Yesterday we prayed Paul’s prayer. Today I want to sit inside its final sentence — because Paul ends with a doxology that directly confronts the way students in healthcare do math.
Here’s the math we do: my future is only as big as my ability. We forecast our lives from our current capacity — this score means that program, this weakness means that ceiling, this history means those doors are closed. We even pray this way: small, careful, pre-shrunk prayers, asking God only for what seems statistically reasonable given our numbers.
I did that math for five years while the door to medical school stayed shut. My calculations said the ceiling was low. My calculations were wrong.
The Word
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” — Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)
The Truth
Paul stacks the language deliberately: not just more than we ask — abundantly more. Not just abundantly — far more abundantly. Beyond what we ask, and beyond what we can even think. Your imagination is not the boundary of God’s ability. Neither is your entrance score, your class rank, or your track record.
But notice what keeps this from being a motivational poster: according to the power at work within us. The measure isn’t your potential — the banned vocabulary of self-help. The measure is His power, the same resurrection power from chapter 1, already at work in you. This is not “dream bigger because you’re capable of more.” It’s “ask bigger because He is capable of more.”
And notice the destination: to him be glory. God’s “far more abundantly” isn’t a blank check for our ambitions — it’s aimed at His glory across generations. Sometimes that looks like the open door. Sometimes it looks like being carried through a shut one and coming out more rooted than success would have made you. Both are abundance. Both were beyond what I knew to ask for.
The Shift
Look at your prayers lately. Have they been pre-shrunk to fit your ability? Today, pray one prayer sized to His power instead of your capacity — about your training, your future, or the person you’re becoming.
Root It
Write down the ceiling you’ve been assuming — the sentence that starts with “realistically, someone like me…” Then write Ephesians 3:20 underneath it and pray the bigger prayer, out loud.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You are able to do far more abundantly than everything I ask, and everything I’ve been too careful to ask. Forgive my pre-shrunk prayers. Work Your power in me, set the size of my future by Your glory and not my history, and teach me to ask like the Father You’ve shown me is rich. Amen.
Before You Go
Comment the ceiling you’re tearing up today — finish this sentence: “I assumed my future was limited by ___, but He is able.” Then send this to a friend who’s been praying small, careful prayers. Somebody’s ceiling comes down today.