Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)
Prayer is not just ‘fellowship with the Lord’. We are encouraged to ASK for what we need and desire. And Paul says, God is able to give you ABOVE what you can ask. Too many Christians are afraid to ask, I don’t know why. I have no hesitation in asking. If there is something I need, I know the Scripture, so I ask! And the Lord answers me! Now if what I am asking for isn’t right, then I don’t get it… But if it’s right – and God is a far better judge than we are if it’s right or wrong – He gives it! I think far too often, we’re afraid to ask. I have a member of staff who was brought up in a very religious home, and she was taught not to ask for anything specifically, not to presume… Yes, it was her father, and yes, he would pray for every member of the family by name, but he didn’t ask… But the Word of God says, Ask, and you will receive! It’s God’s good measure in giving! He says, ask. But it’s ABOVE what we can ask or even think.
Surely like me, you sometimes have wild dreams?! I always have done. Since a teenager I’ve always had wild dreams that weren’t possible. But if that dream, that vision is of God, it WILL happen!!! Before I entered into full-time ministry, I used to dream of being an evangelist, preaching to large numbers of people – but in reality, there was me, in a little tent, in a muddy field, with just a small group of people… But I’m dreaming of a time when I would be preaching to hundreds of people, maybe even a thousand, and I would have choirs and singers…Those were my wild dreams. But look how they’ve been fulfilled – BEYOND my wildest dreams! The tens of thousands, the massed choirs and orchestras… What has actually happened, and is happening in my life today, is something that, back then, I could only dream about! God has fulfilled even my WILDEST dreams!
The Apostle Paul says, “Unto Him who is ABLE to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY – ABOVE ALL we can ask. Why do YOU limit your asking, if God is prepared to give you ABOVE what you ask or even think…?! Not to mention your daydreams and visions…
Now look what James, the half-brother of Christ, says, in James 4:2ff, “You lust and you have not, you kill and desire and cannot obtain, you fight and you war, yet you have not, BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT!” Yes, ok, James qualifies it, you ask and receive not, but if you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your lusts – you won’t receive what you want, because you’re asking for what you shouldn’t have and what you don’t need… But he still says, YOU HAVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT!
Jesus says, ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE! He says very clearly in Mark 11:23-24, you WILL HAVE what YOU SAY! We have to make that confession of faith! In my life, if I don’t ask, if I don’t make that confession of faith, I don’t get what I want, if I don’t in faith confess it!!! And if I confess it, I get it!
I’m trying to encourage you simply to THINK DIFFERENTLY! But don’t just think differently, SPEAK differently, ACT differently. Get your Bible out and read Ephesians 3:20. And then sit down and begin to pray, because He is able to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL that we ask or think - according to the Power that works WITHIN US.