'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,
21. Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end. Amen.'--Eph. iii. 20, 21.
One purpose and blessing of faithful prayer is to enlarge the desires
which it expresses, and to make us think more loftily of the grace to
which we appeal. So the Apostle, in the wonderful series of
supplications which precedes the text, has found his thought of what he
may hope for his brethren at Ephesus grow greater with every clause. His
prayer rises like some songbird, in ever-widening sweeps, each higher in
the blue, and nearer the throne; and at each a sweeter, fuller note.
'Strengthened with might by His Spirit'; 'that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith'; 'that ye may be able to know the love of Christ';
'that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.' Here he touches
the very throne. Beyond that nothing can be conceived. But though that
sublime petition may be the end of thought, it is not the end of faith.
Though God can give us nothing more than it is, He can give us more than
we think it to be, and more than we ask, when we ask this. Therefore the
grand doxology of our text crowns and surpasses even this great prayer.
The higher true prayer climbs, the wider is its view; and the wider is
its view, the more conscious is it that the horizon of its vision is far
within the borders of the goodly land. And as we gaze into what we can
discern of the fulness of God, prayer will melt into thanksgiving and
the doxology for the swift answer will follow close upon the last words
of supplication. So is it here; so it may be always.
The form of our text then marks the confidence of Paul's prayer. The
exuberant fervour of his faith, as well as his natural impetuosity and
ardour, comes out in the heaped-up words expressive of immensity and
duration. He is like some archer watching, with parted lips, the flight
of his arrow to the mark. He is gazing on God confident that he has not
asked in vain. Let us look with him, that we, too, may be heartened to
expect great things of God. Notice then--