“Pussy cat, Pussy cat, where have you been? I’ve been to London to visit the Queen. Pussy cat, Pussy cat what did you do there? I frightened a little mouse under the chair.

Like that cat, Christians sometimes settle for petty involvements, trivial pursuits- chasing mice- when we have the opportunity to spend time with royalty, with the King! Instead of making the most of our opportunities, using our time to deepen our relationship with God, and growing into maturity, we often waste time by concentrating upon minor issues. In this prayer, Paul shows us how to make the most of our time with God in prayer. Paul, in praying for the covenant community, the Church, basically asked 4 things: strength, love, knowledge & fullness. Here in these last two verses, Paul calls You to Give God all Glory.

Paul encourages us to give God glory by first reminding us that Our God Is All Powerful. All that Paul has prayed seems amazing. But this is just scratching the surface. God is able to do all these things that Paul has asked. For our God is active, He is in control. We don't have a God who is dormant, or asleep or tired, or away on holiday- our God is a doing God. He is actively involved in His church, His creation and all that entails. Are you conscious that God is doing things in your life? What can this powerful God do? Look at verse 20. It says “immeasurably more than we ask”. What a promise! It is like a staircase- we ask, all we ask, more than, immeasurably more than. This phrase more than carries the idea of beyond. So Paul is telling us that God is able to work beyond your faith and your imagination. This word immeasurably has the idea of exceedingly, abundantly, infinitely more. God works far more abundantly, exceedingly abundantly, beyond any limitations that your imagination or faith may try to put on Him. You can not limit God. Do these words sum up your prayer life? Or do you ask for too little. Having said all this, I want to add a word caution. Just because God can and does provide for you more than you can imagine, doesn't mean that you are all to go home ask million dollars, or a new Porsche, or whatever takes your fancy. The Holy Spirit warns us in other parts of Scripture against doing this (James 4:2-3; 1 John 3:21-22). Also in this passage before us, Paul warns us not to ask selfishly. For he says, “To Him be the glory (v 21).” Now if you are to give God true glory, then what you ask for ought to be motivated by the desire to promote God's glory.

God is able to do immeasurably more than you ask because He is the God of power. He is in control of all things. In other words He has authority over all things. When He says jump, the universe says, “how high?” This powerful God works within weak Christians like you and I. “According to” means in line with. God works beyond what you ask Him, in line with the power that is already at work within you. That this power works in us is amazing in itself. Through this same power God will do many wonderful things in our midst. Paul mentioned back in vs 7 that he was aware of God’s power in his life. Have you been praying for this power? Can you see it at work in your life as an individual? Can you see this power at work in the life of this church?

Paul reminds us that you are to give God all glory because To God Belongs All Glory. Paul is aware of the dangers that you and I can fall into. The temptation is there to try and use this power for ourselves. The temptation is to try and manipulate God to get what I want. If you are a Christian today, then you are to be growing in grace. You are to be growing in spiritual maturity. Unfortunately you and I are still sinners and act from the wrong motives at times. Paul tells us that glory is to be given to God. How much? Endless glory, for ever and ever. Notice that this glory is to be found in the Church and in Jesus Christ. What a claim for Paul to make, that the glory of God is linked to the Church. What does this mean? First of all it doesn't mean that we can add anything to God's eternal glorious and holy nature. To give glory to God means to either praise Him or reveal His glory. The Church has been given not only the task to praise God. The Church also has been given the task of revealing the glory of God to the world. The power (1:19), mercy (2:4), love (2:4), grace (2:5), wisdom (3:10) of God, is to be revealed by the Church, that is you and I, to glorify God. Now this can't happen where a Church is full of division, where spite and bitterness rules the Church or where the Church members don't try to live out their Christian life consistently. It is unfortunate, but so often people see in the Church, not the glory of God, but hypocrisy. It is an awesome task that you have been given. Yes, not one of us is perfect, yet at the same time, those who are outside of the Church scrutinise your life, and my life, in order to find an excuse for them to not obey God. You and I need to point them towards the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only perfect example. Yes, I have to admit that I am not perfect, not as good as I ought to be. But glory to God, Jesus is perfect, and even more so, by His love and sacrifice, I no longer must experience the full consequences of my sin and rebellion. For Christ, the head  of the Church, reflects perfectly, the glory of God. As a body of believers, whose head is Jesus Christ, you and I are to bring glory to God Almighty. In this both the Head and the body of the Church, is to be united in this single act of bringing glory to the Father. The Gospels show Jesus doing this when He was physically on earth (John 12:28, 17:1). He also continues to give God glory as the head of the Church. Now if you call yourself a Christian, that is one who belongs to Christ, then you too are to give God glory in your life. To do this you will need to learn how to season your speech with grace, that is to fill your language with the praise of the Lord. Also you will need to become more aware of God working in your life daily. This process of giving God glory will go on forever. It begins now while you are controlled by time, and if you are a Christian it will continue into eternity. Remember the words to the Hymn Amazing Grace, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, there’s no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.” If you are a Christian, then giving God glory is something that you will be doing for a long time so you might as well begin to practise it right here and now. Paul closes this prayer by saying Amen. This is more than just a way to close a prayer. It is a solid affirmation of trust and commitment to what has been prayed for. It is also short hand for asking God to make this prayer be truth, asking for it to come true. If you can’t agree to the point of acting obediently upon these words, then you can’t say amen.

CONCLUSION: Come to God with bold Biblical prayers. Let us not be held back as a church because we have not asked. Do you want God to grow this Church? Then ask Him to do so. Diligently seek to make proper use of the power that is available to you.

Above all, learn to do everything you can for His glory in word action & thought