Powerful Prayer: Inner Strength and Overflow

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.

Ephesians 3:14–21

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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