A Day in the Life
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Ephesians 3:20
As I sit with this passage from Ephesians, I am struck by how gently, yet firmly, it confronts one of the quiet temptations of a faithful life: the assumption that our best efforts must surely impress God. Many of us rise each morning determined to serve well, plan wisely, and stretch ourselves for the sake of Christ and His church. There is nothing wrong with diligence or ambition shaped by devotion. Yet Scripture consistently reminds us that God is not constrained by, nor dependent upon, the scale of our plans. Psalm 8 places human achievement against the vastness of creation, asking, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” The question is not meant to belittle us, but to reorient us. God’s purposes have always extended far beyond the boundaries of human imagination.
Paul’s words in Ephesians emerge from a life that understood this reorientation firsthand. Saul of Tarsus once poured relentless energy into what he believed was faithfulness, only to discover that his most celebrated accomplishments were misdirected. Reflecting later, he wrote, “Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ” and even called them skubalon—rubbish—when compared to knowing Christ and participating in God’s true work (Philippians 3:7–8). This is not the language of regret alone, but of liberation. Paul learned that God’s will was not a refinement of his ambitions but a complete redirection of them. What he once imagined as spiritual success gave way to something far richer, deeper, and more enduring than he could have designed.
This tension between our plans and God’s purposes often plays out quietly in the ordinary rhythms of life. We assume that if our goals are noble and our intentions sincere, then we must be living at the height of what God desires for us. Yet Ephesians 3:20 challenges that assumption. God is able to do not merely more, but “exceedingly abundantly” beyond what we ask or even think. The Greek phrase hyper ek perissou stacks superlatives to make the point unmistakable: God’s capacity outstrips our imagination at every level. Until God speaks, leads, and redirects, we are operating with only a partial picture. As John Stott once observed, “We limit not only what we ask of God but also what we expect Him to do, and thereby we dishonor Him.” The issue is not that we dream too boldly, but that we settle too quickly for dreams of our own making.
When I reflect on the life of Jesus, I see this truth embodied day after day. Jesus never rushed to fulfill expectations placed upon Him—whether by crowds seeking miracles or disciples eager for prominence. He withdrew to pray, listened for the Father’s will, and acted in ways that often surprised even His closest followers. His obedience was not driven by human urgency but by divine alignment. In doing so, He modeled a life open to God’s larger purpose rather than confined by immediate opportunity. To walk with Jesus is to learn patience with God’s unfolding plan and humility about our own.
This passage invites us to loosen our grip on carefully crafted agendas, even good ones, and to recover a holy dissatisfaction with anything less than God’s direction. The Father sees the entire horizon of our lives, including possibilities we cannot yet conceive. When we follow His lead, we may find ourselves in places we never planned, witnessing outcomes that defy explanation apart from His presence. As A.W. Tozer wrote, “God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible—what a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.” The Christian life, at its best, is not a monument to human effort but a testimony to divine initiative.
As this day unfolds, the question before us is not how much we can accomplish for God, but how open we are to what He desires to accomplish in and through us. When we yield our finite dreams to His infinite wisdom, we begin to experience a life shaped less by self-assurance and more by awe. And in that posture, we discover that God’s imagination for our lives is far richer than anything we could have authored ourselves.
For further reflection on the meaning of Ephesians 3:20 and God’s power at work in believers, see this article from Desiring God:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/he-is-able-to-do-far-more
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