You've Been Praying Too Small | Sermon on Faith & Trusting God

Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 pushes believers past a small view of God. God cannot be shrunk down to fit human thoughts, limited understanding, or neat little boxes. The kingdom keeps proving itself bigger than expected, just as Christ’s grace reached Gentiles who once stood outside what many thought God was doing. Christ did not die for a small group, the righteous, the rich, or the folks who looked like they had it all together. Christ died for anybody who can call on His name.

Paul’s prayer asks that God would strengthen believers with power through the Spirit in their inner being. Faith cannot stop at watching God move around somebody else. Faith has to grow until Christ dwells in the heart, until love takes root, and until God’s people know how wide, long, high, and deep Christ’s love really is. Christ’s love held Him on the cross for people who were still caught up in sin, paying a price they could never pay themselves.

Paul’s doxology changes expectations because it gives glory to the God who can do immeasurably more than anybody can ask, imagine, or think. Personal testimonies become personal doxologies when God keeps enemies away, turns clouds into sunny days, lifts people from deep waters, and brings them through what should have taken them out. God’s past faithfulness trains the heart to expect more without treating Him like a genie only called on in trouble.

The contrast between a hundred-amp house and a heavy-up names the problem plainly. Small expectations cannot carry the power needed for what God wants to do next. Faith needs a rewiring because a small God only leads people to look for small stuff. God’s power calls believers to ask as far as they can see, trusting that God can still give what they could not see coming.

Faith changes obstacles into opportunities for God to show up in a crazy way. God can move a Red Sea, heal a body beyond what doctors can explain, restore relationships, open welded-shut doors, and put a name in rooms nobody knew they could enter. Hard times, broken systems, and crazy environments do not cancel God’s ability. God can still do more.

The call is to stop throwing pity parties and start visioning. Big faith starts dreaming again, imagining God at work in families, workplaces, communities, and places that look impossible. God can take one prayed-for piece of the puzzle and add another part nobody even knew to ask for. God can do exceedingly and abundantly beyond every expectation.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God is bigger than imagination. God does not become manageable because human minds prefer clear limits. Every picture of God that fits comfortably inside human understanding is still too small. Faith begins to stretch when believers realize that God is bigger than the biggest thing they can presently imagine. [40:11]
• 2. Christ’s love reaches personally and deeply. Christ’s love is not only a doctrine for the church or a testimony belonging to somebody else. Christ saw sinners in their mess and remained on the cross until redemption was finished. That kind of love gives wounded hearts a foundation deeper than shame, failure, or fear. [48:38]
• 3. Faith needs a heavy-up. Small expectations work like an undersized electrical system that cannot carry the load of what is coming next. God’s power is not lacking, but human expectations often remain wired for survival instead of fullness. A renewed mind makes room to seek God for more than merely getting by. [58:57]
• 4. Obstacles can become God’s opportunities. Faith does not always know exactly how God will make the way, but faith knows God can do whatever is necessary. Closed doors, sickness, fractured relationships, and impossible circumstances become places where God’s power can be seen. Confidence grows when believers remember that God’s will is never trapped by visible limitations. [61:21]
• 5. Stop complaining and start visioning. Despair keeps staring at what is bad, but expectation starts imagining what God can make possible. God can work in difficult people, unstable environments, and rooms where somebody’s name has never been mentioned. Big faith dares to dream again because God can add pieces to the puzzle that nobody knew to request.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [30:48] - More Than This
• [34:41] - Paul’s Prayer in Ephesians 3
• [36:16] - Change Your Expectations
• [38:48] - God Already Has a Plan
• [40:58] - The Kingdom Is Bigger Than Expected
• [43:43] - God Is Present When Life Is Good
• [47:12] - Power in the Inner Being
• [50:25] - Personal Doxologies and Testimonies
• [53:31] - Expect More From God
• [57:53] - Rewire Your Thinking
• [61:21] - Faith Beyond Visible Limits
• [67:25] - No Dream Is Bigger Than God
• [69:57] - Stop Complaining and Start Visioning

Bible Reading

Ephesians 3:14–21
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” [34:38]

Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” [01:00:38]

Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [48:55]

Observation questions

1. What are the specific things Paul asks God to do in believers’ inner lives in Ephesians 3:14–21?
2. In Ephesians 3, what words does Paul use to describe the size and depth of Christ’s love, and what does he say that love leads believers toward? [48:14]
3. What is the difference between seeing God’s power at work around a person and experiencing His power at work in that person’s inner being? [47:21]
4. What examples were named of situations where faith can see an opportunity for God to move—rather than only an obstacle? [01:02:02]

Interpretation questions

1. Paul prays for believers to be strengthened through the Spirit in their inner being. What kinds of pressure, fear, or discouragement make inner strength necessary in everyday life?
2. Romans 5:8 says Christ died for people while they were still sinners. How does that truth speak to a person who feels too messy, ashamed, or far gone to believe Christ’s love is for them? [48:46]
3. Ephesians 3:20 says God can do immeasurably more than people ask or imagine, “according to his power that is at work within us.” How does this keep faith from becoming a demand that God must follow somebody’s exact plan?
4. Hebrews 11:1 connects faith with hope and what cannot yet be seen. How can a believer have real confidence in God while still admitting they do not know exactly how He will make a way? [01:01:40]

Application questions

1. Where have you been carrying a small expectation of God—maybe in your family, health, work, finances, relationships, or calling? What would it look like to bring that situation to God with bigger faith this week? [59:24]
2. Is there an area where you have been watching God work for other people but have struggled to believe He can strengthen and work in you? What would you ask the Holy Spirit to do in your inner being? [47:21]
3. Think about a time God brought you through something difficult, protected you, provided for you, or turned a situation around. How can that testimony become a personal doxology that strengthens your faith right now? [51:16]
4. What obstacle is taking up most of your attention right now? How might you begin to see it as a place where God can show up, even if you cannot yet see how He will do it? [01:01:13]
5. When you feel ready to complain or throw a pity party this week, what is one specific way you can stop and start visioning instead? What good thing can you begin asking God to do in that situation? [01:10:01]
6. Is there a “welded-shut door” that you have stopped praying about because it seems impossible? What would a faithful, honest prayer for that door sound like this week? [01:08:14]
7. What is one dream, need, or next step you can place before God without trying to tell Him exactly how it must happen? How can the group support you in trusting that God may add pieces you did not even know to ask for? [01:11:36]