More Than I can Ask or Think

More than I can Ask or Think


In the greatest benediction ever, Apostle Paul reminds us of who God is. It will do us well to rehearse and understand that the One we call heavenly Father is the creator of heaven and earth. He works from nothing to something. He does not need any materials to build, he calls things into existence. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. He reports to no one and answers to no one. He is God and you cannot change that.

He is the God that told Virgin Mary, “With God all things are possible”. Is not this the beginning of God being made flesh and dwelling among us? Who can comprehend a virgin birth? It has never happened before and will not happen again.

Apostle Paul concluded the prayers for the Ephesians in chapter 3 as follows:

14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,[c] 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 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, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We must put the benediction (vs. 20-21) in context. It is not a stand-alone prayer. It is following other prayers. Having prayed all the specifics that Paul could pray; He concludes with the catch all of all prayers. Let’s take the words and phrases. “Him who is able” – God is more than able. He makes all things able. He will “do exceedingly abundantly above”. Paul lost it here. He did not know what else to say or how to characterize God’s quality and quantity of doing. Exceeding is already above and beyond. Then when you add abundantly you are in the zone of limitless. God will do without limit. Who will place the limitation on God when all things are made by Him?

Now God will do more than we can “ask or think”. First you would have to think before you ask. Even your thinking will not limit God. Let’s go ahead and think and ask always. The asking will verbalize some of our thinking. We ask less of what we often think about. So even if we exhaust asking for all that we thought of, we would be at the zone of things God can do that we could never think about or imagine. This is the God we serve.


I have used this prayer phrase “exceedingly abundantly above” time and again as the catch all for all that I pray for. I have seen others do the same. Before we use this prayer as a “blank check”, we must understand what Paul was praying for. Paul was praying that Christ be formed in the Ephesians. If you watch closely most of Paul’s prayers, he is almost always praying that Christ be formed in people. Hardly do you see him praying for material things and not that those are not important. So for an effective application of the benediction prayer, it is best applied toward praying for Christ’s formation in people. Paul prayed this prayer for the Ephesians and for anyone because everything about the prayer became true in Paul’s life. Who ever imagined that Paul would be a defender and an ambassador of the Gospel having persecuted the Church and participated in killing Stephen, the first martyr of the Church?

Paul is saying in his closing prayer, if God could save me from hating Him and persecuting Jesus, then God will do the same and even more for any hardest criminal and sinner ever.

Before you and I start applying “exceedingly above and beyond” prayer for that future car/house, do you have a person who you think could never turn around and become a follower of Jesus? Within your circle, who are the hardest criminal, resistant and hater of the Gospel? This person qualifies for your prayer that Paul prayed. Do you see a “baby” Christian (or yourself) and wondering would this person ever mature in Christ? Then he or she is a candidate for this prayer you can pray – “more than I can ask or think”.

Remember Jesus saying it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven and easier for a camel going through the eye of a needle (Luke 18 21-27). The disciples were like if the rich (who have received God’s favor in their cultural thinking) cannot be saved who else would be? Jesus replied by saying with God all things are possible. This is what Paul in a different context is saying. With God, anyone can be saved and established in Christ’s love – the rich, the poor, the down trodden, the hardest criminal etc.

I thank God that He never stops at answering only the prayers I ask for and never stops at the ones I think of but God goes beyond heaven to pull things I will never dream about and supplies them to me. That is a loving God. He is worthy of being called my Father. Not for what I think he can do but things I cannot think He will do. He knows my frame and my needs. Psalm 139 - “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether”.

Paul concludes by reminding us that the power of God is already at work in us so we should not be too surprised. The power of God brought us to God and made us alive while we were dead in trespasses and sins. If God’s power is able to give me a new life from the dead then He can do it for anyone else. What God has done for us in Christ, He can do for anyone else. Lord, I pray for ------(add name), that you will do exceedingly abundantly above all I can ask or think, to your glory. Amen.

So that we don’t get big heads, it is all about this: 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Yes, to God be the glory in the Church. There is no place for man’s glory in the Church. The church will be most effective if we all keep this in mind in the fore front of all we do in the Church because Christ Jesus is doing it all. 23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. Amen!






Jesus is Lord & Savior !









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