Prayers of Paul – Power Toward Us – Part 5

The third thing that Paul prayed in Eph 1 was that the believer would know the “…exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (Eph 1:19a) It is impossible for our minds to comprehend God’s exceeding greatness of His power toward us. This is where we must rely on the person of the Holy Spirit to make it real to us. But let’s take a look at the whole potion where Paul talked about the power of God. We’ll then dig into some of the Original language for some keys to understanding.

“and what is the exceeding greatness of His power (dynamis) toward us who believe, according to the working (energeia) of His mighty ( ischys) power ( kratos) which He worked (energeō) in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power (exousia, authority) and might (dynamis) and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” (Eph 1:19-21)

In just those few verses we find 5 distinct Greek words. Each word in its place has something for us top learn. But before we look at those pay attention to the words “exceeding greatness.” Exceeding is from hyperballō, meaning to “surpass, transcend.” And greatness is megethos (think of our word mega!) meaning “great, mighty, loud.” Most of us would settle for just simply God’s normal power but His power (in its many forms) is surpassing and mighty! That should encourage and strengthen us.

First, exceeding greatness of His “power” toward us is the Greek dynamis. We get our word dynamite from it. It is explosive power that gives us supernatural abilities.

Now, Paul said that this dynamis power is “according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” What a string of words!

“Working” is from energeia, meaning “active energy.” It can be likened to the engine that powers a car or more appropriately the nuclear reactor that powers a submarine.

This working (active energy) is the “mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.” We find two more Greek words for power – “mighty” – ischys, meaning “ability, force.” It can be said this power is a show of force like when a mighty army invades another country. Then we have the word that is simply translated as “power” but it is kratos, meaning “dominion.” This is the rule of God’s government.

We are finding that all this power in its many beautiful forms is directly related to the resurrection of Jesus. See it:

The dynamis (explosive power) of God was worked (active energy) in Christ when God raised Him from the dead. This power was according to the working of his mighty (ability, force) power (dominion rule of His government).

Now, all this power is toward us who believe. It may sound too simple but that is the way God established it. It is by faith alone. We are saved by faith and we know God’s mighty power by faith.

Notice what God did with Jesus after raising Him. “…far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”

We learn right after this verse that we too are seated with Christ. “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:6) That means that the same power that raised Christ also resides in us. We have been raised WITH Christ.

FATHER, Your power in its many forms is hard for us to comprehend. But we know we only can understand it and allow it to flow in our lives through faith. We ask that we would know this exceeding greatness of Your power that is toward us who believe. We ask for more faith. Open our eyes. Flood us with wisdom and revelation. In Jesus’ name.