It is rare to find something that exceeds our expectations these days.
Many people have significantly lowered their expectation when it comes to the world we live in. We are less and less surprised when politicians fail to be what they promised, relationships do not work out or the economy remains fragile. The overall sense of our world right now is negative and our expectation of virtuous and good things has plummeted.
Yet, there is a message still resounding in the earth that this is not how things have to be. Ephesians 3:20 is a Bible verse that challenges the status quo.
“God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we ask or think” (NIV)
It sits right at the end of a prayer by Apostle Paul crying out for all believers to experience the love of Christ. This is an experience he states, “transcends our understanding” (v 18-19). Our ability to understand relates to our current state of thinking which is a problem because our thinking is loaded with biases. Our minds work on associations and patterns established for us from our life experiences. In this way, our thinking is very limited.
However, we trust in our own reasoning without realizing how limited it is. If you are anything like me your brain demands to be in control. We want to be able to see where we’re going before we leave.
A lifestyle of faith, though, is an entirely different way of living. We are required to learn to let Him “see” for us and go where He is leading.
God invites us to a lifestyle that is beyond the limitations of our own thinking.
In Ephesians 3:20 we see two areas which can limit our thinking :
- Asking: when we struggle to believe big, we struggle to ask for big things.
- Imagining: we are confined within the limitations of what our minds can come up with until we open up to what God is seeing.
I am in a season of God letting me know I can’t even imagine the things He has in mind for me. They are outside of my current grid. A hallmark of hearing the way God is thinking about something in our lives is that it will be something we couldn’t see, can not accomplish on our own, and leaves us both excited and terrified!
His ways “transcend our understanding”. Our minds will ask, “how is that ever going to happen?” There are several stories in the Bible of other humans who had the same thought when God showed up with His plan for their lives.
ASKING QUESTIONS
An angel appeared to a man named Zachariah announcing to him he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a child even though they were both past childbearing years. Zachariah responded with a question that revealed his trust in his own logic.
Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” (Luke 1:18) The answer the angel gave him revealed that the way he asked this question carried unbelief ( vs 19-20).
Zachariah struggled to overcome his own thinking in order to accept the invitation to think and believe like God over his situation.
In contrast a young girl named Mary asked a question upon hearing an angel announce that she would be the mother of Jesus by miraculous conception. However, her question carried a different spirit. She abandoned her own ability to comprehend what was happening and believed what the angel was telling her.
She found a way to do what scripture teaches, “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not onto your own understanding” (Prov.3:5-6).
Our internal system will fight to release control in order to live this way. The opportunity to see more happen than we could ever imagine comes from God breaking into our thinking and believing.
Belief in His power is the antidote to our limited thinking.
May this be a season where the reality of God’s power becomes bigger in our minds than ever before. Let faith transform the way we think and let us overcome the negativity of our world to see His kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.
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