“Read the verse backwards to get the good stuff out,” I've told many others. The verse is one of those diamonds in scripture that you want to be very careful you don't skip over; especially in these stressful days when employment is not all that available. The verse has an incredibly powerful work principle in it that you'll want to share with others.
Ephesians
3:20 says, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh
in us,”. The verse is referring to God's power working inside
us, in the person of the Holy Spirit. We'll save the 'diamond' for
last.
The
part that we can savor, sort-of reading backwards, is the description
of the Holy Spirit's abilities as He empowers our trusting obedience
to God's will for us each day.
Begin
with “He is able to do all that we ask or think.” Take
time and dwell just on that much alone. With our employment searches
and trials, isn't it a REAL comfort to know that God has the ability
and is at work inside us – but we have to be very careful that our
actions and attitudes give Him free rein. We have to get our
stiff-necked selves out of His way.
Now
take it up a notch by adding the previous word ABOVE to the above
phrase. It then becomes, “He is able to do ABOVE all that we ask
or think.” Now don't get in a big hurry. Try to visualize that
word ABOVE; it's like 'more than' that only Heaven can make happen.
But this all gets even better.
When
we add the word ABUNDANTLY in front of above, we see that God does
things in our lives, for our own good, that is not just better...
that we think He can. No, God has big pockets and a big big heart of
love for you and me. All of what we see all around us, God made for
us. He made it all for us to learn how to be good stewards of His
good gifts, and teach others how to do the same.
But
the diamond in this verse is seen as we add the word EXCEEDING in
front of the word abundantly. Exceeding is required, because our
language doesn't have a word more powerful than 'abundantly' that
even approaches the true description of God's power working within
us. The two words, EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY form a 'doubly compounded
word meaning super-superabundantly'.
It's
like you and I have Heaven-sent rocket power within us...
super-superabundantly. The key to remember about this power working
inside us, is that we can very easily follow Satan's advice and
squelch; turn off, this power. Not only can we turn off this power
working within us, but we can also present a defeated testimony to
others around us; many that are watching us, that we don't even
realize.
As
we labor over updating our resumes, fine-tune our attitudes for
interviews, or just maintain a frustrating attitude at the work we
are now doing, realize the real work to be done is to be done INSIDE
us as we invite and praise God – The Holy Spirit to do His
super-superabundantly work inside us. This doesn't mean we sit and
sulk, but we need to be busy about doing our work and let God do His
work (in and around us.)
This
all becomes even more effective as we seek out work and stewardship
principles in scripture. Share your diamonds with others. There are
more than enough to go around. Job lost what we may think of, as his
day job of leading and caring for others. But he still had his main
job; his vocation of teaching others how to stay faithful in the
roughest circumstances. He had the big job of teaching Satan, and
other people, by his testimony. What is your testimony teaching
others?
