top of page

Enjoying the Abundance of God

Writer's picture: Faith WoodsFaith Woods

Updated: Sep 25, 2024

A man with arms raised in front of a sunrise

Have you ever read a passage of scripture and a deeper truth popped out at you, something that you hadn’t considered before?  This happened to me as I was reading Ephesians Chapter 3.

 

I was looking for the passage where Paul says: God is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think vs3. I was thinking about that verse as I contemplated how God can provide miraculously for people’s physical needs. I thought about the people we serve overseas and how I see God working to meet their needs in both big and small ways. In our ministry, and my own life, I have experienced how God is willing and able to meet people’s physical needs.

 

In Matthew 6:31 Jesus tells us that we don’t need to worry about what we need to eat, drink, or wear because God knows we need these things. God clearly cares about our physical needs.

 

So I was content to consider Paul’s words in that verse as they appeared on the surface. But then I looked at them in context. As I sometimes like to, I read the entire chapter in context. When I did, I realized I had to expand my thinking about what God’s abundance looks like.

 

I had interpreted the word “abundance” in this passage using my cultural preconceptions. In the West, we tend to consider abundance in terms of physical comfort, the ability to provide for our financial needs, or the accumulation of “stuff.”

 

I have found myself tempted to only consider myself as having “abundance” when my life meets the criteria of having enough money to live comfortably and then some. My life is not experiencing abundance when my budget is tight.

 

But is that what Paul is truly writing about in that verse? I believe physical blessing is not what he is talking about at all. Let's first read this beautiful passage together in Ephesians 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."

 

If you read the end of chapter 2 and into the early verses of chapter 3, you will see that he talks about how “Jew and Gentile are brought together in unity by the blood of Christ.” He talks about how Jesus broke down the barriers between God’s people (the Jews) and the rest of humanity reconciling both in “one body” through the cross with himself as the cornerstone. This “mystery” was made known to man through revelation.

 

Paul in utter humility, expresses “wonder” at the power and grace that God has given him to be the one to preach this Gospel to the Gentiles. - he, the least of all saints.

 

Theologian Willaim Barclay says this:


"Paul saw himself as a man who had been given a double privilege. He had been given the privilege of discovering the secret that it was God's will that all men should be gathered into his love. And he had been given the privilege of making this secret known to the Church and of being the instrument by which God's grace went out to the Gentiles. But that consciousness of privilege did not make Paul proud; it made him intensely humble. He was amazed that this great privilege had been given to him who, as he saw it, was less than the least of God's people."

He is writing this passage as he sits in a Roman prison. He encourages the church in Ephesus: not to lose heart, and to be bold, and confident in their faith. He tells the Ephesians that he "bows his knee before the Father, praying that they would be strengthened through God’s spirit. He wanted them to know the "love of Christ which surpasses knowledge."

 

Then, in that glorious doxology, he gives glory to God forever, as the one "who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us."

 

The abundance that Paul is praising God for is the work of the cross, for the reconciliation of all mankind into one body in Christ Jesus, His abundant grace, His ability to accomplish anything by His power through us, and for the incredible love of Christ.

 

Wow! How small we make God when we believe that the only abundance He can provide is limited to our physical provision. God can and will do so much more in us, and through us than we can ever imagine. We only need to surrender to the cross and allow God’s power to work through our hearts and lives.


God bless you today as you live a life of purpose in Him!

17 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


Canadian Head Office:

PO Box 35006 RPO Nelson Park, London ON N5W 5Z6  

 info@mpiconnect.org  Tel: 1-877-551-5525

Canadian Charitable Registration Number: 88813 3394 RR0001

bottom of page