“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” (Ephesians 3:20, NKJV).
Exceedingly abundantly simply means overflow or something immeasurable. God is a God of the overflow. Our text says He is able to very much surpass our requests and thoughts. While men think natural, God thinks and desires to do the supernatural. While we think ordinary, He thinks extraordinary. While we think and operate the mundane, He operates the spiritual and superior. Hannah petitioned God for a son, but God gave her six children (1 Samuel 1:11; 2:21). The crippled man at the gate of the temple wanted alms from Peter, but God decided to make him walk (Acts 3:1-10). The widow of the prophet wanted to just pay her debt so that her children will not go into captivity, but God decided to give her a business with lifelong earnings (2 Kings 4:1-7).
Though God is unlimited in His operations, He is often limited by man. He chooses to work with regenerated men who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. And our text clearly states that we determine the degree to which God is able to do His exploits in our lives. It is according to the power that works in us. The following are some powers the Christian is to pay attention to in order to see the limitlessness of God:
The Power of Submission: The total yieldedness of one’s will to God will undoubtedly release His power immeasurably. After Jesus prayed and surrendered His will to the Father, an angel was released to Him from Heaven to strengthen and empower Him for the daunting assignment before Him (Luke 22:39-46). After Peter surrendered his boat for Jesus to preach from, he was instructed to cast his fishing nets and he caught a great multitude of fishes and experienced an overflow (Luke 5:1-11). It was when the patriarch Jacob submitted fully to God that the nation Israel was born through him (Genesis 32:22-32). The human will is sacrosanct and independent. God designed us to exercise our wills however we choose to. A deliberate surrender of one’s will to God will release supernatural powers to that same person (John 1:12-13).
The Power of Expectancy: Clichés that are popular have a way of losing their potency and severity. One of such clichés in Christian circles is expectation is the mother of manifestation. We hear it regularly but fail to ponder on its relevance and truthfulness. Often times those who have little or no expectations from God lose out from His generosity and magnanimity. Expectancy and patience (or waiting ability) are Siamese twins (Hebrews 6:12, 15). Expectancy and paying attention are also blood relations (Acts 3:4-5). Those who have low expectations of God do not wait on Him to manifest. Our expectation commits God to act on our behalf. The prophet Elijah was praying to God to cause rain to fall after three and half years of drought. Seven times he kept asking his servant to check the sky for clouds. For six times the servant came back with ‘no cloud’ answer, until the seventh time he reported seeing the cloud. (1 Kings 18:41-46). Elijah was praying and expectant! May the Almighty enable us to have high expectations in Jesus’ name.
The Power of His Anointing: Every born-again believer has the yoke-destroying and burden-removing power of God resident in him or her (Isaiah 10:27, 1 John 2:20). Apostle Peter was very conscious of the overflowing power (anointing) within him. When the crippled man at the gate of the temple looked up to him and John for alms, he said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Peter invoked the name of Jesus Christ and the anointing within to heal a cripple of forty years old who had never walked before. Talk of the exceedingly abundantly! Peter was conscious of what he carried: the yoke-destroying and burden-removing power of God. Are you conscious of the indwelling Holy Spirit within? Do you engage the Holy Spirit regularly by speaking His language, listening to Him and obeying Him?
CONCLUSION: May we all receive grace to cooperate with God in order to experience the exceedingly abundantly this month in Jesus’ name.