Prayer that Amazes Jesus

In this message from Ephesians 3:20–21, David Platt encourages us to pray with faith in God’s power, the kind of prayer that amazes Jesus.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Prayer From Ephesians 3
• 1:50 What Amazes Jesus: Faith Or Doubt
• 6:16 Walking Through Ephesians 3:20 Word By Word
• 12:20 Ask Boldly: God’s Generous Heart
• 18:05 The Midnight Knock Parable Explained
• 25:20 Nothing Too Small, Nothing Too Great
• 29:50 Power At Work Within Us
• 35:10 Stories Of Far More Than Imagined

Transcript

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You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt.

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What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put the prayer, this prayer on the screen, and I want to invite us to say it out loud together wherever we are in different places, even that we're scattered. And if you've been memorizing this prayer, try to say it or pray it with your eyes closed. But no shade if you need to keep your eyes open. But let's just pray it out loud wherever we are. Ephesians 3, verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. That according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far abund more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Oh, that's so good. And what we're gonna do today is camp out on these last two verses. But I want to start by asking you a question that needs some setup. It actually comes from our church's Bible reading this last week in Matthew chapter 8. So here's the background. I was talking with DJ, who directs our, he's our worship director, and really just a brother who loves God and his word. And our conversation went to times in the New Testament when we see people amazed by Jesus. So here's just a few examples. I'll put on the screen. Matthew 15, 30 and 31. Great crowds came to Jesus, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, laid them at his feet, and he healed them. And the people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking, the blind singing, and they praised the God of Israel. In Luke 8, 25, when Jesus spoke a word and calmed a storm, we read that the disciples in fear and amazement asked one another, Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him. And people weren't just amazed by his miracles, they were amazed by his words, his teaching. After some religious leaders tried to stump Jesus with a question in response to his answer, Matthew 22, 22 says, when they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. Even when Jesus didn't speak, as he was being falsely accused and tried before he was crucified, Matthew 27, 13 tells us Pilate said to him, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. So over and over again, people are amazed by Jesus. Or some translations say they marveled at Jesus. But did you know there are two times when the Bible says that Jesus was amazed by others? Two times when this same word is used to describe Jesus' reaction to others, which is a pretty fascinating thought when you think about it. Like what causes God in the flesh to say, Wow, that is amazing. Two times, one of them was in our church's Bible reading this last week. So it's Matthew chapter 8. There's a parallel account of this story in Luke chapter 7, where we read, When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help. Lord, he said, My servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly. Jesus said to him, Shall I come and heal him? The centurion replied, Lord, I don't deserve to have you come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go and he goes. That one, come and he comes. I say to my servant, Do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. And said to those following him, Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. Is that not incredible? Jesus was amazed by this centurion's faith. And if you read the rest of the story, Jesus says, Go home and you'll find that your servant has been healed. Just like you believed would happen when I just spoke a word. So then you've got this picture, Jesus amazed by the centurion's faith. The other time we see Jesus amazed is in Mark chapter 6, but it's very different. It's when Jesus goes to his hometown. People around him start taking offense at him, and they're doubting that he can heal or help people like they've heard. And listen to verses 5 and 6. They say he could not, Jesus could not do any miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. So Jesus is amazed two times in the Bible. One time by great faith, the other time by lack of faith. So with that setup, here's the question I want to ask you today to really think about. Right where you're sitting right now is Jesus more likely to be amazed by your faith or by your lack of faith? And I want you to hear God in his word speaking to you in the next few minutes, inviting you to pray with amazing faith. That's my my prayer, my hope for the next few minutes, is that a few minutes from now, when we have a time in prayer after hearing from God, that you will find yourself praying with great faith. With faith that amazes Jesus. All based on Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20 and 21. So we're just gonna walk through these two verses word by word and let the simple power of God's work, of God's word do the work. May God, in his word, just cause faith to rise in you as you hear his word. Faith to rise in you in your individual life, for your family, for our church family, for our city, for the world. So follow along. Let's just go in. Word by word, soak it in. Now to him. Alright, we'll pause there. Him is obviously talking here about God, the triune God. You look back at this whole prayer, you see the whole Trinity here: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, so the one true God. And notice how verse 21 picks up this phrase to him, and then verse 21 says the same thing to him. So what you've got is each verse starting this way, which here's how I would summarize it. The way Paul is starting is he's telling us who God is, and then he's gonna pick up that same phrase in a minute to tell us what God deserves. So that's just a simple outline for these two verses. Verse 20 is telling us who God is, verse 21 is telling us what God deserves. So who is God? That's what we're talking about here in verse 20. He is the one who is able. Note, there's only one who is able to do what we're about to see. So it's not to those who are able. There's only one who is able, and this word in the Greek, so the original language of the New Testament, is Dunami. So just to make a note here, Dunami, and it means power. We get the English word dynamite from this Greek word. Hold on to that. We're gonna come back to it later. So we're talking about the one who is able has power to do. Now that's an interesting little word because it's the same word we see in both the stories I mentioned earlier, where we see Jesus amazed at lack of faith and at faith. Back in Matthew chapter 8, the centurion said to Jesus, I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go, he goes, that one come and he comes. I say to my servant, do this, and he does it. Same word as we see in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20. So the faith that amazed Jesus believed in what he could do. And then similarly, it's the same word we saw in Mark chapter 6, verse 5, when the Bible says he could not do any of the miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them, because he was amazed at their lack of faith. So notice the relationship we're here between faith and what God does or does not do. So our faith and what God does go together. So Paul is praying, so now back to Ephesians 3.20. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than. This is a great phrase. It's kind of hard to translate in the English, which is why some translations say immeasurably more than, or unimaginably more than, or infinitely more than, because Paul uses words that basically repeat and overlap. It's like he's not just saying, not just very far more than, but very, very far more than. Or not just super abundantly more than, but super, super abundantly more than. So the point is there's no limit to what God, this God is able to do. Like, think if there was a limit in your imagination to what God could do, it's so much more, super, super more, very, very more than even that. So much farther than all, that's everything. There's nothing that's like exception here. It's everything that we can possibly ask. Now, we need to think about this word ask for a moment because I think that sometimes we view God as if He is reluctant to do what we're asking Him to do or to give us what we're asking Him to give us. But that is not true. We do not worship a reluctant God, we worship a generous God. Generous, far more abundantly generous than we can even ask or think. This is what Jesus Himself tells us when he teaches us about prayer. In the Lord's Prayer, we read this recently in our Bible reading in Matthew chapter 7. He tells us, here's how you pray, and then he says, remember Matthew chapter 7. And notice how many times he uses the same word ask. Ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives. The one who seeks finds. To the one who knocks, it will be open. Which one of you? If his son asks him for bread, we'll give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a serpent. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Do you hear what Jesus is saying here? God is our Father who delights in giving good things to all of his children who take the time to ask him. Exclamation point. And here's the problem. Because we think God is reluctant, we are reluctant to pray. Because we don't really know whether it's gonna matter. Or if God's gonna answer and give us what we want. And Jesus is saying, no, God is the perfect Father, your heavenly father, who delights in giving good things to those who ask him. But we immediately think and almost object, saying, okay, but God hasn't given me everything I've asked for, which is true for all of us, and is good for all of us. Like what parent among us has given your child everything they've asked for? If my children got everything they'd asked for, they'd be eating sour patch kids all day, watching a screen. Like, no. And that's the whole point of what Jesus is saying here, because he's saying, you're not even the best parents. Like you have sin and evil in your heart, and you know this. God is the perfect parent, and he is not, he is never up in heaven saying, I know this thing is that you want is good for you, but I'm gonna give you something bad instead. Apparently, much like parents in this world know more than their two-year-olds or their teenagers know, apparently God knows some things that we don't know. I love the way Tim Keller puts this. He said, God always answers your prayers and precisely the way you want them to be answered if you knew everything he knew. And Jesus is telling us here that God's eager to give us all the good things we asked for, filtered through what he knows is good for you and me. It actually makes me think of the parable parable or the story that Jesus tells in Luke's parallel account of Jesus, this statement from Matthew chapter 7. You look over in Luke chapter 11, you see the same words, almost exactly the same there, but he tells a story there around it. Watch this story. It's one of my favorite stories in the whole Bible. Jesus said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within, Do not bother me. The door is now shut, my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he's his friend, yet because of his impudence, he will arise and give him whatever he needs. That's such a great story. So let me make sure you get you get the picture here. So, first century Palestine, food not quite as readily available as it is today, no late-night taco bells, so there's a battle for bread every day. You bake enough bread to meet that day's needs. So a guy shows up at his buddy's house at midnight and he's hungry. And in first century Palestine, hospitality was huge. So the buddy has a dilemma. So one option, he can be a poor host and not get this guy any food. His second option is to go and try to find bread from somebody else. So it's either to be a poor host or a poor neighbor at midnight. And he takes what's behind door number two. His neighbor already fast asleep, enjoying his dreams. Not only asleep, but everybody in the house asleep. The houses in that day were one room affairs. That meant meant that everybody in the family slept in, you guessed it, one room. And usually the family sleeping in the same bed or on the same mat. You get kid one down, kid two down, kid three down for bed. Then you and your wife close the door, lay down next to each other. There's nobody getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without causing major commotion in the scene. So everything is quiet. While this guy is nice, fast asleep on the mat with his wife and kids, all of a sudden a knock comes at the door, and the guy on the outside says, friend, which is a good way to start when you're waking somebody up at midnight for a piece of bread because this friendship thing is walking a tight rope at this tight line at this point. But when the dad wakes up, I just I just picture it. Like he starts looking around, and little eyes on the mat are starting opening next to him. Like it's one thing to wake up dad. It's a whole nother thing to wake up the toddler when they've just gone to sleep, the baby when they've just gone to sleep. So this friend thing is seriously in question. The guy inside's not too happy right now, and so he says, in the most polite way possible, do not bother me. The door's shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. Then Jesus says, even though the guy won't get up because he's his friend, because that's in question right now, he will get up because of his impudence, which means boldness, literally like shamelessness. Like he keeps asking until the dad gets out of bed and gives him some bread. So here's the interesting thing about parables. We hear them and we think, okay, somebody in the parable is me, and somebody in the parable is God. So the disciples are thinking, okay, I think we're the guy on the outside who's knocking on the door. So who's God? The grumpy guy inside yelling, Don't bother me? That's kind of weird. What's Jesus teaching us here about prayer? Well, if you want something from God, you just keep banging on the door, and eventually he'll get up and get something for you, not because he loves you, but because you've bothered him to death. Okay, now let's pray. Surely that's not the point of the story. No, the point of the story all comes back to this word, impudence or boldness or shamelessness. Some translate it as annoyingly relentless. And we'll only understand the whole story rightly when we look at it through the lens of this guy on the outside knocking in need. Jesus tells the whole story from his perspective, so we've got to keep his perspective through the whole thing. Resist the temptation to compare God and the friend inside. Just keep yourself in this. Guy's shoes on the outside, he phrases the whole thing as a question. He says, imagine what if you were bold enough, shameless enough to go to your friend at midnight just to ask him for a piece of bread. In other words, imagine somebody with enough nerve to knock on his friend's door at midnight just for a piece of bread. I think the picture Jesus is painting is, in a sense, of the guy who's just kind of rude. One of those guys who just doesn't know which social lines to cross and which ones not to. Like, do you know that kind of person? Are you that kind of person? You probably don't know if you are. This is a guy who doesn't seem to get the point. Like, you don't wake up your buddy and his entire family at midnight unless you got a really good reason. This guy doesn't know that. He's shameless. He's so socially out of it. He actually thinks it's no big deal to wake up your friend in the middle of the night. He won't mind. I need some bread. He's got it. He won't mind me bothering him and his entire family in the middle of the night. And I know he'll get up and get some for me. No problem. And Jesus says, that is how we should approach the God of the universe. Think about it. In prayer, we're coming to the triune God who we know has every good thing we need. And he has the power, he is able to do what we're asking him to do. And it's in this picture of this shameless guy that we realize that the God of the universe, who has all power over all the universe to do it far more abundantly than all we could ask, has actually invited you and me to come to him anytime with anything. Like this story is an amazing illustration of going to God. Think about it and saying, in a sense, God, I know uh it's kind of inappropriate to interrupt you because you're running like a whole universe and you got a lot of things going on in the world, but I just need you to sit down and listen to me and look at me and hear what I have to say, because I got some things going on in my life. Doesn't that feel kind of over the top? And Jesus is saying, This is the relationship with God you are made for. You are invited to come to him with shameless nerve, boldness, like it almost seems ludicrous to be going into the presence of the God of the universe. And Jesus is saying here, be as shameless as you want. Don't miss what Jesus is teaching here. There's I'll put it this way God delights in giving things to those who are bold enough to bother him. And I hesitate to use that word bother, but I think that's the point. Like we usually think of bother in a negative connotation. Nobody wants to be a bother, but think about it with me. Imagine I'm traveling somewhere else in the world, and I get a call from Heather, and I could tell there's something wrong or something heavy on her heart, and I ask, What's what's wrong? And she says, Well, I don't want to bother you. Let me tell you what I'm not gonna say in response. I'm not gonna say, Okay, that's good. Because I really don't want to be bothered by you right now. I got a lot of things going on here, and the last thing I need is for you to be a bother to me. So, anything else you want to talk about? Like, there's for so many reasons. No way I'm gonna say that. Instead, I'm gonna say, Heather, I want you to share that with me. I delight in being the one that you want to bother with the problems and the struggles and the heartaches in your life. It would bother me if you did not come to me. It would be a sign of unhealth in our relationship if you were going to someone else with those things. Like, that's what this story means. Let this soak in. The God of the universe is saying to you, right where you are, right now, I want to be, God's saying this, I want to be bothered by the things that are heavy on your heart. I want you to come to me with all that you need amidst the struggles you're walking through. I want you to share the things you need, the things you want, the desires of your heart. And sometimes we think what we're praying for may not be important enough to warrant mention with God. But look at this story. This is not an emergency. Like the guy on the outside is not saying, My wife's having a baby, or my wife's dying, or my kid broke his leg, we got a robber in the house, we need help. He's he's coming to the middle of the night and says, I want some biscuits. Talk about presumptuous. I mean, would would the other guy die if he just waited until breakfast? Tell him to go to bed, he'll forget he's hungry. That's what we tell our kids when they want a late-night snack. Like, remember this, brothers and sisters. There's nothing too small to bring before God. And there's nothing too great. Like we can pray about mustard seeds and mountains. We can pray about colds and cancers and everything in between. This guy, this whole story, this guy thought, okay, I have a friend who has what I need, and I know, so he's able to help me, and I know he's approachable, and I know he'll act, and so I'm gonna go to him. And Jesus says, that's how we should approach prayer. So now all of this, all of this, come back to you. So we just camped out a lot on that word, ask. Because I think we're so reluctant to ask for the reasons we've talked about, but I want you to hear God saying, I'm inviting you to ask me, knowing and believing. Amazing faith, believing, I'm able to do and wanting to do far more abundantly than all you not only ask or think, like more than you can even think, super abundantly, super, super abundantly more than all that's even in your mind that you can imagine. Like church family, this is our God. You put this all together. There is no limit in him, the limit is in us. There's no limit to what God is able to do. The only limit is what we are able and willing to ask or think. The limit is not in our God, the limit is in our faith. That's what Ephesians 3.20 is saying. Which then leads to the next phrase. Like, how is this ability, power of God unlocked? How does God's abundant provision come about? Check this out, according to the power at work within us. Oh, you gotta see this. So there's something within us that's working here. So this word work is inner geo. So I'm not trying to impress you with my Greek, that I'm one, I'm not a Greek scholar, and two, you can find all this kind of stuff. There's resources that can help you see some of the things in the original language. But the reason I point this out, energy, that's you can tell, that's the word from which we get energy. So Paul's talking about what energizes, what fuels, what makes this abundant provision from God possible. So what is it? It's the power that's energizing us, and you'll never guess what that word power is. It's dunamis. It's the noun verb of the same word Paul used earlier to describe God's ability, God's power. So make this connection. This is breathtaking. The same power up here that enables God to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think, that same power is alive and at work within you and me. You might think, there's no way. That can't be what that means. But it is. This is what this whole prayer has been about. You remember? He that he may grant you to be strengthened with power. Same word, dunamis, through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ, oh, I missed it, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Believe this power dwells in you. Believe it, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God, all the power of God, strength of God, joy of God, peace of God, all of his resources given to you. This is the power that's at work inside. Where is it? Here we go. Back here. There it is. Work inside, within us. So the whole thrust of this prayer is that we would realize and we would experience the ability, the power of God to do for us far more abundantly than all we can ask or think, through, follow it, his power at work within us. Now, you might be thinking, okay, I think this sounds awesome, uh, but what does this mean for my life? And here's the good news for everyone in whom Christ dwells, this is the story of your life. It characterizes, it frames your entire life. You say, What do you what do you mean? I think about the conversations I've had just this last week with Todd Peters. And if you know his story, Dad was out of his life early in life, creating a void, and a couple of granddads stepped in to fill in how to one, to introduce him to Jesus, and two, to teach him so much in the outdoors about how to live off the land in a way that would lead him to Jesus and prepare him for 26 years of service with all kinds of stories on Navy SEAL teams all around the world, after which he's about to take a high-paying job connected to the military upon retirement from the SEALs, when God puts one morning in his time with Todd and alone with him, puts teach my word and work with teenagers on his heart. And later that day, he just so happens to be approached by uh by leaders here at NBC about leading student ministry here at NBC Tyson's, which leads to years of doing that, which then leads to 10 years of faithfully shepherding NBC Prince William in so many wonderful ways. Now, what I've not mentioned along the way is traumatic brain injury, constant pain, chronic migraines for years that at one point had Todd wanting to end his life. But in all that journey, he never could have asked or thought that God was preparing him to launch a ministry that you're gonna hear about in the coming weeks to care for service members and civil servants who struggle every single day to go on in life. And neither Todd or Nancy would say that journey has been easy. Both would say that many prayers have not been answered in the way they asked or the timing they wanted. But Todd put it best when he wrote to me recently, he said, Looking back, I see a life marked not by careful planning, but by a faithful God who kept building, redirecting, and restoring, often far beyond what I could see at the time. Yes, that that's Ephesians 3.20, far beyond what we can see, ask, or imagine. And Todd would tell you the only reason he's literally alive right now. And not just alive, but flourishing and serving others in so many ways, especially out of the overflow of all God's brought him through, it's not because of his own strength, but literally because of the power of God at work within him. And it's not just Todd. I was talking with Sasha this last week, who in his 20s was the prodigal son, running as far as he could from God. His parents never could have asked or thought that he would one day be chairman of the elders in this church family. Are you serious? I was talking with Ken. He and his wife Judy, as shared before in our church family, have walked through a hard season of marital unfaithfulness, and neither could have asked or thought that not only would their marriage today be restored and flourishing, but they would be helping restore countless broken marriages in our church family. I was talking with Amin. You think about all the news from Iran these days? Pray for Iran, for the church in Iran, for the people of Iran. How in the world does a Muslim from Iran who despised Christianity become a pastor in our church family? Here's how: there is one who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. Don't miss it. This is who our God is. This is how God will show himself ultimately to everyone who looks to him and trusts in him, to everyone who has faith in him. So, what does this God deserve? To him be glory, to him be honor and recognition and praise and renown and fame and worship in the church, in the body of people who know this God, in the body of people, the family of people who have faith in this God as our Father. This is what we're made for, church. We're made to give him glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. Oh, the parallelism here is amazing. So the fullness of God dwells in Jesus to the glory of God, and the fullness of God dwells in the church to the glory of God throughout all generations. Just think about this. We've been in Genesis in our church's Bible reading during these days. This line of people that started with Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, and on and on and on. In literally every single generation throughout history, there have been people who have put their trust, their faith in this God who is able. And they have not regretted it. It has happened throughout generation and generation. And now here we are in 2026. It we're in the same line today, putting our faith in this God, and this line will go on forever and ever. Oh, what a great phrase. Like forever would have been sufficient there. And ever adds nothing to the meaning. But Paul repeats himself yet again just to make sure we're getting it, that God is going to be getting glory forever and ever and ever and ever for who he is and all he has done and is doing. Oh man, we don't even have time to talk now. It'd be a whole other sermon. Uh, but think about it, think about heaven, which honestly many people think sounds boring, like to be sitting on clouds singing songs for millions of years, but that is not the way the Bible pictures heaven. Eric mentioned this last week. Think about it. Because there are no limits in God, that means there are no limits to the enjoyment we will experience in God. Ten trillion years from now, there'll still be more joy to be found in God. This is, we read this in our Bible reading. Psalm chapter 16, verse 11. Let me pull it up here. Where is it? There we go. Psalm 16, verse 11. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. That's amazing. Fullness of joy. You can't get any more than that. That's that's all joy. There's nothing lacking, and it goes on forevermore. Fullness of joy, that's quality. Infinite quality forevermore, that's quantity, forever and ever. Like just imagine what God has in store for us from Himself and from His hand. A thousand years from now and a million years from now. And we're only getting started. I love Randy Alcorn, his book on heaven. He writes, skydiving without a parachute? Maybe. Scuba diving without an air tank? I hope so. Will we be able to tolerate diving to depths of hundreds of feet without special equipment? We know that our resurrection bodies will be superior. Won't it be fantastic to test their limits, to invent new technologies to extend our ability to explore and enjoy God in the mighty realms He makes? Those who know this God can dream great dreams. One day we will live those dreams. And it's not just the stuff that we'll be able to do, it's the God we will be with for all of eternity, forever and ever. We will be with the God who is able to do far more abundantly than all we could ask or think. So, church, what is our response, oops, oh man, messed that up. What is our response to all of this? Well, Paul makes it clear what our response to all of this is, we shout amen. Yes, God may it all be so. So, church, if this is who our God is, and this is what our God deserves, then let's pray with faith to him today. Let's let faith rise in us and lead us to boldness in prayer before the God who is able to do far more abundantly than all we can even ask or think, according to power he's put inside us. So here's where I want this to land. I I hope, I hope. I mean, I've written all over this thing. Let me just erase all that. This is who our God is and what our God deserves. So, in light of what we've just heard from God, I want to lead us into a time of prayer. And I really want to challenge you to take this seriously. Like, don't tune out, don't just start thinking about okay, what's next? Just press in for the next few minutes in this moment. And you can do this on your own. Feel free to do this with others who may be around you, just totally up to you. But I want to invite you to ask the one who is able to do far more abundantly all that you can ask, or even think. I'll put it this way on the screen. What would amazing faith lead you to ask for in your life right now? What would amazing faith lead you to ask for in your family right now? What would amazing faith lead us to ask for in our church? What amazing faith lead us to ask for in the world. And let's ask. Let's ask for faith. I always want to. Here's what's in my mind. Whenever I really want to press in, praying with faith like this. Press into God, I trust you have all power. There's nothing I'm asking that is beyond your ability. Everything we've just seen. God, I trust you are all loving. Everything we've we've read about, prayed about in Ephesians 3, the fullness of the love of God to fill you. This love that surpasses knowledge. God, you have all power. You're all loving. And third, you're all-wise. As we talked about, you know things I don't know. You see things I don't see. And so I'm going to be bold and asking based on your power, your wisdom, and your love. And I'm going to trust. I'm going to trust. This is what faith is. I'm going to trust that you are the all-powerful, all loving, all wise God who delights in giving good things to his children when they ask.

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