Mike and I owned an x-ray company and he started it on our home phone at the kitchen table. Soon our garage became the warehouse until we outgrew it and had to find a place. I remember how scared Mike was to hire an office manager because of the responsibility for another person's family. Over the next twenty years he built that business. We always hoped to sell it one day. The day came and our prayer was that God would show off. We prayed that if the offer was not meant to be to please let it be so ridiculous it would be laughable so we would not mess up or stress about it. We also prayed that if the sale was meant to be that God would show off in such a way, we would not have to stress about it - it would be a God thing! The first offer came in and it was laughable. We told the company no. Because the next day, Mike's father passed away, suddenly, we did not make any more contact with the company. Two weeks later, God showed up and showed off.
Bible.Org said, "A woman once approached the famous preacher, G. Campbell Morgan, after he spoke and asked, 'Do you think we should pray for even the little things in our lives, or just for the big things?' In his dignified British manner he replied, 'Madam, can you think of anything in your life that is big to God?'” Truth! Nothing is big to God. Ephesians 3: 20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us," I love the NKJV, "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..." God's ability is over and above anything we can imagine!
Apostle Paul had just prayed in verse 19, that the Ephesians would be "filled with the fullness of God". There is no place higher to be than filled with all the fullness of God! Let it soak in, "all the fullness of God!" It does not say that God is able to do beyond what we ask. It says, "He is able to do MORE than all we ask." I love the version that says, "exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask." Let's quit putting God in a box and expect great things. He is able. That is why I ask Him to show off. I know I cannot imagine the things He can come up with. I just thank Him for showing off! Praying this faith, in all situations, is sometimes hard for me. The Apostle Paul who said these words had disappointments in his ministry and did not have his prayers answered the way he thought. But he kept trusting God. This is God's Word and we can trust it!
Paul's prayer for God to do abundantly beyond what we ask or imagine is not for physical things, but for Jesus to dwell in our hearts so that we may understand His love for us and we will be able to grow in spiritual maturity. We are praying for the things that will further God's glory. He is praying for God to strengthen us while being the focus of our life. He is praying for God to transform our life. Then he prays that we would know and be in awe of God's great love for us in Jesus.
Let's pray big, expecting great things with a mighty faith in God, all the while, knowing that we do not see the whole picture. We do not know what is best for us but God does. Jeremiah 29: 11, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." God may be using these struggles to grow us in our faith. Whether we see it or not, He is working. Either way, God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine!
John Newsome said, "Thou art coming to a king, so with thee large petitions bring! For His grace and power are such, that none can ever ask too much."