Ephesians 3:20–21 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
How many times have you prayed to God about an issue and found that He answered you not in the way you had thought that He might? Instead, He has taken your prayer and used it to bring about a better answer that you imagined possible, and at the same time He has dealt with other matters that you may not have been aware of, or that did not seem as important to you?
How many times have you sought the Lord for guidance (perhaps for a career move, or to find a spouse) and the answer you really wanted did not come - the Lord apparently said "No"? Yet, with the benefit of hindsight you discover that the job or the potential spouse would not have been right for you, for reasons you did not know at the time, and that what the Lord brought about instead was better by far?
Paul tells us in our text this week that God is able to do "far more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think", because of His power at work in us. The Greek is interesting here, speaking of an extreme degree. It gives us our prefix, "hyper" but it (or a derivative of it) is used to qualify both God's act of doing and how much more that is than we can ask or think. In other words, it might read something like this: "God is able to 'hyper-do' 'hyper-more' than we can ask or think." It is emphatic.
When we stop and think about the God of Scripture, His extreme ability to perform anything He wills is no surprise to us - He is, after all, omnipotent, all-powerful. Nevertheless we can sometimes forget Who God is and come to Him with doubt-laden prayers - like the man who came to Jesus on behalf of his son and asked Him to do something for him if He could. Jesus rebuked Him by saying "IF you can? All things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9:23). It is good to be reminded that there is no deficiency of power with God.
But there is something else to note in our text. Paul takes us beyond the power and the ability of God acting independently (which we certainly know). He tells us that this ability of God to "hyper-do" "hyper-more" is in accordance with His power that is at work in us, His children! In other words, even when we are the means that God uses to execute His purposes, His power at work in us is sufficient to do all that He wills, and much, much more than we think or would ask for! In the broader context, Paul has just been asking God to strengthen the Ephesians with His Spirit, to help them understand the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge and to fill them up to all the fullness of God. Could God do that? Yes - and much more than Paul could ask or think, because of the power of God at work in His children!
Viewed in this light, our prayer times (including our prayer meeting) become seasons of potential and of possibility, where the outcomes in spiritual terms are limited only by our own faith and imagination, subject to God's will, of course. If this was not written down for us in God's Word, we would never dare to think in this way! The question for us this week (given that it is written down for us) is, do we believe it? And do we believe it enough to come to the prayer meeting and pray in the light of these words?
