EPHESIANS 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe...

Before we learn what is the exceeding greatness of HIS power to us-ward who believe, we should first understand just what it is we are to believe.

It is simple enough said that before one can believe, he must first have something to believe. Simply enough said but we have found it not so simply enough understood, especially in this day of "positive believing".

We would suggest that all things that can be believed are boiled down into just two categories: one can believe what is right or one can believe what is wrong, what is good or what is evil, what is GODly or what is worldly. If left to ourselves to categorize just what is right or wrong, we would probably choose the pleasurable things as being good, and the un-pleasurable things as being evil. For example, "believing" to win the lottery most would categorize as being good, or positive, while missing a bus we would categorize as being bad, or negative. We may have been taught that we could actually win the Lottery if we could just believe hard enough. Likewise I have heard people teach that "negative believing" can cause one to loose their job or even become sick. But there is a critical truth that has been rarely taught. GOD has not left it up to us to invent categories (positive or negative), then at our fancy place all things in one or the other, depending on whether we want it in our lives or we don't. We are to believe what is GOD's word, that is positive believing. Not believing GOD's word is negative believing, it's that simple.

Let's look at a simple illustration of how mixed up the ideas of positive and negative believing are. Say you have two people, with one supposedly believing for it to rain while the other is believing for it not to rain. Which one is believing positive and which is believing negative? Tough question, because the one who is a farmer wants it to rain because he needs it for his crops but the one who doesn't want it to rain is a roofer who can't work if it rains. What is "positive" for either one is going to be "negative" for the other one. So who wins, the one who is believing the most? Nice try, but believing is not a "most" thing. One either believes or he doesn't. Read how Yeshua (Jesus) answered His apostles when they asked Him to "increase" their believing;

LUKE 17:5   And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith [pistis, believing]. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

If GOD instructs you to tell that sycamine tree to be plucked up by the root and to be planted in the sea, you now have a choice. You either talk to the tree or you don't. You either believe GOD or you don't. You don't sit around and "picture" that tree flying through the air as is often taught. Nor do you grit your teeth and repeatedly mutter, "I'm believing, I'm believing, I'm really believing". Nonsense! What is lacking in most peoples believing is not effort. They have plenty of effort. What is lacking is that they do not first have GOD's word to believe. But it must be GOD's word rightly divided, not just a portion of a verse taken out of its context.

I was taught once that I could believe for prosperity because the Bible says that GOD wants me to prosper above all other things. Sounded too good to be true, and it was. I never prospered and I was told it was because of my "lack of believing". I eventually realized that the problem wasn't my "not" believing GOD, but rather my problem was because I was believing them and their wrong dividing of GOD's word. The portion of the verse they used was in 3 JOHN 2, but let's read it in its context;

3 JOHN 1-3  The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

John was writing to Gaius, and he told Gaius that he wished above all things that Gaius may prosper and be in health. John wasn't writing that GOD wished above all things that Gaius, let alone every Believer that was to ever read the Epistle, would prosper and be in health. That is no less than handling the word of GOD deceitfully. There are tons of Scripture dealing with prosperity and health that we can believe, but 3 JOHN 2 is not one of them.

I am amazed about how in error this whole area of believing has become. Have you ever known someone that was tested for some dreaded disease and when the results came in negative everyone was thrilled and relieved? It's because "negative" doesn't mean something bad, but rather it means "a lack of" while "positive" means "the presence of". In our case, to believe positive means you have the word of GOD on it and to believe negative means you do not have the word of GOD on it.

Do you believe GOD wants people to die because HE needs harp players in heaven? That's negative believing! Do you believe that GOD "hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"? That's positive believing. In both of the above cases, one's relationship with GOD will be determined by what they believe. Negative believing is not believing what is GOD's will while believing GOD is positive believing.

Many times we are like children. We want things we think we can't possibly live without simply because our whole concept of life is in this one little moment, on this one tiny pebble in a universe of solar systems created without beginning or end. All we can see is the back of the bus we just missed, failing to remember (and believe) that "all things work together for good to those that love GOD" (ROMANS 8:28). If we are pursuing GOD's purpose for our lives, we should probably be thankful to have missed that bus. A great blessing could be on the next bus or perhaps a terrible tragedy awaits the bus we just missed.

Or perhaps we think somehow that GOD wants us to win the Lottery because of all the good things we would do with the loot. If only we could somehow believe to match those numbers. No, we are less likely to suffer needlessly if we allow GOD to prosper us instead of "luck" or so called "positive believing".

                    PSALM 119:105  Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

GOD's word is supposed to be our guide for living rather than our own reasonings. The world would woo and seduce us to believe its wrong way is right, while GOD's word lifts the vale and makes plain the right road to follow. Man then decides whether to pursue GOD's purpose for his life, or his own pleasure.

3 JOHN 11  Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

If one will pursue GOD's purpose for his life, then he will systematically believe GOD and follow the right road. If he pursues "his own way", he will at best "go astray".

ISAIAH 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way...

"His own way" is never the LORD's way. Ancient religions and modern movements have been built on the concept,

teaching that one must follow his instincts or let his heart direct him as to which way he should go. This is the lie, the deceit of the enemy. It may at first appear to be logical and sensible but that's the nature of a lie, to appear as truth. A lie, to be believable must at least at first glance appear to be the truth. But logic and good sense are not always adequate to expose the snare hidden so carefully beneath the surface. The word of GOD is our sword to divide truth from error, right from wrong. Nothing else! Looking within ourselves we will fail miserably at trying to understand who we are and our purpose in life. That pursuit tells us nothing except possibly what we think we have learned from our experiences over our short lifetime.

PROVERBS 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Our believing, to be right, to be GODly, must be based upon GOD's word, not our "own understanding". How we pray, how we love, how we work, and how we play must all be based upon GOD's word. I hope that doesn't appear bland or boring because I can assure you that there is nothing bland or boring about the exceeding greatness of HIS power. However, if we believe it to be bland or boring, that is evidence in itself that we are being seduced. It doesn't matter if we are told it by our preacher, our best friend, or even our own heart, it is a lie and we are being deceived.

PROVERBS 28:26  He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

These Things

We now come to the culminating purpose of this first prayer in Ephesians, that we might know "what is the exceeding greatness of HIS power to usward who believe". The first thing for us to learn here is that it is HIS power, not ours. We may be deceived into thinking that somehow it is our power, but lest we forget HE reminds us that it is HIS power to usward who believe. Believing is not the power, it is only a reaction, a result of the power. We believe "according to the working of HIS mighty power".

This is it in a nutshell. We believe, "according to HIS mighty power", not our own "visualization", "mental picturing" or the like. GOD, as overseer of HIS creation, has the ability to set in motion any set of events HE determines is necessary to bring us along the path to where we can believe HIS word. It is then that we begin to realize, hence to know;

EPHESIANS 1:19-23  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Over the course of each and every one of our lives GOD has had countless opportunities to work "HIS mighty power". Each and every detail of our lives is recorded on our brains and the some total of all those experiences make up our memory. That "memory" is our identity, it is who we are.

How we think, how we act, how we hope are all a result of how we remember our experiences, all of which have been overseen by GOD, and perhaps many were the actual "working out of HIS mighty power towards us who believe". The memory of those experiences as they relate to GOD, whether its reading Scripture, interacting with others, working at one's job or even during our prayer life, is indeed, our "knowledge of GOD".

2 PETER 1:2-16  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

"If these things be in you and abound"

"he that lacketh these things"

"if ye do these things"

"remembrance of these things"

"have these things in remembrance"

What are these things? They are our thoughts, actions and experiences! They are adding virtue to our faith and knowledge to that. To knowledge we are to add temperance and to that patience. Then to patience we are to add GODliness and to GODliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity. What are these things but living to know GOD. Indeed they are our "knowledge of HIM". They are the "all things" that pertain unto life and GODliness, that HIS divine power hath given unto us. For what purpose? That we may be "established in the present truth".

At the close of Yeshua's earthly ministry He encouraged His disciples with this promise,

JOHN 14:24-26  ...the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Yeshua encouraged His disciples who had had many experiences with Him, that in His absence, the Father would send the holy spirit which would teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance. The memory of those experiences were to become their knowledge of GOD.

Remember the "Parable of the Sower" in the Gospel of Luke? The word of GOD was represented by a seed sown in four different soils indicating the four different kinds of responses to the word of GOD. GOD places HIS words in our minds and one of four things can then be the result.

1) Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved, or

2) They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away, or

3) They on the rock are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection, or

4) But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

GOD, according to HIS mighty power, will see to it that HIS word is placed in our minds. What happens to it then is the all important question. Does it bring forth fruit unto perfection or is it choked?

COLOSSIANS 1:25-28  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect [teleios, complete] in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Here Paul reveals that the mystery was made manifest; the riches of the glory of this mystery was made known, with its preaching, its warning and its teaching, so that every man may be presented "complete in Christ Jesus".

"whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom"

 The Greek word which was translated "warning" in the above verse is noutheteo, and means, "to put in mind".

The goal is for us to be complete in Christ Jesus. The means towards the goal is to have Him preached to us, then to have that preaching noutheteo'd, put in our mind, then finally to be taught (instructed and directed).

COLOSSIANS 1:9-10  For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

...being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of GOD.

PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21  For our conversation [politeuma, citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body...

Our body is vile (humiliated) and must then be changed "like unto His glorious body", but what of our mind? It is here, today, on earth in this life that we are to change are minds.

ROMANS 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

That is the purpose of renewing our minds, to prove that good and acceptable and perfect will of GOD.

We must allow nothing to eclipse HIS purpose from being our pursuit. If we stumble, we must thank GOD for HIS mercy and move on. If we don't stumble, we must thank GOD for HIS grace and move on, "always abounding in the work of the LORD".

If we can't find time to read HIS word, it isn't because HE hasn't given us time. It's because the time HE has given us we have spent somewhere else.

In MATTHEW 25, Yeshua taught of three servants to whom their lord gave certain talents to steward while he was away. Two of the servants invested their talents and prospered. When he returned, he gave each of them cities to rule over. However, because of fear of failure, the third servant buried his talent. To him the lord said maybe the sharpest words in the Gospels, "Thou wicked and slothful servant".

Have we buried the talents our LORD has given us? Are we pursuing HIS purpose for our lives? Are we performing the ministry GOD has prepared us for?

COLOSSIANS 4:17  ...Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.

Yes, each of us do have a specific ministry to fulfill. Our ministries are diverse and yet each overlaps another. We are members of a body, and just as each body part has its own function yet it is dependant upon the others, so it is with us. We each have our own function to perform, yet we each together are one body working in unison.

Let us continue digging in the Scriptures for the talents buried there. Let us continue to find HIS purpose and pursue it. Let us continue to realize HIS endless love for us, and enjoy it. Let us be able to state as Paul did;

2 TIMOTHY 4:7-8  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.