Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think,
ABLE TO DO FAR BEYOND ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK
After the prayer, Paul is glorifying God. His prayer indicates that he is expecting amazing things from God, expecting God to show up in a big way, in an amazing way, to work something deep, something enduring in the lives of the people, work within them, for them to be all they can be in Christ.
And this verse is the basis for the confidence that God is able to do far more than we ask or think. But we should also ask. But God is not limited by our asking. God's power is without limits. And it is not just beyond; it is far beyond what we can ask or think.
We need to realize that known to God are all His works from long ago (Acts 15:18), and He already set things in motion.
We see His power in creation, where, on his own initiative, he set the course of things and created the animals, all based on his own power, without any external prompting. So God is not a passive observer of history, but an active participant and initiator.
And he created man, and man was given the task of naming the animals (Genesis 2:19–20), so we see the divine desire to work through men, to see man take the initiative in creation. Prayer, therefore, is one way we take the initiative.
Jesus said that, as the Father has sent him, he has sent us (John 20:21). Part of the sending is our praying; we are sent to pray to our Father in heaven, and in that way we collaborate with God. He said if we ask for anything in his name, he will do it (John 14:13–14). He invites us to take the initiative.
In another place, Paul acknowledged a Christian leader who labors in prayer for some people (Colossians 4:12). So we see prayer as a form of labor, as a way we labor with God in people’s.
To buttress that point, Jesus said that Satan had asked to sift the disciples, but he had prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail (Luke 22:31–32). He labored for Peter; he supplied something to Peter in the place of prayer. He prayed that Peter would continue to believe no matter what. In another place.
Similarly, Paul linked prayer with the supply of the Spirit of God (Philippians 1:19), like spiritual reinforcement.
THE POWER THAT IS WORKING WITHIN US
Paul, in the focus verse, links what God will do to the power working within us. What power is working within us? It is the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the animating principle within us, the code of the divine life, the deposit of endless divine possibilities, the Spirit of life, the life of God.
What Paul wants done is something with the people.
He had told them about what God had done in the eternal part, when He chose them in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3–4).
And what He did in time, raising them together with Christ and seating them with Him in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority and power (Ephesians 2:4–6; cf. 1:20–21).
Now he prays that God will work in them in the here and now, on an ongoing basis.
The power is working within us; it is not resting.
In another place, Paul wrote that God is at work in us both to do and will of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
Still, in another place, Paul said the one who began a good work in some people will perfect it until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).
So God is at work within us. His work is ongoing; it is moving forward. Within us is the divine workshop where God is fashioning us into the image of his son.
All these because of his presence within us, his power, the endless possibilities locked up within us.
So Paul can make that request confidentially because of what he knows about God, about the power of God, and about the divine operational base within us through the Holy Spirit. God does not have to put the raw material together. Everything is already set within us.
God has come down is what Paul is saying. He has come down within us to transform us from within, to turn us into the image of his dear son.
The Holy Spirit Jesus promised has come (Acts 2:33). In prayer, Paul is saying this is the direction in which we want the Holy Spirit to work.
On divine invitation, Solomon asked God for wisdom, and God gave him exceedingly abundantly above what he could ask or think (1 Kings 3:5–13); something similar is reflected in the focus verse.
In that time, God made himself available to Solomon, for that kind of response to prayer; now he is all of us, without exception. We all have the privilege to experience the “far beyond all that we ask or think” of God in our lives.
God told Solomon, and only Solomon, to ask anything. Jesus said we should ask, and it shall be given to us (Matthew 7:7).
As I mentioned before, he said that if we ask anything in his name, God will do it (John 14:13–14), and Paul now says that God is able to do more than we can understand, more than we can ask for.
Again, the invitation that was exclusively for Solomon is now available to all of us.
Can I hear a “Thank you, Jesus?”