This Sunday, Pastor Todd brought us to the close of the first half of Ephesians, where Paul ends three chapters of theology with a doxology, a word of praise about the glory of God. Doxologies grow out of doctrine but are never void of devotion, so we were reminded that we need both truth and a living relationship with the One we say we know. Paul praises God as the One who is able to do far more than all we ask or think, and he stretches the limits of language to say it. Our prayers, if we're honest, often stay within the realm of the possible, where we can always find a comprehensible explanation for the answer. Paul invites us to praise God for working in ways beyond our ability to comprehend. We were given two reasons we can be confident that God is able. Objectively, we see it in creation, the incarnation, the resurrection, and the ascension, truths that stand outside of us whether we feel them or not. Subjectively, we know it from experience: being made alive in Christ, redeemed from slavery to sin, sealed with the Holy Spirit, and joined together in the church, a family with nothing in common except Christ. Each of us has our own story of something God did that we cannot fully explain, and each one is proof that He is able to do more than we comprehend. Because God is able, we're called to pray for His glory, the beauty and greatness of who He is and what He does, to be made known in the church. That means praying bold, incomprehensible prayers: for hardened sinners to be born again, for those in bondage to find freedom, for the weaknesses in our own lives we've written off as unchangeable, and for God to work in and through First Baptist Church of Benbrook in ways only He can. Daily prayers still glorify Him, but we're invited to go further. What if a spiritual awakening began right here, and what if every dividing wall of hostility came down? May we pray that together, believing that He is able.
