Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. This is week number seven in
our series that we've entitled, Powerful Prayer.
Powerful Prayer. Now, if you've been to previous
messages, have you learned anything? Has anything
been revealed to you through this series? Well,
if we say that there's a powerful prayer, then
that lets us know that there might be prayers
that aren't too powerful, right? Jesus talked
about that. I mean, Jesus often, the Bible says,
he often went off by himself to talk with the
Father. And then his disciples one time, because
they noticed how powerful Jesus was as far as,
being used by the Spirit of God and led and empowered
by the Spirit of God. And they said, you know
what? This might have something to do with his
prayer life. He says, prayer is so important.
So they asked him, they said, teach us how to
pray. Teach us how to pray. So Jesus started
out by telling them how not to pray. This is
what we call not powerful prayer. Matthew 6,
starting in verse 7. Jesus said, when you pray,
don't babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They
think their prayers are answered merely by repeating
their words again and again. So, look at the
person beside you and tell them, don't babble
on. Don't just be memorizing some religious phrases
and spouting them off. Because powerful prayer
is not mindless, meaningless repetition. It's
okay to teach your children or your grandchildren
how to pray and maybe memorize in a prayer. But
if, you know, if you're even a teenager and before
you go to bed, you say, now lay me down to sleep.
You might as well be saying, twinkle, twinkle,
little star. Okay? Because it's not about mindless,
meaningless repetition. And I'm going to go ahead
and throw this out there. Even the Lord's Prayer
can be mindless, meaningless repetition if all
we're doing is spouting it off, not considering
the words that we're praying. It's a powerful
prayer. It's an example of a powerful prayer.
But for us to just rip it off, it's not a powerful
prayer. Okay? So, a powerful prayer is not mindless,
meaningless repetition. If you find yourself,
when you're praying, saying the same phrases
over and over again, shake yourself. Shake yourself.
Because you're communicating with God. You're
not doing a religious exercise. You're communicating
with the living God. What else did Jesus say?
He said, don't be like them. For your Father
knows exactly what you need, even before you
ask Him. So, powerful prayer is not begging God
to do what you want Him to do. I can't tell you
how many years that was what my prayer life was.
I mean, I had a list of what I wanted God to
do for me, and I have a list of some people that
asked me to pray for them. So I've got a list
to ask God to do for them. I've got a list to
ask God to do for me. And my prayer was just
begging God. God, give me this, give me that,
give me this, give me that. I want this. And
God, you know, my friends need this, so give
them this and give them that. That's all, folks.
Or amen, whichever. Because sometimes we use
the word amen to mean that's all God, that's
all I got. Amen, I'm done. Even though amen actually
means, you know, I agree. I mean what I just
prayed and I agreed with it. And if you're praying
with somebody else and you say amen, you're agreeing
with them. Okay? So powerful prayer is not begging
God to do what you want him to do. It's not what
it is. Powerful prayer is not talking at God.
We're all guilty at times. It's not talking at
God, it's talking with God. It's communicating
with God. Because He wants to speak to you. And
if we will consult Him, You know, he knows everything
about everything. We're limited. He knows everything.
And you might say, well, he knows everything
spiritual. He created this place. Okay. This
is just a recap, so I need to quit preaching.
Here we go. Jesus said, pray like this. What
does that mean? It means that the prayer that
he's about to give us is a pattern, a guide,
or model. He did not say pray this. He said pray
like this. Okay? So he gave us a model of powerful
prayer. Then he started out. Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy. Hallowed be thy name.
However you memorize it. Well, we need to keep
God's name holy. His name needs to be special
to us. Right? Set apart, special to us. He's
our father. He's the one who gave us life. I
mean, physical life, spiritual life, abundant
life. It all comes from him. So we acknowledge
him. And his name, may his name be kept holy.
God, your name is special to me. We just finished,
wrapped up a whole series. on who God is and
what His names are that He has given us. His
names let us know His identity. His names let
us know the relationship that He wants to be
in with us. His names let us know His activity
in the earth, what He does. So I'll share this
example again. I know we've got some people who've
heard this multiple times, but we've got people
who haven't heard it at all. Here's the difference
between a begging prayer and a powerful prayer.
Does anybody need some peace every once in a
while? This is a beggar's prayer for peace. Oh,
God. I'm just in such turmoil. I just don't know.
I'm just twisted up and wrapped up. God, please.
God, please give me some peace. God, I need some
peace really bad. Please, God. Please, God, I
need peace. I got to have some help. It's a beggar's
prayer. Beggar's prayer. I didn't mean to step
on your toes. I meant to shoot a dart into your
heart. That's a beggar's prayer. Here's what
a powerful prayer looks like. Oh God, you're
the one who gives me life. You are my life giver.
You are the one who pours out blessing over me
and over my life. God, you have given me eternal
life and I can know you. And God, you offer me
abundant life. Jesus, you came to give us life
and that we would have it more abundantly. Life
to the full. And God, the preacher told me that
one of the big indicators of abundant life is
that I can have peace. No matter what I'm facing.
You told us in your word that your peace surpasses
understanding. And it'll guard our hearts and
our minds. Hey, God, your name is so special
to me. You are Yahweh Shalom. God, your name
is peace. Your name is peace. And I worship you
because since your name is peace, I know that
all the peace I need is found in you. And I acknowledge
you and I receive you. I receive who you are.
That's a powerful prayer. That's a powerful prayer.
Just praying like that, all of a sudden you will
feel the peace of God rising up on the inside
of you. You can experience it. All right, let's
keep going. I'm not supposed to re -preach all
this. Powerful prayer begins with God's name
being special to you, his identity, the relationship
he wants to be in with you, his activity. Then
he said, may your kingdom come soon. May your
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. How
many of you can look around in this earth and
the things going on and you can say, Well, if
God's will is being done, something's messed
up. Anybody? I mean, if you look at the world
around you and you say, boy, heaven's going to
be just like this, then I need to smack you on
the back of the head. Right? If God's will was
always being done in the earth, why would he
say, God, your kingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. God's will is perfect
in heaven. But down here, sin has messed it up.
So here's what we're doing. Jesus is saying,
pray like this. God, I know. There are awesome
realities in heaven. And God, I'm reaching out
to you because I want your kingdom to come. Your
will be done in the situation that I'm facing
today and in my life. I'm looking for your will
to be done. Calling down those heavenly realities
into our temporal existence. That's a powerful
prayer. Powerful prayer is declaring heavenly
realities into our temporal, physical realm.
Next one, give us today the food we need. Now,
we're not begging. Remember, we're not beggars.
We're children of God. If we're in Christ, we...
I want to tell you something. I don't know if
you grew up in a decent family or not, but I
never begged my mom and dad for the next meal.
Now, if you had to, I'm sorry. Okay? Because
I know some people have grown up begging God,
begging their parents to eat, you know? But that
shouldn't be. A loving parent. Hey, listen to
this. God is Yahweh Ra. He's a good shepherd.
He's my good shepherd. So we can talk to him,
declaring who he is. He's El Shaddai. He's more
than enough to meet every need you have. More
than enough. Just like the outlet. We've got
a plug in it right now, but it has more power
than we're drawing. More than enough. So we approach
God. As our source, like we talked about earlier,
and we say, God, you're my source. You've already
promised to take care of me. You're my good shepherd.
Right? You're Yahweh Jireh, which means you will
see to it. You're going to see to it. You know?
I know you guys are about to move, right? There's
some unknown stuff going on. But you look to
God as you always are. You trust Him. God, I
know that you're going to see to it. And you
already kind of shared that with me outside,
but I'm just giving an example for everybody.
You know that God's going to see to it, right?
Here we go. Powerful prayer is based on, get
this, appropriating. who we are and what we have
in Christ. Best example we could come up with
was a debit card. You got a debit card. You got
a bank account. You've never seen the money.
It's just been direct deposited. But you believe
that it's in there enough to when you go out
to eat, you pull out your debit card to pay for
it. And all of a sudden you touch it on this
little thing and money that you've never seen
all of a sudden comes out of somewhere. And comes
into that little machine at the restaurant. So
your resources are provided for, but they're
yours and you're just making a demand on them.
You're appropriating them. Right? Even though
you can't see it, you don't understand how it
works. Maybe you do, but let's just pretend that
we don't. It's just like that. God is more than
enough. For everything you face. And we're not
just talking about material things. When I start
talking about a debit card, you start thinking
just material. God's more than enough for every
need you face. He's already. Here's the deal.
The Bible is filled with promise after promise
after promise. And I can almost guarantee you
that he's already given you a promise for what
you're facing. And because he's already promised
it, it's already yours if you're in Christ and
all you have to do is connect to it. That's powerful
prayer. And forgive us our sins as we have forgiven
those who sin against us. There's one thing that
will shut down a powerful prayer. And that's
bitterness. and unforgiveness. Shut it down.
Even if you get all, everything we've said so
far that Jesus told us, and you communicate with
him that way, if there's bitterness and unforgiveness
in your heart, turns off powerful prayer. Notice,
see, some people think, well, since Jesus said
this, and I'm supposed to beg him to forgive
me every time I pray, and you know, I think the
key word here is as. Everybody say as. When we
talk to God and say, God, today I want you to
forgive me just like I have forgiven everybody
else that's done me wrong. Hello? Does that not
wake up? I mean, to consider that that's what
you're saying to God, God, I want you to forgive
me just like I forgive. What that does is that
like wakes us up. We need to forgive, right?
Because unforgiveness and bitterness will shut
your prayer life down. It's probably what the
next slide says. Unforgiveness disconnects our
prayers. From the power of effectiveness. Verse
13. Don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue
us from the evil one. And our message on that
is this. God is not the tempter. Let no man say
that he's tempted by God. That's what the Bible
says. God does not tempt people to sin. Never
has, never will. Okay? So powerful prayer proclaims
our victory over temptation. If you've been in
a Romans Bible study, you know that the Bible
says we're dead to sin and alive to Christ. We're
no longer a slave to sin. Jesus, you know, defeated.
I mean, the victory is in Him, right? So we agree
with God that we're dead to sin and alive to
Him. More than conquerors. We proclaim our victory
over temptation, our deliverance from evil through
Christ. See, all this is yours in Christ. Everything
we're talking about is already yours in Christ.
Whether you have been appropriating it or not,
it's yours. So since powerful prayer is declaring
the realities of heaven and appropriating what
is ours in Christ, how important is it that we
know what some heavenly realities are? Is that
important? Does anybody think that's important?
I got like two people looking at me like that.
That's pretty important. If powerful prayer is
declaring them, I need to know what some of them
are. How important is it for us to know? who
we are and what we have in Christ. How important
is that? If we're going to appropriate those
things, what Christ has already paid and purchased
for us and he's given us, don't we need to know
it? I mean, I printed a little card and handed
it out, right? We went through all of Paul's
letters and we looked at what we have in Christ
and who we are in Christ. Does anybody still
have that? Maybe we need to print up some more.
But it's more than just having a piece of paper.
Here's the deal. It's more than just hearing
the information and having head knowledge. It's
bigger than that. Bigger than that. The big difference
is revelation. Everybody say revelation. The
big difference is to become established. Everybody
say established. Because I can tell you that
Jesus left you his peace and all the peace you
ever need is available to you. I can tell you
all that. You can know the information. But until
it becomes a revelation, hey, it's raining, everybody.
I can see everybody. It's raining. Listen, it's
more than simply knowing the information. Here's
the deal. In order for anyone in this room to
have revelation from God, you're going to have
to be serious about seeking God. It's not just
going to fall in your lap. It's not just falling
in your lap. We seek a lot of stuff, don't we?
Come on, let's be honest. We seek a lot of stuff.
We need to make sure we're seeking God more than
we're seeking a lot of the stuff we're seeking.
If we want some revelation, we've got to seek
Him while He may be found. And I'm here today
to tell you that He can be found. He wants to
be found. Just like a parent playing hide -and
-go -seek with a child, you don't hide in some
place that you know that they will never find
you. Kid runs around for hours looking for you.
Right? You want to be found. You want to... Well,
sometimes you don't want to be found if you're
trying to get away from your kid, but I'm talking
about if you're in a game of hide -and -seek.
Right? God wants to be found by you. He's not
just going to dump this revelation in your lap
without you seeking it. He calls you to come.
It's more than just knowing the information that's
being established in it. It's like you got to
know it. You got to know it. With a confident
expectation. That's the word hope in the New
Testament. It's translated confident. Expectation.
And then you can anticipate with pleasure because
you know God and you know He's good and you know...
Hello? All right. That's all recap. Look to the
person beside you and tell them, listen fast.
Listen fast. Last week, we looked at what I call
the Ephesians 1 prayer that Paul prayed. For
the believers in Ephesus. And we looked at that
and compared it to, you know, the Lord's Prayer,
and we saw that that was a very powerful prayer.
Has anyone prayed it this week? I was hoping
to see at least one hand. Okay. I think I saw
two. See? I'm going to be the pastor in a minute.
If you don't apply it, it's not going to work
in your life. And here's the deal. I want it
to work in your life. God wants it to work in
your life. Because that's the way we're going
to change four corners and change the world is
when It becomes real. And we apply. Right? Okay.
Take that hat off. Today we're going to look
at what I call the Ephesians 3 prayer. Another
powerful prayer that lets us know some things
that are already ours in Christ. And God wants
us to take hold of them. Ephesians 1 prayer was
praying for wisdom and revelation from God. That
he would show us these things in a way that we
could take hold of them. So we put that prayer
into our own words and handed it out to everybody
last week. I've got this prayer printed out with
my, I call it the DFV version, Dean Forrest version
at the bottom. Because I just put it from...
I changed it from Paul praying for the believers
in Ephesus to Dean praying this powerful prayer
to God. And you've got to remember, it's more
than just reading the paper. Because even this
can become mindless, meaningless repetition.
Here we go. Ephesians 3, verses 14 through 21.
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. Can you see that that's
following that Lord's Prayer model? Can you see
it? He's acknowledging God as creator. He is
so overwhelmed by the goodness of God that he
falls to his knees. Because he's just overwhelmed.
He's in awe of God. He's in prison, but he's
in awe of God. Things around him aren't going
perfectly. We could say that he's having a bad
day if he's in prison, right? But that doesn't
matter. He's in awe of the goodness of God right
in the middle of the prison. Paul kneels because
he's overwhelmed by the greatness of what God
has done and by the awesomeness of what God wants
to do in his people. He's just overwhelmed. When
was the last time you were overwhelmed by God?
When was the last time you were in awe of God?
You're just so overwhelmed of his goodness. That
is chasing after you every day. You might need
to slow down and let it catch you every once
in a while. Get this. I pray that from God's
glorious, unlimited resources. From that, that
he will empower you with inner strength through
his spirit. Y 'all are just looking at me like
a calf looking at a new gate. Look. Paul knew
that God has glorious, unlimited resources. And
out of those glorious, unlimited resources, God
wants to empower his people. With inner strength.
If you're in Christ, the Spirit of God has taken
up residence on the inside of you. God is on
the inside. And through God's glorious unlimited
resources, He wants to empower you with inner
strength. Now we know what outer strength is,
but what's inner strength? Well, God's resources
are glorious and unlimited. Look at the person
beside you and tell them God is limitless. What
are we learning from this? We can't live for
God in our own strength. You can't do it on your
own. You can't do it out of your soul, out of
your thought life, right? Out of your desires.
You can't live for God. That way. If you try
to live for God that way, you'll be very frustrated
in your Christianity, in your life. What we need
is some inner strength. It only comes through
the Holy Spirit. Inner strength. To empower.
means to infuse strength. I want you to think
of filling an empty container or let's even put
it this way. Think of a sponge. I meant to bring
my sponge today. It's been a long time since
I used it as an illustration. But God wants to
fill us. Like if I had a bowl of water and a
sponge and I squeezed the sponge and put it in
the water and let it soak up. If I lift that
sponge out of the water, what's going to happen?
It's going to drip. It's going to flow. It's
going to drip all over the place. I will not
be able to stop it because it's filled. It's
completely filled. And God wants us to be empowered
by him in the same way. That's why Jesus said,
there's going to be a river of living water flowing
out of you. I've heard people preach on that,
and it was like, it's just going to be awesome.
But it's not just filling you. It's flowing out
of you. Now, we can enjoy being filled. But the
purpose is to flow out of you, to make a difference
in your family, to make a difference in your
business, to make a difference at your job, flowing
out of you. The life and the love, the power
of God flowing out of us. When your inner man
is strong, you can face any outer storm. Let
the winds blow, baby. Right? They're not going
to take me down. When the inner man is strong,
you can face any outer storm. When you're filled
on the inside, what happens on the outside cannot
break you. Cannot break you. I'm going to be
honest. Sometimes you might feel like it's going
to break you. You just need more of this power
that Paul is praying for. And we need to be praying
for the same thing Paul is praying for for the
believers in Ephesus. This power, this inner
strength. So we won't be broken. So we can face
the outer storms of this life in a fallen world.
Verse 17, then... Christ will make his home in
your hearts as you trust him. So I believe this
is more of acknowledging. Acknowledging. And
how do I need to word this? Opening ourselves.
Acknowledging God and opening ourselves. For
Christ to make his home in us. He wants to abide
in us. A lot of people come here to visit. But
some people abide. There's a difference between
visiting and abiding. You know. There's a difference
between visiting God if you come to a Lathian
church for at least an hour and 45 minutes. There's
a difference. between visiting God for an hour
and 45 minutes or Him dwelling in you. Make His
home. There's a Greek word. I'm not going to
try to pronounce it. It means to settle down
and be at home. You've probably heard of this
picture before, but think of your... yourself
as a house and you know a lot of us when we invite
Jesus in when we accept him as Lord and Savior
we let him come to the formal living room part
of our heart but we sure don't want him in the
garage we We don't want him in the spare room
where we throw everything so people don't see
it. I don't know if you live like I live, but
we don't have a spare room. But Jeffrey's old
bedroom, he wouldn't be able to sleep in it if
he showed up tonight. Even in 280 square feet.
So, how much of your life are you opening to
God? He wants to have free access to all of you.
And when you give him free access to all of you,
your power is going to increase. I mean, you
know. Trust me, you're going to like it if you
give him free access. You're going to like it.
Jesus doesn't want to just be a guest. He wants
to take residence as Lord over our lives. We
need to let him make himself at home in our thought
life, in our emotions. In our priorities. In
our relationships. We don't need to have Jesus
compartmentalized into specific areas of our
lives. He wants to be Lord of every one of your
boxes. Sometimes when Ganna and I are talking,
all of a sudden I say, what are you talking about?
Because we've been talking about one thing and
then all of a sudden she's pulled out a box.
I have no idea what she's talking about. So I
say, okay, honey, what box are we talking about
now? Part of communication, you know, I'm trying
to learn. But I always have to clarify what box
we're talking about because I'm just totally
confused, right? So it's easy for us to have
a Sunday box and a Jesus box and then have all
these other boxes. He's not really part of our
lives. Let him make himself at home in every
part. Continuing verse 17. Your roots will grow
down into God's love and keep you strong. So
here we have two pictures kind of put together.
Two images. Roots, which represent growth. Everybody
say growth. And then foundation, which represents
stability. Everybody say stability. So we're
about to start talking about love. If you wonder
why love's popped up here, but love, the love
of God, agape love, we've talked about that a
lot. Love is both the soil a believer grows in,
and love is also the foundation that we build
on. Look to the person beside you and remind
them God is love. God does a lot of things, but
we wouldn't even know what love is without God
because God is love. When your roots grow deep
in love, in the love of God and the love of people,
guess what? Storms can't knock you down. You
know, a tree with roots that go down deep and
go wide, those are the ones that stand in a storm.
The ones without a good root structure. Those
are the ones who blow over very quickly. So as
followers of Christ, our roots have to grow down
deep into His love. We find our stability through
love. Verse 18. May you have the power. Everybody
say power. May you have the power to understand.
Everybody say understand. So this is revelation
again, right? Wisdom and revelation. May you
have the power to understand as all God's people
should. Look at the person beside you and tell
them, you can't understand. And then tell them
this, you should understand. I mean, that's what
it says, right? May you have the power to understand
as all God's people should. How wide? How long?
How high, how deep his love is. Four dimensions.
Everybody say wide. Everybody say long. Everybody
say high. If you hadn't said any one of those,
everybody say deep. Describe. No, I didn't tell
you to say that. Those four dimensions describe
the limitless nature of Christ's love. His love
is wide enough to reach everyone. You know, sometimes
I talk to people and what they've gone through
in life, they just say, I'm out. You know, I've
gone too far. Has anyone ever talked to somebody
like this? I've gone too far. Right? But God's
love is wide enough to reach everyone. No one
is left out. You're not left out. even the person
that you might think you've given up on, guess
what? God hasn't given up on. His love is long
enough to last forever. Hallelujah. It doesn't
give up. God's love never gives up. His love
is high enough to lift us. Everybody, hold out
your hand. Lift. His love is high enough to lift
us out of sin and out of shame. There's no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus, what the Bible
says. So his love can lift us out of that. For
so many years of my religious experience, it
was about sin and shame. I mean, that's what
I focused on all the time. God doesn't want us
to focus on that, our ability to perform. He
does not want us to just focus on that. Because
if that's all we're focusing on, we're useless
for the kingdom of God in this world. Because
it's just about me. Just about me. So his love
is high enough to lift you out of sin and shame.
His love is deep enough to reach the lowest valley
of your life. It's probably all of us at times
get to the point where we think, hey, we're at
the bottom. We're at the bottom. We feel hopeless
and helpless. You might think you're the only
one that ever gets there. That's the lie of the
enemy. He wants you to think that you're the
worst Christian that's ever been. He just wants
to keep you messed up. God's love is deep enough
to reach you wherever you are. And he wants to
not only reach you, but he wants to lift you.
Right? Verse 19, may you experience the love
of Christ, though it is too great to understand
fully. He just prayed for power to understand
and know it, right? To become established in
the love of God. But then he says, I don't want
you to just know it or be established in it.
I want you to experience the love of Christ.
I believe God wants all of us to be like John.
Every single one of us. When you read the gospel
of John, John never says, hey, I'm John, I'm
writing this book. Here's what he says. When
he talks about himself, he says, I'm the one
that Jesus loves. You know? I'm the one that
Jesus loves. He doesn't say I. He calls himself.
He says, the one that Jesus loved was in a race
to go see the empty tomb, right? He's talking
about himself. Because he had the revelation.
God loves me. God's love for me does not depend
on me jumping through all the hoops, right? It
doesn't depend on me being perfect. If it depends
on somebody being perfect, we're all not experiencing
the love of God. May you experience the love
of Christ, though it is too great to understand
fully. Listen, you may not understand it fully,
but you can experience it completely. The love
of God. It will change your life. The deepest
revelation of God does not come through our mind.
It doesn't come through our soul. It's not through
our intellect. The deepest revelation of God
is going to come through intimacy with Him. acknowledging
him, acknowledging his spirit in us. The more
you know his love, the more you know his love,
the more stable and unshakable you will become.
I'm glad two of you are smiling. Who wants to
be more stable? Who wants to be unshakable? Well,
then maybe we need to start praying like this.
This powerful prayer. Then you will be made complete
with all the fullness. Listen, all the fullness
of life and power. that comes from God. You might
say, I can't have that. Well, then guess what?
You can't have it. I'll agree with you. If you
say you can't have it, I will just agree with
you. But if you say, If God's word says it's
mine and God's word says I can have it, then
I can have it. And I'm going for it. I'm going
for it. I'm going to put my words in alignment
with what God said. And I'm going for it because
God said it was mine. God said I could have it.
So I'm going to have it. If you say that, I'm
going to agree with you too. And I'm going to
tell you something else. God's going to agree
with you. Whichever one you choose. God wants
us to be made complete with all the fullness
of life and power that comes from Him. My, my,
my. Fullness means saturation. Lord, fill me
until there's no room left for anything else.
Full, full, full. Think about that sponge again.
And when you're saturated with His fullness,
There's not going to be any room for bitterness.
Not going to be any room for fear. When you're
saturated with God's fullness, it's just going
to push everything else out. To be filled with
God's fullness means that you're filled with
His character, that you're filled with His peace,
that you're filled with His joy, that you are
filled with His power. And these things are overflowing
through your life. The more we are filled with
him, the more we're going to become like him.
It's so powerful. You might have memorized this,
or you might have been here on New Year's when
I preached about this verse. But it says this,
now all glory to God, who is able through his
mighty power at work within us. Where's this
power working? In you. 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. Look to the person beside you and
say, I can ask a lot. I can ask a lot. I can
think a lot. I don't know. I've never had a problem
with vision. I don't know if you have or not.
You hang out with me a little bit, you're going
to figure out I've never had a problem with vision.
And this tells me that His power can work in
me and accomplish more than I could even ask
Him or think about asking Him. Can you see it?
Can you see it? Are you going anywhere? Are you
wanting to go anywhere spiritually? I mean, because
if you're not going anywhere, you're already
there. That was another message another day.
Another bumper sticker. Infinitely. That says...
To accomplish infinitely more. Infinitely means
it's too great to be measured. And this really,
this really flew all over me. You can never overestimate
God's power. You can only underestimate it. I'm
going to say that again, just because I liked
it so much. You can't overestimate God's power.
We can only underestimate what God can do. You
can only underestimate it. God is not limited
by our imagination. It's infinitely more. God's
not limited by our imagination. He's not limited
by our past. So many people look at their past
and say, well, God can only do so much in my
life because of... Right? He's not limited by
that. The only thing that limits Him is our lack
of faith. That's the only thing that will limit
Him. He can do more than you can ask, more than
you can imagine, more than you can dream. And
He does it through His power working in you.
So that means we need to be filled with His power.
Are you with me? Remember, that was part of the
prayer a minute ago. So we need to be filled
with His power for us to see this. In Christ,
you are not powerless. In Christ, you are a carrier
of divine power, the power of God and the purpose
of God. This is available to those who seek.
And the prayer ends like this, glory to him and
the church. Christ Jesus, through all generations,
forever and ever, let it be. Amen. Glory to him
in the church. I'm just going to remind you,
this word church is a compound Greek word that
means called out once. It doesn't mean a building.
It doesn't mean an organization. It means people.
So glory to God in the church, in us, and in
Christ Jesus through all generations forever
and ever. Paul started that prayer on his knees
in awe of God. Just overwhelmed by how good God
was. And then he ends his prayer lifting up his
hands, praising God. Being in awe of God. Declaring
those heavenly realities. Appropriating what
he's already promised and given us. This is powerful
prayer. This is powerful prayer. And going ahead
and getting happy about it and praising him because
he knows that that's what God wants to do. So
he ends his prayer in hope. That confident expectation.
Because he's prayed a powerful prayer, so now
he has a confident expectation that he's going
to see it. Because the effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man avails much. Another translation
says it produces wonderful results. Wonderful
results. Who won't see some wonderful results
for their prayers? Well, we've got to start praying
powerful prayers. We've got to start praying
in agreement with what's already ours and what
Jesus has already given us. And then we take
hold of it. And we go ahead and get happy about
it even before we see it answered. Because we
are confidently expecting. This powerful prayer
is God's invitation to live in overflow. To live
our lives strengthened by the Spirit, rooted
in the love of God, filled with the fullness
of God, and walking in the divine power of God.
This isn't just a prayer. This is a Holy Spirit
-inspired prayer, right? Because the Word of
God is God -breathed. Hello? So all these things
are yours. Somebody smile and say, these things
are mine. Do you believe that these things are
yours? When it comes down to it, the world doesn't
need more religious people. What the world needs
is to have some people overflowing with divine
love and power. That's what the world's looking
for. Not just religious people who go to church
on Sunday, but people who are overflowing with
the love of God and the power of God. That's
the way it started. That's the way it started.
And that's the way it needs to be today. All
right. Here's Dean Forrest's version of this
prayer. Like I said, the pages are back there
on the table. And you can take it. But don't
just read it. Here's the way I rewrote it. Father,
you are the creator of heaven and earth. I'll
go ahead and throw in. This whole place is yours.
Everything in it, the fullness of it, it's all
yours. You're the creator of heaven and earth.
And I want to ask you something today. I want
to ask you to empower me today with inner strength.
Empower me. Empower me with this inner strength
from your glorious unlimited resources, God.
You are more than enough, right? You're more
than enough. Empower me by your spirit. Jesus,
thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for
making your home in my heart. And I want to tell
you that I trust you. Completely. I trust you
more than I trust myself. God, I trust you completely.
Not holding back anything. I trust you. God,
I ask you to give me the power. Help me. Empower
me. To understand the width and the length and
the height and the depth of your love. I desire,
God, to experience your love in such a way that
I become established in it. And I experience
your love in such a way that I'm strengthened
by it. God, make me complete with all the fullness
of life and power. It only comes from you. I
glorify you. I glorify, if you remember from
a previous study, it's like, you're the weightiest
thing. You're the worthiest one. I glorify you.
God, you're able. God, I know you're able. You're
able through your mighty power to work in me
and to work through me to accomplish infinitely
more. So much that I can't even measure it or
see it or understand it more than I can ask and
more than I can think. God, you're able. God,
you are worthy. You're worthy of all glory, all
honor, all praise. God, you're worthy. Through
all generations. Through my kids. Through everybody
that comes in my family line after me, God. You're
worthy. of all glory and praise, through all
generations, forever and ever. Let it be. Let
it be. I'm not just saying this. I agree with
it. God, let it be. God, these are the promises
of your word. I put myself in agreement with
him. God, let it be. Like Mary said, let it be
unto me according to your word. Let it be unto
me. God, I'm expecting to see wonderful results
in my life. And you know what? I'm already happy
about it. This online worship experience was
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