“May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” –Eph 3 (emphasis mine)

This beautiful passage is famous! Another version says, “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” (NKJV).

God’s able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Wow!

I’ve loved this Scripture for years. I love knowing God is able to completely blow our minds by doing far more than we could even dream!  That is amazing!

So why, after so many years of reading this passage, have I never seen the last part: “According to the power that works in us”? 

Is the Apostle Paul suggesting that perhaps God is waiting to blow our minds by using – us?  Is that part of this “exceedingly abundantly” business He’s ready to do?

Also, I realized for the first time that this passage doesn’t say GOD WILL DO exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think. It says GOD IS ABLE.

But His ability is “through His mighty power at work within us”.

Whoa whoa whoa. This is too much for my mind to comprehend (and I think that’s the point :).

God wants to blow our minds and do incredible things for us and people around us… through us! His power – Jesus – lives in us and enables us to do mighty deeds.

But Jesus isn’t gonna manifest in front of our eyes to help others. He borrows our “hands” and “feet”. He needs a willing person on earth.

If we had a dime for every time people ask “Where is God in ____?”, we could all quit working now.

Maybe people ask this because they’re waiting for someone to bring God’s power into the world – to demonstrate He’s real and that He cares.

Maybe God’s waiting for that, too. Maybe He’s as frustrated as we are of people questioning Him – especially in tragedies like Monday’s massive tornado disaster in Moore, Oklahoma.

Yet numerous broadcasts I’ve seen show God at work in Moore – through ordinary people like us – and it’s been so encouraging. I’ve also seen so many people reach out to meet the needs of residents there. That is God working among us, is it not?

Jesus said His followers would do what He did and even greater things!  But it’s up to us to step out. We must change our mindsets from “me seeking” to “need seeking”.

God promises that if we put His kingdom first, He will take care of all our needs for us. We’ll be carefree and able to quit trying to satisfy ourselves, knowing He’ll bless us for pursuing His interests first.

I’d like to point out one crucial point in this passage. Please note what happens before believers can go out and cooperate with God to bring His power and miracles to the world around us: His love must first penetrate our hearts. 

As God’s children, we must be so convinced He loves us that He fills us to the brim. God’s love will then fuel our good works. Without His love, we may risk running out of gas or operating out of impure motives (like wanting attention for ourselves for our good deeds instead of trying to bless others).

When we’re anchored in His love, His heart to act powerfully on people’s behalf will spring forth naturally.

Let’s try this this week: Read Scriptures about God’s love, then ask God to reveal His love to you so powerfully that you can’t help but 1) Feel secure in Him and 2) Love on other people, too.

And who knows. Maybe He’ll do exceeding, abundant things among us 🙂

I hope to have a story to share soon!