GOD IS ABLE - Part IV
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” —Ephesians 3:20-21
Too often, we focus on what is against us instead of who is for us. We must never forget whom we belong to, and that God is on our side, and He can do whatever He pleases. We are limited because we are finite creatures, but God is limitless in His power, infinite in His wisdom, and has nothing but the best for His children. Despite that, just knowing that He can do the absolute impossible does not mean that the power of God will be unleashed on our behalf automatically. But instead, it comes down to where our faith is located. If our faith is anchored in the cross of Christ, then we will begin to experience victory as we have never experienced it before. All victory, whether over something small or something great, is found in Christ and the cross. It goes back to what we stated earlier, the moment that we begin to look to Christ and the cross for our everyday life and living, this unleashes the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to work in our lives to bring about the victory that is needed.
There are scores of Christians all around the world who are living miserable Christian lives, and there is no way around it. Nevertheless, there is hope. The answer is found not in our strength and abilities but in the power of God, which works through the cross of Christ. He can bring about the victory that we so desperately seek, and He is able to bring about the change that is needed. He can deliver us from the snares of the enemy and heal our broken hearts, to set us free from the sin that easily afflicts us. Our God is able! All victory stems from what Christ accomplished and not what we accomplished.
ABOVE ALL WE CAN ASK OR THINK
Not only is God able, but He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” How exciting is this? Not only is He able, but He can also do more than we can ever imagine. The word exceeding in Greek means “above and beyond.” And the word abundant in Greek means “exceedingly abundantly above and beyond measure.” So when Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, used the words exceeding abundantly, he was, in reality, saying, “Above and beyond and then abundantly above our imaginations.” Think of it this way, if God, who created the heavens and the earth and all that is within them and under them, and He has created the stars that hang in the sky and has named every single one of them, then there is nothing that our God cannot do. The Bible is full of examples of God performing the impossible for His people, and we must believe that God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8), can still do the impossible now.
God always and forever honors faith. Without faith, the Scripture says that we cannot please Him at all (Heb. 11:6). So to see the impossible become possible, faith must go above and beyond what is possible. It must go above and beyond our scope of thinking, for if it only goes to a certain point of what we can ask or think, it cannot be counted as faith. Faith reaches for what is impossible and holds to what cannot be done. For Christians, we must look beyond what we can ask or think and realize that God is able to do it. However, let us make one thing clear—faith must be exhibited before God can move. If there is no engagement of faith, then God will not move on our behalf. The reason that my grandfather has touched this world not once but twice was not because of talent or charisma but because of faith. As a child, it was drilled into him to believe God for the impossible because God was the God of the impossibilities, which has been passed down to me. I choose to believe God for the impossible because God is a big God, and there is nothing that He cannot do. But to receive that for which we ask, we must believe for the impossible. God is not limited as we are. When we choose to believe for the impossible, there are no limits to what God can do.
THE POWER THAT WORKS WITHIN US
The power that Paul is referring to is the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, as we have mentioned already, works through the means of the finished work of Christ and cannot work outside of those parameters. As much as the Holy Spirit desires to help us in all things, if we look somewhere other than what God has already provided, He will be severely limited in what He can do in our lives. Before we go any further, let us address one question: Is the Holy Spirit's work automatic? Unfortunately, many think that it is, but it is not. The potential is there, but His work is not automatic. The Holy Spirit will never supersede our free moral agency, and He will allow us to go in whatever direction we choose. If His work were automatic, we would never fail the Lord in anything we do, for He will never allow us to move in any direction other than what He orchestrates. It takes our cooperation with Him for our lives to become what He wants them to be, which is where the cross of Christ comes into play. To experience victory in every area of our lives, we must look exclusively to the cross of Christ for everything. Our dependence upon Christ allows the Holy Spirit to bring about the impossible in our lives.
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