Abundantly More

 

Aug 5, 2020

Ephesians 3:20 has been a favorite verses for a long time, but have to admit I misused and understood it for years. The cool thing is that God taught me the real meaning through life before I read it with the context in mind. For most of my life I've thought about this verse in terms of the plan for my physical life and the abundance of his provision. I believe that God has a wonderful plan for my life, but I didn’t think about that fact that his plan won’t be complete until Jesus returns. I had a very short minded view of his plan for me. I also thought about the plan for me in isolation from the rest of the world. But his plan is so much bigger and better than that. It’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than you. It’s bigger than the people we love.

 

When we go back and start reading from verse 14 we can see more of the meaning of verse 20:

“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,  the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And 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. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”

Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT (Emphesis added by me)

https://bible.com/bible/116/eph.3.14-21.NLT

As I read those verses I'm surprised by the fact that there is not a single mention of/reference to physical healing , financial provision, or the like. The verses talk about inner strength, our hearts, trust, growing roots, understanding God's love, being complete, full of life, power that comes from God, and working within us. Every single one of those has to do with our inner self, not our external environment. Interesting.

I know God is more interested in our hearts than our circumstances, but man, I really though he was doing abundantly more that I can ask or think in my marriage, in my finances, in my relationships, in my children. 

But what if that is still true. What if the way he does abundantly more in the physical areas of my life starts with what he does in my heart? What if my marriage flourishes not because of my husband changing or the complications of our life subsiding, but because he changes my heart? What if when my inner self is in line with God, I make wiser financial decisions? What if my relationship with my children flourishes not because their lives are easy, but because they have experienced love from parents who are peaceful and live a life of trusting and understanding God’s love? What if my prayers should be more for the hearts of those I love, than their circumstances?

The hard truth is that even if the inner working in our lives doesn’t produce those good things we hope for, even if we face constant disappointed, pain, and suffering, God’s work in our inner self is still the best gift we can receive from him. Our heart towards God is the most important thing of all. 

 

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