Turbo

This is the sixth week of studying Priscilla Shirer’s God is Able in preparation for each week of a new Sisters Stories installment.  Priscilla beautifully steps us through Ephesians 3:20:

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen. 

Last week we looked at that mighty concept of totality, more than we could ask or think, and today we look at those words in bold above as we explore this concept of TURBO.

This chapter of the book had me looking at this scripture in a whole new light.  After years of praying Ephesians 3:20 as my own, I’d spent so much time focused on “more than we can ask or think” and hadn’t really focused on words right after it conditioning it all on the power working within us.

First off, that power.  Crazy power.  Power to do anything.  Priscilla says, “even if we do get tired, exhausted even, we don’t need to feel impotent.  God’s power doesn’t negate weariness, it just enables us to press through it with an uncommon persistence.  No matter how tall our challenges are, His power in us is greater still.  Paul said the power of God that whirls and throbs within us is a power of “surpassing greatness.”  It is “immeasurable,” “incomparably great,” “incredible,” a matter of “utter extravagance.”  We’re talking about more power than we can imagine.”

Whoa.

But.

Here’s the kicker.

His Power won’t work if you’re not hooked up to it.  There are lots of examples of power available but not working in a source.  The light switch in your home may have all the power that it needs, but it won’t work unless you flip it on.

That means that we have to operate under His leading if we’d like to see that power at work.

It also means we may have to up-just our expectations.  And then stand back and steel ourselves for what can happen.

Priscilla writes that sometimes we’re so in the habit of seeing only thimblefuls of God’s activity that we only bring a thimble to the vast ocean of God’s power.  That’s all we experience.  If we’d remember what power truly is available to those seeking, then you might bring a bigger container.  Priscilla writes: bring a bucket? fill a bucket. bring a wheelbarrow? fill a wheelbarrow. bring a two-ton tanker? fill a two-ton tanker.

This is the BEST part.  Priscilla closes with what that power at work means:

This all-important issue of power working within us is so much deeper and wider than we think.  It truly touches all of life.  It produces changes in us that are every bit as miraculous as any change in our circumstance could ever be. 

Because, Priscilla notes, immediately after this verse in the Bible there is a “therefore.”  Therefore, what?

Therefore, because of God’s ability operating within your heart, you are able to ‘walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.’ (4:1)  You’re empowered to experience the kind of changes inside you that start changing things around you….It can transform your reactions and responses…It can transform your contributions to His body…It can transform your character….It can transform your home, your work life, your reputation, everything. 

This week’s sister story is not only a testament of what this turbo power does look like, but a prayer for what this turbo power may look like.  There is a transformation, but there’s still a transformation that we’re holding out for along with our sister, LL.  Join me on Wednesday to hear her story.