If when you go to God for power, it's only about you.
You're not rooted and grounded in love. Dr. Tony Evans says the prayers you pray indicate the position of your heart. If you only exist for you, if you only pray for you, you're not hanging out where God hangs out. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Just as a bridge connects opposing shorelines, kingdom prayer connects our human limitations with God's limitless power. Let's listen in to this timeless lesson from Dr. Evans as he explores how believers can strengthen that prayer bridge with God, allowing them access to the resources of heaven for a powerful impact here on earth. Our series is called Kingdom Prayer, Igniting Kingdom Prayer, because that is the link, the wiring if you will, that God has given us to link us with the power that he has provided. Kingdom prayer may be defined as the divinely authorized methodology to access heavenly authority for earthly intervention. It is the divinely authorized methodology to access heavenly authority for earthly intervention. Prayer was given to us by God to contact heaven in order to get help on earth. Today I want you to look at a well-known prayer in Ephesians 3 about connecting with your spiritual power that you already possess. Paul says in verse 14 of Ephesians 3, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth derives its name. He introduces this prayer, he says, I go down to my knees, the posture of humble prayer, for this reason.
For what reason? Well, in verse 13 he says, I don't want you to lose heart. To lose heart means to quit. To lose heart means to be overwhelmed by discouragement. To lose heart means I want to throw in the towel. To lose heart means that I don't believe I can go on any longer or any further.
When the Bible talks about losing heart, it's talking about quitting because of discouragement. Every believer has God as their father, which means every believer has equal access to your heavenly daddy. You're one of his kingdom kids, and so you have access to him in prayer. So Paul says, I'm praying, but he's your daddy too. If you're going to get heaven to come down in prayer to meet you on earth, that will be determined by your level of spiritual intimacy.
Your level of intimacy will determine your level of power. Look at what he says in verse 16, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. What's happening on the inside, the inner man, will affect what God does for you on the outside.
If the inside is not getting deeper, there will be no strengthening of power in prayer. The way you go deeper is for Christ to dwell in your heart by faith. The key word is the word dwell. The Greek word for dwell means to make yourself at home. So when it says that Christ might dwell in your heart by faith, he is saying, your inner spiritual life will develop to the degree that Jesus is at home in you. So the first thing is there must be the pursuit of spiritual intimacy.
That must be the goal. Time in his presence, time in his word. You say, but I don't have time. Well, you always have time for what's first.
No, you can't use that excuse, especially if you call for him for power. The second thing is that spiritual intimacy must expand spiritual capacity. He says that you being rooted and grounded in love, verse 17, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. God will only give you as much of him that you can handle. He's not going to give you more than you can handle.
So that means you've got to get more capacity to handle more of him. Because God is not going to waste God on you or me. It starts with spiritual intimacy, but then he wants you to expand spiritual capacity so he can do more. He says I want you to be rooted and grounded in love. Love has to have an object, which means if when you go to God for power, it's only about you.
You're not rooted and grounded in love. If you bring a thimble to the Pacific Ocean and dip it in the Pacific Ocean, you're going to only get a thimble worth of Pacific, because that's all you brought. Now the ocean can give you more, but your container can't handle more. If you bring a glass to the Pacific Ocean, you're going to get more than a thimble, but you're not going to get more than a glass. Because once that glass is full, the ocean will be finished.
Not because it can't do more, you just can't handle more. If you bring a bucket to the Pacific, you're going to get more than a thimble and more than a glass, but you're not going to get more than a bucket. Once that bucket is full, the blessing of the Pacific is over, because you can't handle more. If you bring a barrel to the Pacific, you're going to get more than a thimble, more than a glass, more than a bucket, but you're not going to get more than that barrel. Because once that barrel has reached the top, the Pacific says all finished, because you can't handle more even though we can do more. If you bring a tanker to the Pacific, you'll get more than a thimble, more than a glass, more than a bucket, more than a barrel, but you're not going to get more than that tanker, because once that tanker is full, the Pacific is finished.
Not because the Pacific can't do more, it's just you've reached your limit. See, a lot of us have to settle for thimble-sized blessing because we only bring thimble-sized relationship. So we wonder why God won't do more. He won't do more because you can't handle more, because of what you brought to Him, what you've given Him. God is saying, well, I got a Pacific here, but your container is too small.
But you brought me, can't handle what you're asking for. And so the prayer goes unanswered, or you get a thimble worth of answer. One of the reasons we don't experience bigger things from God is because we don't bring Him anything that can hold it if He gave it. And He doesn't want to waste His glory. A little boy fell into a barrel of molasses by mistake. He had stuck out his tongue and saw he was in this barrel of molasses, so he prayed, God make my capacity equal to this opportunity. I don't know about you, but I want to get as much from God as I can expand myself to handle. Many of us are going to get to heaven, and God says, I could have done this.
I would have did that, but you never expanded yourself to be able to hold it. It's like what I tell you about the popcorn popping. Every kernel of popcorn has moisture in it. You put it in the microwave, the moisture is heated. The moisture becomes steam.
Steam rises. The steam in the popcorn of the moisture pushes against the shell. When the shell can't handle it anymore, you pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. The popcorn pops.
Why? Because there's pressure on the inside that's expanding. And it's expanding so much that the outside can't handle it no more. And when the outside can't handle it anymore, it pops. When it pops, you could not imagine that that hard outside was holding that soft inside hostage. All that stuff was being held hostage until the environment changed, until it got hot on the inside. Then things broke out on the outside. God wants to break some stuff out, but He wants to see some heat on the inside.
He wants to see the fire for Him. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. When we return to our lesson in just a moment, we'll discover why we often don't see God's full expression of power in our lives. First though, I want to let you know about a special package we put together as our way of saying thank you when you make a donation to the alternative broadcast. It includes all 12 full-length messages from our teaching series on Igniting Kingdom Prayer, along with a powerful companion book, Kingdom Prayer, Touching Heaven to Change Earth. This special collection will take your prayer life to the next level so you can experience more of the intimate connection and two-way communication it's intended to provide. We'd like to send you a copy of this powerful Kingdom Prayer book and two-volume audio series as our gift, so you can review it on your own or share it with your family or Bible study group.
All we ask is that you make a contribution to help keep the alternative broadcast coming to you and others on this station. Visit us today at tonyevans.org or reach out to our resource center for some in-person help at 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's lesson. And so, spiritual intimacy expands spiritual capacity, and then you get to see spiritual power. Verse 20, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to him be glory in the church. First of all, his power is personal. Now unto him. God is not the force in a Star Wars movie. He's not some inanimate object. Now unto him, the triune God that's in this passage, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, unto him, that God.
Because guess what? He's the only God. And you are not he, and you don't know anybody else who is. Now unto him. Why do you pray? Because you need him.
You don't need them, you need him. His power is very personal, and it's a family affair. Now unto him.
But it's not only personal, it's potent. He's able. Now unto him who is able.
Now I love that. He's able. That speaks of his ability. God has ability. Scripture says nothing is too difficult for him.
On that first Christmas, Mary the Virgin wanted to know, how can this possibly be? And the angel said, because nothing is impossible with God. You think your situation is impossible?
You think your dilemma is unresolvable? You've got to understand, you're dealing with him, and he's able. When you look at some of the times in the Bible where the word able is used, Jesus asked a blind man one day, do you believe I'm able to give you save? Hebrews 7 25 says, God is able to save to the uttermost, the most unsavable person you know. Look at Corinthians 9 verse 8, God is able to supply all grace. The three Hebrew boys said to King Nebuchadnezzar, our God is able to deliver us.
When Daniel was thrown in the lion's den, the king came to Daniel and said, was your God able to save you in the lion's den? Oh, this verse says he's able. I don't know how bad it is, how deep it is, and how long it's lasted, but I can tell you if there's spiritual intimacy and expanded spiritual capacity, he's able.
Let's go deeper. He's able to do. See, a lot of folk are able to talk. A lot of folk are able to promise, but he's able to perform. He's able to do.
He's able to act. And then he hits the superlatives. Far more.
Oh, I love that. Say far more. Far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. In other words, he's able to blow your mind.
He's able to do far more, not just a little bit more, far more, and then it's abundant, then it's beyond what you, let's take those two terms, ask. Let's deal with ask, because most of us don't ask. Now, I know what you're saying. Yeah, I do, I ask. No, most of us don't ask, because we're so vague that the request isn't specific. If I said, what do you want to eat? And you say, food.
You didn't answer my question. What do you want to eat? I'm not asking you about general food. I'm asking you, do you want eggs? Do you want bacon?
Do you want chicken? You want, you know, I naturally think of that. I'm asking you specific.
Jesus says you have not because you ask not. Or you ask with wrong motives. The idea in asking is not some vague bless me.
Not some general thing out in Never Never Land, out in space. No, to ask means to specifically request what you're talking about. What are you talking about? He's able to do beyond what you just talked about. Ask. And then he's able to do beyond what you thought. Ask or think.
Okay, watch this. You can only ask for what you think. Because what comes out of your mouth has to come from your mind, from your brain. So your brain tells your mouth what to ask for. God is so good at answering prayer that he not only can answer what your brain told your mouth, he can precede your brain. So that he can answer what your brain never thought to ask for.
I don't know how many people have ever experienced this. I know what it is to see God do what I ask and then throw in bonuses. There are others who have seen God throw in bonuses, that which you did not request.
But it comes with a condition. Verse 20. According to the power that works within us. See, we love that first part. Ain't he able? He's able.
But we leave out the second part. It's in accordance with, in alignment with, the power on that. So when you pray for him to do something out here, he checks to see what's happening in there. And it's according to the power that is working within that determines what he does without. So if you want the spiritual power, go deeper.
Go deeper. Jesus says, you abide in me, my word abide in you. Ask me what you will and my Father will do it. So one, we don't ask because we don't prioritize prayer. And then when we ask, we're not specific. Or when we ask and are specific, we haven't given God anything to work with.
Because there's nothing happening inside. We just show up when we want something. I was sharing the past when I was, went up to the gate at American Airlines. And I'm a platinum flyer. So you can get bumped up if there's a seat available, even though you have a coach ticket. So I said, are there any first class seats? Oh, there was only one left and we just gave it to the person in front of you. Because there was somebody in front of me. I started to walk away, I said, but what was the status of that person? Oh, she said, oh, I'm so sorry, they were gold. Well, platinum is hiding gold. So I said, well, that seat's available then, isn't it?
She said, oh, yes, yes, it is available. No, I ain't feel that bad. So I got bumped up. But then a guy came behind me. I was able to bump the gold because I had a more intimate relationship with America, because I flew more miles. But then he bumped me because he had an even greater intimate relationship.
So he had more clout, more power. So I got bumped. But then we had a member of our church who was over special services. I picked up the telephone. I called my sister and I said, I just got bumped by Executive Platinum and I got a problem. She said, where are you? What gate are you at, airport gate? She said, go back to the gate. Because special services handles dignitaries.
And dignitaries can bump Executive Platinum. She called the gate, told them I want this person, you know, VIP kind of thing, so you give them the seat. They called me back to the gate, said this is your seat, because I knew somebody. Because I knew somebody that had power, that could act on my behalf, even though it looked like I wouldn't qualify. I know it looks like the devil has got your number. I know it looks like the problem has got your number.
But you know somebody now under him who is able. When I was growing up in Baltimore, one of the ways we went swimming on Saturday was when the fire marshal came and opened up the fire hydrant. That's how you went swimming in the hood, you know. The fire marshal would come and open up the fire, and the water would gush out. But it always bothered me how all this water could come out from this little pipe. So I asked my father, how's that water coming out of that pipe? He says, there's no water in that pipe. He says, but underneath the ground, it's connected to the dam at Drude Hill Park. And the dam at Drude Hill Park supplies the water that you see coming out the pipe. So the pipe is small and insignificant, but it has an underground connection to something so much bigger.
I don't care who you are, you got a connection to someone who is so much bigger. Turn your faucet on. The amount of water that comes out depends on how far you open it. If you just open it a little bit, you get a trickle.
You open it a lot, you get a gush. A lot of us are wondering why there's no power coming through the spigot of our lives because we want to open that thing up and give God free reign to fully express himself in the Internet. Dr. Tony Evans in a classic message from the archives called The Prayer for Spiritual Power. This is just one of 12 lessons in the two-volume series on igniting kingdom prayer. Yours is our thank you gift on CD or instantly downloadable MP3s when you make a donation to help keep the alternative broadcast on this station. And as a special bonus for a limited time, we're also including a copy of the companion book Kingdom Prayer, Touching Heaven to Change Earth. Just visit tonyevans.org today to make the arrangements. Or if it's more convenient, call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members assist with your request. Once again, that's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. Pray, God has the right to say yes, no, or wait. But on Monday, we'll discover that we have rights too. And we often get them all wrong. I hope you'll join us for that.
