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Eternity 35 - Beyond All We Can Ask Or Think
We continue our series on Paul's prayer to the Ephesians....
(Ephesians 3:20-21 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,
{21} to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever
and ever. Amen.
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, God can exceed!
God will do more than my limited faith can grasp, more than my stammering lips can ask for, more than my human mind, limited by time and space can imagine.
God has set the agenda and I cannot limit His love for me. My
inability to imagine His blessings or to understand them does not stop them
flowing to me. He does exceedingly abundantly MORE than I can ask or think.
If this was not so it would be a catastrophe. Those who could ask most would
receive most, those who could imagine best would be blessed best.
But praise the Lord this is not so! Praise the Lord that His blessings will flow to the educated and the uneducated, the stammering and the fluent, the imaginative and the pedestrian. All will be rewarded with glories that exceed all the hymns, all the tracts, all the glowing descriptions of Heaven.
Who can imagine what it will be to have a resurrection body,
immortal, imperishable, powerful, spiritual, able to go through walls and
pass through the heavens, flashing like lightning and filled with power! Who
can imagine what it will mean to judge angels and to supervise their deeds
and to rule portions of God's Kingdom in glory!
Now Jesus does all these wonderful things "according to the power that
works in us". The power and blessing is already in operation, already
within us, already there in our soul and spirit - Christ in us the hope of
glory!
The glorious presence of God within us will even transform our
mortal bodies.
"(Romans 8:11 NKJV) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from
the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
The resurrection power will operate through the Holy Spirit
- who is already resident within us! The indwelling glorious power of the
Holy Spirit was clearly seen when Jesus blazed with glory on the mountain
during the Transfiguration. Similarly we will blaze with glory because of
the power that dwells within us.
The question immediately rises up - how can we unleash this vast Kingdom power
and avail of it for our sanctification?
The answer to that is the entire New Testament! The gospels tell us how to access the kingdom which is "at hand" through faith in Jesus. Acts shows us the spread and nature of the Kingdom and its separation from Judaism. And the epistles how us how life in the Kingdom is to be conducted in the various spiritual and cultural contexts of the early church.
Repentance, faith, holy living, prayer, right doctrine, love and a living hope in the return of Jesus are all part of the mix. These are all keys to the world we will inherit that is "beyond all we can ask or think".
The living connection with God through the Holy Spirit will
unleash blessings far beyond what we ask or think as we live the Kingdom life
by faith in Jesus Christ.
(1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV) But as it is written: "Eye has not seen,
nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God
has prepared for those who love Him."
Blessings,
John Edmiston
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