“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).
In my judgment, the above passage is one of the great doxologies and one of the great passages about prayer. To get an idea of the meaning and power of this passage, please click here for A Praise for All Christians.
I want to use this passage to think of how we should pray. What can we learn from this passage about how we should pray? (It is impossible to give the fullness of prayer in 300 words!)
First, pray believing. Believe that God is able and willing to bless His saints as they pray to Him. The doxology is clear that God is able. In fact, He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Paul coined a phrase–exceedingly abundantly–to describe God’s power. He is able to do more than we think or ask. Therefore, ask, seek, and knock.
Second, pray expectantly. God’s love is mentioned in the previous verses (Ephesians 3: 18-19). Paul prayed that they might know the width, length, depth, and height of God’s love and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. God loves you and wants your best. Pray with this in mind.
Third, pray for the filling of God’s Spirit. Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be filled with the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19). You have all the fullness of God available to you, which is only fully expressed in Christ (Colossians 2:9-10). Pray that God might lead and direct every part of your life.
Fourth, pray that you may be conformed to the image of Christ. God is pleased to answer this prayer, and He is able to do it.
Finally, pray words of adoration and praise to God. He is the great God who is worthy of our praise. As we praise Him, we are moved beyond our pettiness and into His greatness. We see Him and His will as they are.
God wants you to pray, and He wants to do good for you. Go to Him as your loving, Heavenly Father.
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3 Responses
Thank you for these daily insights. I look forward to reading them everyday. God Bless you and Martha and enjoy your vacation. But we miss you
Great insights! Sadly one alone, whose support group has died off or is bought off, misses the opportunity to do more than stand wearing the whole armor of God unto to death following your prescription. So many victories by evil can only be overcome by Good if others take the time to know Truth. Truth becomes buried for generations or longer without God being Glorified or any edified as lies and half truths are accepted as, “Just the way it is.” Like the proverbial iceberg, only a small portion is seen exposed to Light. We are content with little victories being better than none at all. It is, after all, the way of the world.
Indeed, He stands at the door and knocks. A more difficult door to open with just His foot in the doorway. He is able; but we see few are the times He imposes His Will on anyone for anything. He leaves it up to us who have let His foot in the doorway to open ourselves fully to the Body and the Bride. It is not something one does without numbers (So many members with different ideas).
Congratulations to anyone who is able to engineer likemindedness about even one thing of God’s. Thus, here am I saying He expects so much more; because He said it.
The learning/developmental curve of life continues. Thanks!
Today is the 30th anniversary of Pan Am Flt 759. I watched the smoke rise out of Kenner from the top of Heritage Plazza. My Dad was working with Civil Defense at the site in Kenner. John Baye, a plummer, who lived in Kenner had his life forever changed that day. Part of this growth came at the Discipleship of Leo Humphrey. Snippets of what God intends for His is revealed in the context of these lives. Page Patterson’s life was affected and effected by Leo.
The following is but one tribute to the Power of God exercised in Prayer:
Leo Humphrey leaves legacy Death – it’s not one of our favorite words to hear. But without it, there’s no resurrection, no new life, no victory. But by the death of Christ, Jesus gave us victory over every enemy that we have – sin, hell, the grave, and the devil. By His death, we were made more than conquerors. It was in 1968 that I came to understand this great spiritual truth. My wife, “Tex,” and I had just gotten married. I was struggling in my walk with God. I had lost the fire that had burned so deeply in my heart as a new Christian. I longed for victory, but couldn’t seem to find it.
I didn’t know what to do. That’s when I met one of the most unusual followers of Jesus that I’ve ever been privileged to meet. Leo Humphrey was a red headed ball of fire for Jesus. He told everyone he met about Jesus.
I remember going to a restaurant to have coffee with Leo. After a time of sharing with one another what God was doing in our lives, Leo said, “Excuse me, Sam. I’ll be right back.” He left and in about 30 minutes he returned with a grin on his face. “Praise the Lord, Sam. Three of the cooks just gave their hearts to Christ.” Leo had been in the kitchen preaching the gospel.
Leo experienced a degree of victory in his Christian life that I longed to know. One night in Gulf Shores, Alabama, I confessed to him privately that I was defeated. Leo and I went to the beach that evening and prayed. I thought that we had prayed for about 20 minutes, but when I saw the sun coming up, I realized that we had prayed the entire night.
God worked deeply in my life that night. There were two distinct things that God did in me. First, he cleansed me as I confessed sins. There were things that I thought were just weaknesses. God showed them to me as sins. As I confessed them, He forgave me. The second thing that God did in my life was even more radical. That night, I placed all my belongings in a casket. I put my money, my car, my clothes – everything in that casket. I then placed my ambition to be another Billy Graham, my desire to be famous in that casket. Then Sammy Tippit crawled in and died.
You may be thinking right now, “Sammy, did you really do that?” No, I didn’t do it physically, but I did do it spiritually. As I died to self, God filled me with His victory. It was “no longer I but Christ who was living in me.” That was the beginning of a journey of victory that I’ve taken with me for nearly 40 years.
That’s why Leo Humphrey held a special place in my life. He taught me that great truth. Immediately before writing this article, I received a phone call that Leo had just died a few hours earlier of a heart attack. My heart became heavy. But I learned one thing from Leo – out of death comes victory. Leo is now in the presence of the Victorious One. He’s rejoicing with so many that He’s led to Christ. Thank you, Leo. I’ll miss you, dear friend. You lived and died a true soldier of the cross.