectation in every area of our everyday lives.
As I was reflecting on this devotional message, God laid an important truth on my heart to share with you:
Philippians 2:5-11 English Standard Version
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
With the Like Mind of our Savior Christ, We must always make time to pray.
It is equally important for us to pray in times of joy as well as times of trouble.
Expectant Prayer Builds Abundant Relationship With God
Romans 12:12 simply tells us we should:
Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying (Romans 12:12)
This is an essential command for each of us to follow isn’t it?
Joyful hope and patience in affliction go against the grain of our own natures.
Excessive Despair and exceedingly abundant self-pity come much more easily.
In times like that, it’s important to turn to God in prayer.
We pray for many reasons: to thank God for blessings, to praise God, to confess sins, to seek God’s exceedingly abundant leading, guidance and direction for us.
In good times and bad we are to speak to God,
we are to draw near to Him,
grow in our relationship with Him.
The truth of the matter is this: Sometimes God answers our requests for help exactly as we ask, but sometimes not – sometimes the answer comes back: NO!
Either way, the Bible calls us to be faithful in prayer.
Prayer—thanking, praising, confessing, asking for help—connects us with God.
Prayer builds relationship.
Prayer strengthens the bond between God and us.
When we all have a good relationship with someone, hopefulness and patience become a little easier, especially when Someone is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
We can have a confident and expectant hope in God.
The fact that you are here this devotional suggests that you have hope in God,
it suggests you want to know more of our exceedingly abundant God,
that you want to draw exceedingly and abundantly closer to Him,
that right now you want to be in a real relationship with Him,
that right now you are expecting God to be abundantly active in your life today.
How is your relationship with God?
Have you felt His presence and experienced His touch upon your life today?
When you woke up this morning was it with an expectant heart?
Were you thrilled by the thought God would work in you, through you today?
Did you come to this devotional writing today with an utterly expectant heart?
Expecting to worship an exceedingly abundant God…
Expecting to feel His exceedingly abundant presence…
Expecting to the Word of God speak into your life…
Expecting to see and believe in the exceedingly abundant miracles of God …
Expecting to feel your life changed, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit…
Expecting to be uplifted, refilled, renewed, restored, revitalized…
Expecting an exceedingly abundant revival get all revved up inside you …
Did you expect to come to “church” today expecting infinitely more, far exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask or think or imagine?
What is God’s Abundant Expectation of You Today?
What is God’s exceedingly abundant expectations of you today?
As disciples of Jesus, God expects our daily commitment to Him.
God expects us to trust Him.
God expects us to follow Him.
God expects us to love Him.
God expects us to serve Him.
God expects us to speak to Him in prayer.
God expects us to learn more about Him.
God expects us to think about the things of God.
God expects us to tell others about Him.
God expects us to give Him first place in our lives.
God expects many things of each and every one of us.
Are you meeting God’s expectation of you?
One more thing God exceedingly and abundantly expects is for us to fill our minds, hearts with the #1 hard core Truth of God’s Word: “God is 100% #1!”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Almighty God, we serve and worship you, the One, True, Everlasting God, Who, when we are in absolute surrender to your Holy Will, show your incredible Power, your Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omniscience, which is beyond limits of description and human comprehension. Your exceedingly abundant wonders and miracles, your exceedingly abundant love, goodness and mercy, exceeds all known perceptions and expectations goes beyond borders and boundaries into unlimited infinity.
You can create, recreate, do or undo anything, for the end of the greatest length of any of man’s abilities, is just the beginning of the endless possibilities and the wondrous working of your Mighty Hands. This amply demonstrates that for those who walk exceedingly abundantly according to your Holy Will and find favor in your eyes by their dedicated faith, your great outpourings of graces and blessings manifest your vast Glory and are exceedingly and abundantly visited upon them endlessly.
Lord, we are grateful beyond measure to worship and serve you, who dares the impossible and does the unthinkable. You work in us through the power of your Holy Spirit to increase our faith, and preserve to salvation all believers in Christ our Lord. His immense sacrifice of washing us pure of all sin, has made the gift of eternal life available and attainable by all who give Christ the glory in his Church, and in his far exceedingly abundant Name forever and forever and forever more. Amen.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 