Abundantly More

Ephesians 3:20 has become one of my favorite Bible verses over the course of the past few months. I often find myself thinking about the God of "abundantly more," and I wanted to dive deeper in to this verse. I recently heard about verse mapping, a method of Bible study that allows the reader to break down scripture in to words or phrases to gain deeper understanding of what God is teaching us through His Word. 

If you want to look in to verse mapping for your personal study time, this website was incredibly helpful: www.womanofnoblecharacter.com/verse-mapping/. I followed her general outline for setting up my own maps, as well as her recommendation to use biblehub.com for commentaries and dictionaries. 

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us..."

What I've been dwelling on lately is the far more abundantly portion of this verse. This verse comes from a prayer that Paul includes in his letter to the churches in Ephesus. When I think of Paul writing these letters from a prison cell, I wonder (in an amazed kind of way!) at the level of faith he must have had to not only endure his hardships as a prisoner, but to be able to keep encouraging others through his imprisonment and even to find joy in his circumstances. 

Paul believed in a God that is capable of doing more than we can even imagine. He knew that our human thinking has boundaries, limits set by our experiences and our beliefs and our circumstances. He also knew that God could totally blow up these boundaries by showing Himself in a way we could never even begin to imagine.

I think of it this way: when I have a problem, I tend to only think of possible solutions to my issue. A way to fix the problem. Speaking personally, when I dwell on my anxiety, I think of ways I can make it go away. Medicine, counseling, controlling my thoughts, deep breathing exercises...you name it, I've probably thought of it as a possible fix to my struggles. 

But God. 

God doesn't just see the solution. He sees past the solution. He sees what His will for my life is, what His plans for me are - plans for me to prosper and have life and a future beyond anxiety. I can think all I want about anxiety and how to make it go away but God's vision is eternal. He doesn't just want me to stop with the solution - He has a vision for me that goes far beyond all I could even begin to pray for. 

What if our faith made us pray expectant prayers? Not just "help me through the day" kind of prayers, but prayers that completely put God in control - "I'm going to stop pursuing solutions and start running hard after you, God, who is able to do far more abundantly than all I can ask or think."

The second half of the verse hasn't been as committed to my mind as the first, but I didn't want to leave it out of my study, and God has completely opened my eyes through studying this verse this morning.

"...according to the power that is at work within us,"

Fellow believer, do you ever think about the fact that you have a divine and miraculous and unbelievable power that is actively working within you? 

I'll be honest, I don't think about that fact very often. But wow, I should!

Here's the thing. We are constantly looking for something better. I see it everywhere I look. You'll be hard pressed to find a human that isn't looking for something new and better, a way to fix an issue they're dealing with. You can fill in the blank: a better job, better relationship, better waist size, better appearance, better mood...better anything. We try the newest fads. We commit ourselves to living a (possibly fake) social media life that we hope makes us appear better than we actually are. We put on a happy face and go out in to our tiny world, hoping we look better than we feel under the surface.

What if we stopped striving so hard for better and stopped to think about the fact that we already have the best?

We have a power working within us that is unstoppable. It's unbeatable. It's the power above all powers. We know that God is capable of anything. He isn't limited by our finite minds. He can create something out of nothing. He hears our prayers and answers our prayers with his limitless knowledge and endless power. 

That power, the one that can't be stopped, is what is actively living in and working in anyone who has given their life to Christ. This energy should be what propels us and sustains us through our days!

What if we let the power that is working within us make us better? To improve our marriages, our friendships, our physical health, emotional health, mental health, to improve our mood and our outlook on life. I fully believe that we can harness that power of God that is already within us and use that to better ourselves. We can give up on the myriad of self-help, DIY kind of messages that are so prevalent in our world today and rely on the power of One that we know won't fail us. He is an abundantly more kind of God, after all.

What if we gave up pushing for simply what's better, realize that we're already living with the best, and used that best kind of power within us to love those around us, to show them Jesus, to build God's kingdom here on earth? My mind is reeling, thinking about how different our communities would be if we could grab hold of the power that is at work within us and if we actually let it work through us.

I pray that you'll join me in meditating on this verse. I thank God for the power that He's given each of us that are living in Him. I pray that we can use His power to achieve far more than we can even begin to imagine is possible for the sake of His name, for we serve a God of abundantly more.