Read on and take note!

I'd like to draw your attention to another verse today, which I feel people ignore the end of - Ephesians 3:20

"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"

The first part is great! It says God is able to do "exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think"! Wow, that's a lot! And look at the words used there, there are 3 of them: exceedingly, abundantly and above. It doesn't just say 'above and beyond' or, 'abundantly above', they sound absolutely fine and who would complain or argue about them? No, God's Word goes further than that and exceedingly so! Lets look at some dictionary meanings for those words.

For 'above' (as a preposition) My Merriam Webster's Collegiate 10th edition says,

1 : in or to a higher place than : OVER
2 a : superior to (as in rank, quality, or degree) b : out of reach of c : in preference to d : too proud or honorable to stoop to
3 : exceeding in number, quantity, or size : more than
4 : as distinct from and in addition to heard the whistle above the roar of the crowd

There's some interesting senses there. Number 3, more than is a simple enough definition, let's use it and replace the word above with the words more than.

"Now to Him who is able to do more than all that we ask or think..."

That doesn't sound all that bad does it? But Paul didn't say those words, there's more.

Abundantly is an adverb. Adverbs modify (or change) verbs, adjectives, prepositions and other adverbs etc. Abundant means,

1 a : marked by great plenty (as of resources) *a fair and abundant land* b : amply supplied : ABOUNDING *an area abundant with bird life*
2 : occurring in abundance : AMPLE *abundant rainfall*
synonyms see PLENTIFUL

Abundantly then adds the thought of a generously greater amount more than or, plentiously more than, or even a whooole much more than.

"Now to Him who is able to do much-generously more than all that we ask or think..."

Let's not stop there. One more word to go. Exceedingly!

: to an extreme degree : EXTREMELY

There ya go. I'd prefer to keep the word exceedingly in, it reads better.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly much-generously more than all that we ask or think..."

You can't picture how much that is, it's just so much! It keeps going on and on! That's the point, and we think it's a marvelous one don't we?! Infact, I don't know about you but sometimes it annoys me that I can't comprehend just how generous God can be and that towards me of all people!

So there is the good part, the part that 'wows' us and causes us to hope and dream of big answers to prayer - I feel that this verse is usually connected to prayer requests. But the part that I didn't notice for a while was the last part,

"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"

It doesn't say, according to the power of prayer, or, according to His almighty power - it says, according to THE power (which power? The one that...) works IN US. In my eyes that means that we, you and I, the Born-Again believers in and Children of God are inextricably linked to God's ability to DO stuff for us and in us and before us. That kinda spoils our comfy idea of gettin some big answers to prayer - an all we had to do was pray! No, it seems that God wants to change things in us and BY us (and probably nothin's gonna change BY us if it isn't first changed IN us!). And another thing, these aren't necessarily things that have to do with your own hopes, ambitions and dreams or that of your family etc. God has His own mind and plan. I'm not too experienced in walking with God, but I've learned that I have to let go of things and do His stuff that He has led me to do and Trust Him with it all! Sheesh, talk about walking on water!

So you see, the last part of that verse is vital to our understanding of the whole. It kinda puts a burden of responsibility on you, don't ya think?! I mean 'the Power' can be none other than the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ that is in me, and I'm not my own (see 1 Cor 6:19). No, when I gave my life over to Him I became His property and He did something for me that no-one else could do in that He (as Sinless) died for me and fogave me my sins (upon my Repentance), and He did something IN me that no-one else could do in that He gave me Life and a New God-Honouring nature. There is another verse in Ephesians I want to link and it speaks both of being God's property and being re-created in-Him, Ephesians 2:10,

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

It is these good works that God has prepared for us that I have a sneaky suspicion might have something to do with the exceedingly abundantly above stuff. After all, Jesus did say,

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father (by the Spirit's leading to the Pilgrims daily Cross). John 14:12

Hmmm, seems that believing in Jesus means WORK! (For the record, I think Jesus said, 'He who believes in Me' a total of 6 times: John 6:35, 6:47, 7:38, 11:25, 12:44, 14:12)

The Greek word translated as 'Power' in Ephesians 3:20 is dunamis, it appears a total of 5 times in Ephesians. Why not study what these verses say, they are: Eph 1:19 (1st 'power' only), Eph 1:21(KJV='might'), Eph 3:7, Eph 3:16(KJV='might'), Eph 3:20.