Beyond Abundance: The Astonishing Reality of God's Nature, Love, and Prayer Answering Power

Pray

God, your power and love are beyond anything we could ever imagine. You spoke creation into existence with mere words. You orchestrate reality down to a microscopic and metaphysical level we can’t possibly comprehend. A thousand years is like a day to you. You have never been defeated and never will be defeated by any enemy that stands in your way. The most powerful leaders, both today and in history, only have their authority because you’ve granted it to them. No one sits upon your throne but you alone. You have all of the near boundless reaches of the universe in your gaze, and yet for some unthinkable and astonishing reason, you are mindful of us. You created us in your image with an abundance of blessings, and yet we rebelled against you and turned your good gifts into our gods. We rob you of glory day in and day out and deserve the fullness of eternal justice and punishment for our sins against you. Yet despite our unspeakable sins, despite all of the ways we’ve turned away from you, you work a miracle greater than even creation. You waken our dead hearts to life thanks to the sacrifice of your Son and the work of your Spirit. Instead of punishment, you offer us joy and peace in you. Despite our rebellion, you welcome us prodigals back with open arms. You don’t just invite us back as subjects, but as sons and daughters. You hear each and every word we say. You are working all things all things for our good and your glory. God, you are so good to us and yet we neglect you all of the time. As we meditate on your Word tonight, draw our hearts nearer to you. You tell us in our passage tonight that you can do abundantly more than we can ask or imagine. I’m leaning on that promise tonight. God, do a work beyond our imagination tonight. Don’t let this just be another routine gathering. Give life to my feeble words. Use this as a chance to break down walls, change our hearts, place callings on our lives, create new friendships, deepen old ones, and help us to love you more. We ask all of this in the name of your Son. Amen.

Introduction

Prayer is one of the most central and yet often neglected and shallow parts of the Christian life. Whether you’ve been a Christian for a day or for many years, you probably desire a deeper, better prayer life. It’s so easy to get into endless loops of saying the same old sayings over and over again. Intellectually we know we should pray more and pray with more zeal, yet it can be so hard. In an age of instant gratification, we ask for things expecting immediate responses, and when we don’t see the result exactly as we expect, we assume our prayers weren’t answered. What’s more, we don’t often ask for the deepest longings of our hearts, as if they would be too big to ask, and instead just ask for the small and immediate wants we have in the moment. I’m just as guilty of this as anyone. Yet, over and over again in Scripture we’re told to pray. So how can we improve our prayer lives? How can we have deeper and more mature prayer lives?

How to Pray More Maturely

Tonight, we’re going to spend our time talking about how to pray more maturely. My prayer is that our time together tonight would encourage you to foster a deeper and more meaningful prayer life and that it would give you confidence to pray for big things for God’s name’s sake. In order to do this we’re going to anchor ourselves in Ephesians 3:14-21 tonight. Turn or tap with me there in your Bibles. In this passage, the Apostle Paul is going to not only pray for the church of Ephesus to have deeper prayers, but he is also going to lay out how to deepen our own prayer lives.

Ephesians 3:14-21

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

There is so much truth in that passage but if we could sum it upon in one sentence, I think Paul is telling us this: When we understand who we’re praying to and what he’s done for us, it changes the content of our prayers.

When we understand who we’re praying to and what he’s done for us, it changes the content of our prayers.

Our goal tonight is to break down that statement and this passage in order to help us mature our prayer life.

Who is God? God is Father

Let’s begin by breaking down the first part of our passage and our statement.

When we understand who we’re praying to and what he’s done for us, it changes the content of our prayers.

Before our prayer life can mature, we have to understand who we’re praying to.

There are lots of ways to describe God. In fact, all of the words in all of the languages or the world are not enough to describe Him. But out of all of the words Paul could have used to speak of God, I think it’s instructive that Paul addresses God as Father verse 14.

That one word, as we’ll see changes everything about how we address God.

What does it mean that God is our Father? Last week we talked about how we must be born again in order to be saved. Infact, to be saved is to be born again. When you repent of your sins and accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, you become a child of God. If you are a Christian tonight, you are a child of God. When Romans 8:14-17 remind us of this reality that God is our Father and we are His children:

Romans 8:14-17a: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons [and daughters] of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [and daughters], by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ”

Because God is our Father and we are His children, it changes everything about how we pray. We’re not just praying to anyone, we’re praying to our Father! We’re not just reaching out to some distant and cold figure, we’re crying out intimately to our Father!

3 Year old Illistration

Here’s an illustration that might help show us why it’s so significant that God is our Father

Imagine a 3 year old whose dad is the most powerful king in all of the land. That child doesn’t understand the power and authority that her dad has. She sees knights, advisers, subjects, and aids struggling to ask her dad anything because they are so overcome in fear because of her dad’s great power and authority. His great authority is overwhelming, particularly when you’re in his presence. Yet, that child knows the great king of the country as her dad and doesn’t hesitate to go to him at 3 in the morning to ask for something. What subject of the king would do that? None! But that 3 year old does it because she is the king’s child and he is her father. And that 3 year old doesn’t just go to her father at 3 am with the smallest request in any which way. She does it with boldness and without fear. Why? Because she’s the king’s daughter. She’s his child and he is her father. That relationship makes all of the difference. That doesn’t minimize the father’s incredible power and authority. In fact, as the 3 year old grows and natures, she will understand more and more just how powerful and great her dad is, but that won’t keep her from going to him with any request because he is her father. Likewise, because we are God’s children and He is our Father, we can go to him with any request at any time in absolutely boldness and no fear.

Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”

We can boldly approach God for anything. Lest we’re mistaken, God is not just a listening God; He is a giving God. Good fathers love to give good gifts. Good fathers love to give good gifts. Watch a new dad with their child. They love to give good gifts to their children.

I’m not a father, but I see this in my own life with my little cousin. I love to give Him good gifts, especially when they’re better than what he’s asked for. I love to see His joy when He receives good gifts.

Your Heavenly Father is not distant, affectionless, harsh, stingy, unloving, or ashamed of you. He loves you with all of His heart and loves to give you good gifts. 2000 years ago, He gave us the ultimate gift in His Son. He sent His only Son Jesus to die upon the cross to take upon the punishment we deserved for our sin so that we could be redeemed and become children of God. This leads us to the next part of our passage and phrase.

The Love of God

Let’s turn to the next part of our passage starting in Ephesians 3:16

Ephesians 3:16-19- “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Remember our summary sentence for the night

When we understand who we’re praying to and what he’s done for us, it changes the content of our prayers.

We just talked about who God is, now we’re going to talk about what He has done for us. Specifically, how he has shown His love for us, because that’s what Paul is focusing in on here.

How has God shown His love for us? We see the clearest picture of God’s love for us when we look to the cross and the immense gifts God gave us there.

Romans 5:8 tell us that- “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”

There is no clearer picture of the love of God than the cross of Christ. God sent his only begotten Son to take on flesh, truly God and truly man, to live a perfect life on our behalf, to fulfill the law, and then to take on our sin and the punishment we deserved for our sin at the cross. He died and 3 days later he rose up from the grave in victory over sin, Satan, and all of the powers of Hell. Because of that, we all who have rebelled against God, can be made sons and daughters of the King if we would trust in Him to be saved. That’s the good news of the Gospel. The amount of gifts and blessings and love in that reality of the Gospel is too great for words. We could spend the rest of our lives reflecting on that reality and we wouldn’t even scratch the surface of the glories of God’s love for us.

To mature as Christians, we must work to comprehend the love God has shown us to be able to deepen our faith and prayer life.

Paul’s not asking that these people would become Christians. They already are. As verse 17 says, they’re already “rooted and grounded in love.” Paul is desiring that they would be able to comprehend Jesus love for them even more. I think I experienced something analogous to this when I went on my first mission trip to Haiti. I come from a middle class family. By American standards, my family did just fine but I never thought of us as wealthy. We seemed to be pretty average in terms of your normal standard of living. When I went to Haiti, this all changed. I can remember being in the Miami airport before our flight to Port au Prince and being frustrated because we had to look for 30 minutes to find a Starbucks. When we stepped off of the plane in Port au Prince, it wasn’t long after the major earthquakes there, and the airport terminal was literally split in half so that only a portion of it was usable. We drove past tent cities with hundreds of tents. We saw the impact of an incredibly corrupt government that took money being sent to Haiti for healing and they squandered it for themselves. When we got to Mole St. Nicholas, where we spent most of our time on our trip, we saw people living in huts who literally had to walk 6 hours, 3 hours each way, to get halfway clean water. And here I had been frustrated because I had to look for 30 minutes for a Starbucks so I could have a Caramel Frappuccino. I had no idea how wealthy and blessed and I truly was until I saw the depths of poverty that others were living through. I didn’t become any wealthier on the trip, but I understood my wealth to a far greater degree because of it. That’s exactly what Paul is praying for the Ephesians. He’s not praying that they would become Christians. They already are. He’s praying that they would be able to comprehend the love Christ has for them more and more. We have to be able to understand our brokenness and sinfulness and lostness without Christ before we can begin to understand the greatness, glory, and grace of the love of Jesus. It takes seeing those two things in contrast to be understand the love of Christ better. We have to see that without Jesus we have nothing. Many of us here are Christians and it can be so easy to go throughout our days and not fathom the riches we have with Christ. We need to be reminded of the riches we have in Christ. Don’t take for granted all the love Jesus has for you. That’s why reading your bible, going to church, being in community, and hearing the Word preached is so important.

We can see God’s love for us everywhere; both at the cross, but also in our everyday lives. And the more we can see God’s love for us, the more we begin to comprehend just how great his love for us really is. We can see the ways that Jesus comes alongside us and comforts us in tragedy and pain. We can see how Jesus comes alongside us to give us joy in sorrow. We can see how Christ helps give us endurance to finish a school semester or a hard season at work. We see Christ’s love for us each and every day. We have to notice this in order to mature as Christians. By noticing how God shows His love for us in different times and different ways, it helps show us what to pray for. It helps deepen and mature our prayer lives.

“With All of the Saints”: Seeing Love in Community

Notice Paul doesn’t call for the people to be strengthened by themselves. Notice what he says in verse 18. He says that we need to comprehend Christ’s love with “all of the saints.” Why? Couldn’t we become like monks and just read our bibles from now until of time to understand God’s love best? No!

The best way to understand the love of Christ is in community, specifically the community of believers in the church.

It’s in community that we can see the astonishing ways Jesus loves us in ways we never could in isolation. In the community of the church, you get to see all of the different ways Jesus shows his love for people in a whole host of different ways and seasons. This is one of my favorite parts about worship.

For example, when I go to Summerfest, the summer church camp for our middle schoolers and high schoolers here at PV, I love to stand in the back during worship. I’ve served in the ministry in some capacity for over a decade now. I know the stories and struggles of so many people in the youth ministry.

And during worship at Summerfest, I get to see all of the ways Christ is specially meeting those people in their various struggles.

I get to see the student who 2 months before was ready to take his own life and how Jesus is meeting him and pulling him out of deepest, darkest night of the soul.

I get to see the leader who came into camp coasting his walk with Christ who is now experiencing the love of Jesus like they never have before and in the process of being broken out of that inbred feedback loop of going through the motions.

I get to see the married couple leading rooms who were on the verge of divorce before camp who are being met together by the love of Christ and their wounds of hurt from one another are being healed by that love as life is being breathed back into their marriage.

I get to see the student who’s not a Christian being met by the love of Christ and understanding their brokenness and need for Jesus for the first time.

I get to see that childlike faith and joy in a way I haven’t experienced in years since I grew up in church and accepted Christ at a young age.

I love watching all of this happen because I get to see all of the different ways Jesus is meeting people with His love in every stage and season of life.

One of my great privileges in my position here at PV and in Twenty-Somethings is that, as I get to know you all and your stories, as I get to hear your struggles and successes, I get to see all of the ways that Jesus is meeting you with his love. It’s one of the greatest privileges of my life.

And you all get to experience all of this too as you engage in community her and in your local church whether it’s PV or somewhere else.

God is so wise to order reality this way. By being in community with with other Christians, we get to see how God meets people in every season. Not only does this help you see Jesus’ love in ways you never would have alone, but it also prepares you to experience Jesus’ love in whatever season you’re in.

By seeing Jesus’ love in the lives of people in all different seasons, you are reminded that in every place, every season, every experience, every sorrow you can experience the love of Jesus. No matter where you’re at in life, Jesus can meet you there.

Strength to Comprehend

There’s something else I want us to see in this passage that will help us understand the love of Christ more.

Notice that Paul says in verse 18 that it takes strength to comprehend the love of Jesus. This is not something you can do without practice and lots of effort. It takes continual engagement in reading the Bible, serving, prayer, hearing the Word preached, worship, repenting of your sin, stepping out in faith over and over again to experience the love of Jesus deeper and deeper.

It’s like working out. We don’t sit on the couch, binge Netflix, down a tub of ice cream, and expect to get stronger and a six pack. It takes a healthy diet, working out, and daily discipline to get stronger and get in better shape. It’s the same with your relationship with Christ. Maybe you’re someone here today who feels stuck in your walk with Christ. Maybe he feels distant and cold. Have you checked your daily discipline in engaging with Christ? Are you reading your bible, praying daily, a member of a local church where you are serving and hearing the word preached and engaging in community? Are you tithing and stepping out of your comfort zone in sharing the Gospel, serving, or going in mission? Are you repenting of sin, seeking out mentors in the faith, or are you coming to church just to be entertained? Seriously ask yourself this. You may be doing the spiritual equivalent of bingeing Netflix and downing a tub of ice cream and expecting a six pack. And to be clear, one workout a week while eating terribly and sitting on the couch the other 6 days will not get you in shape. That’s how some of us treat church: our one workout for the week and then we get back to our unhealthy ways of life the rest of the week. That’s no way to experience Christ.

Does this mean that just because Christ feels distant that we’re totally failing? No! But it does mean that we should check to see if we are actually engaging in spiritual disciplines and seeking Christ first.

Part of the reason it takes strength to comprehend is because we should work to honor God with our minds.

What we don’t know about God we can’t worship him for. This is why Theology is so important.

Theology literally means “knowledge of God.” The more theology understand, the more we understand about God and the more we can worship him for.

For some of you, you may hear the word “theology” and assume that it’s only for seminary students and medieval monks. You may assume that theology is cold and kills passion for God. But only bad theology does that.

Do you know that every time you hear a sermon, every time you read your bible and try to understand it, every time you talk about God, and every time you read a book....you are engaging in theology. All of us have theology. The only question is whether it’s any good or not.

Good theology pushes you to love God more. The more you know about God the more you can worship him for. Good theology helps you overcome the lies that Satan tells you.

Example: Jesus knew your sins before you did them and still died for you example.

Part of the reason we do book giveaways is so that you can read accessible works of theology that will fuel your worship. The more theology you understand when paired with worship and your spiritual disciplines, the more your love for God is fueled. The more you understand good theology, the more you can understand the greatness of God, His love for you, and His Gospel.

Good theology fuels piety and worship. Good theology deepens your prayers. It helps you know who God is and what He's done for you, which changes the content and depth of your prayers.

Summary of “The Love of God”

To summarize this second part of our passage, the way we deepen our prayers is by understanding God’s love for us more deeply. We do this best in community where we can see the love of Jesus manifested in the lives of others in every season. And understanding God’s love more deeply takes strength. We should seek to know God better because what we don’t know about God we can’t worship Him for. When we understand who God is and what he has done for us, it changes the content of our prayers.

“Far More Abundantly Than We Could Ask Or Imagine”

Now we move to the final part of our passage and phrase. Look with me at Ephesians 3:20-21.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

When we understand who God is and what He has done for us, it changes the content of our prayers.

After explaining to us the glorious reality that God is our Father and His love for us is beyond anything we could ever imagine, Paul drives home the reminder of why we can go to God with anything: because the same God who is our Father and who loves us more than we could ever imagine can do more than we could ever ask or think.

There is nothing we could ask of God that would be too big for Him.

Charles Hodge explains it this way: the limits of our knowledge, understanding, and imagination are no limit to who God is and what He can do.

If all of your prayers from the last year had been answered, would the world be any different? Would lives be changed and people saved?

Pray the biggest prayers you can imagine.

There’s nothing to great to ask God. How do I know that? Because God has already given us the greatest gift that’s beyond anything we could ever imagine: He gave us Himself.

By send His son to die on our behalf to bring about our salvation, we can be in relationship with God which means we get the most satisfying, joyful, strong, steady, peaceful, and glorious gift now and forever: God Himself.

There is nothing greater than God and therefore if God has given us Himself, there’s nothing we could ask of God that would be too great for Him.

And when we ask for big things of God, He gets all of the glory in us and the Church forever and ever just like Paul prays for in verse 21.

When we know who God is and what He’s done for us, it changes the content of our prayers.

Closing Prayer