Don’t Limit God (Ephesians 3:20)

Sermon on 30 November 2025 by Reverend Kevin Teo

Ephesians 3:20 - “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

God can do whatever He wants but He willingly buys Himself to His word. In this era of grace, God works in us and through us. He does not do things independently but abides by His words. For God to work in and through us, we must cooperate with Him. If you know the word of God, you are not ignorant and know how to cooperate with Him.

Ephesians 3:20-21 - “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”

Paul made this prayer at the end of Ephesians 3. He’s declaring God’s ability to do more than what we ask for. Yet, many believers live below what God has for us. Not because God is limited but because we limit Him through our wrong thinking. We see this recurring problem even in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, we see how Israel always didn’t believe in God and suffered. Sometimes we disqualify ourselves by comparing ourselves with others. This is just our wrong thinking and not God’s truth. But if we think this way, it becomes our belief system. As far as God is concerned, He blesses all His children. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Each one of us, a child of God, has been blessed. If you don’t know the truth, you will live as if you are not blessed. Many times, we downsize God and put a glass ceiling. He is called El-Shaddai, God Almighty.

Ephesians 3:20 is one of the most explosive declarations in the entire Bible about the nature and capacity of God. It calls us to a radically expanded vision of God’s ability and willingness to work in and through us. As believers, God blesses us not just for us but through us too. It is a direct invitation and a warning not to put limitations on what God wants to do in and through our lives. It is not a promise that God will do whatever we want Him to do. It’s a declaration of God’s unlimited ability and willingness, restricted only by how much of His power we allow to operate in our lives. To reign in life (Romans 5:17), we must stop limiting Him in our thinking. If your heart is not right, you will interpret Scriptures with your carnal desires. And it will not work because it is not in God’s context. It is not that God is not faithful but their interpretation of God’s promises is wrong. He is limited by how much we yield ourselves to Him. If we don’t believe in His power, His power in us cannot manifest too. If you already know what you have, you don’t need to ask God anymore but thank Him for the blessings He gave you. You will see the blessings manifest in your life. In order to reign in life, we need to cooperate with God. We need to believe that we are meant to reign in life.

Romans 5:17 - “For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

Keywords in Ephesians 3:20:

‘Now to Him who is able’ shows that the focus is on God Himself, not our effort, faith, or performance. ‘is able’ is in present tense, so He is continually able right now and today. ‘to do’ is to produce, accomplish, and bring to reality.

Romans 16:25 - “Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time.”

Jude 1:24 - “Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.”

Jeremiah 32:17 - ““O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!”

Many times when a crisis hits, we try all ways to solve it by ourselves because we think that we can do so. We may even think that God can’t do it as He doesn’t understand modern technology. Scripture tells us that He is well able and nothing is too hard. Whatever you are facing today, it is not hard for God. You have to start thinking God’s way and in line with what His word says.

Luke 1:37 - “For the word of God will never fail.””

God’s power is never in question. The issue is whether we believe it and position ourselves to receive it. His power is infinite; our shortcomings do not limit Him, but our thinking does. You can believe but not do anything to activate that power. You need to learn how to hear from God and follow His leading. God cannot work beyond what we think.

‘To do exceedingly abundantly above…’ is a triple compound word in Greek: hyper-ek-perissou. It literally means ‘above and beyond, super abundantly, overflowing to the point of excess’. Paul is using superlatives because normal language fails to describe God’s ability. God’s nature is abundance and overflow (El Shaddai, Jehovah Jireh).

John 10:10 - “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

God’s abundance begins in our spirit? overflows into our soul, and inevitably touches our body, our family, our finances, and our future. The day we are born again, God’s life comes into us. As we renew our minds, our soul starts prospering. It flows from inside out. God already put that in, it is our responsibility to let it flow.

2 Corinthians 9:8 - “And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”

‭‭The key point is that scarcity is not God’s way. Abundance, overflow, and ‘more than enough’ characterise how God works.

Biblical examples of God’s abundance include

• Elijah & the Widow (1 Kings 17:8-16)

• Feeding the 5000 (Matthew 14:17-21)

• Feeding the 4000 (Matthew 15:32-38)

• Water to Wine (John 2:1-11)

• Catch of Fish (Luke 5:4-7)

• Catch of Fish (John 21:6-11)

God doesn’t just meet the need; He exceeds it with abundance.

‘All that we ask or think’ - We can only ask whatever we have been thinking. Many believers pray wrongly because they are thinking wrongly. They don’t have the truth in them. Our asking arises from our thought life. Don’t limit God by having ignorant or erroneous thinking. Many times, God is not manifesting in our lives because we are not thinking correctly.

‘According to the power that works in us’ - This exceeding abundant power is not waiting for us up in heaven someday. It is already at work inside every believer through the Holy Spirit. It is not on vacation; nor waiting for better conditions.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is energising us now.

Ephesians 1:19-20 - “I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”

God works through the Holy Spirit within us, not from outside us. The same power is in you too. What are you doing with that power? This power is in me because God wants to work in and through me. God works through the Holy Spirit in us and not outside of us. If you perpetually think you don’t have power, then your life will be powerless. Start thinking that you have the power. I am not powerful but God’s power is in me so I am powerful in God’s might. Once you think correctly, your life will change quickly.

Romans 8:11 - “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”

God’s power is actively working to produce abundance in every area of our lives. He knows the area of shortage and tries to supply there. The extent to which this power manifests is dependent on our receptivity, readiness to cooperate and alignment to His will. This means God moves as far as we allow Him to. We can limit the flow of His power by wrong thinking and believing. The Holy Spirit is unlimited, but our hearts can restrict Him.

Colossians 1:29 - “That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.”

Paul understands this truth so he is willingly to align himself for God’s power to flow through him.

Proverbs 4:23 - “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Your thinking will affect your belief system. Your belief system will affect what comes out of your mouth. When you always speak lack, you are thinking of ‘not enough’. The life you live today can be traced back to what you have been thinking. When we think and speak positively, it is different from the world. It is based on God which holds power.

3 John 2 - “Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.”

‭‭When our soul prospers through meditating on God’s truths, we will prosper in all areas of our lives. God’s way of abundance is prosperity in all areas of our lives, but it requires efforts from our part by meditating on His promises. It’s our responsibility to renew our mind with God’s truths, which means we need to meditate (Hebrew: Hagah - mutter, ponder, imagine) on, as well as see ourselves in the scriptures.

Romans 12:2 - “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

1. We limit God by wrong identify thinking

If you see yourself as unworthy, not good or holy enough, condemned, disqualified, and need to perform to earn God’s blessings, then you will never expect ‘exceedingly abundantly above’. As believers, you also have an enemy satan that is discouraging you from knowing the truth. Once you know the truth, he has no hold over you.

Right identity thinking leads to right believing, thereby removing limits.

2 Corinthians 5:21 - “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Colossians 1:12 - “always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.”

You have been qualified by God and not by man. God called you worthy.

2. We limit God by unbelief

Psalm 78:40-41 - “Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland. Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.”

Unbelief prevented God from fully blessing Israel - they failed to enter the promised land (Numbers 13-14). This was self-inflicted and unnecessary suffering.

Psalm 81:10-12 - “For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things. “But no, my people wouldn’t listen. Israel did not want me around. So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas.”

Psalm 81:16 - “But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.””

Mark 6:5-6 - “And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people.”

Not that Jesus lacked power, but their unbelief created an atmosphere where the power could not be released. Unbelief limits God’s hands.

Hebrews 3:19 - “So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.”

3. We limit God by small thinking (an offspring of unbelief)

Numbers 13:31-33 - “But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!””2 Kings 7:1-2 - “Elisha replied, “Listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord says: By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver.” The officer assisting the king said to the man of God, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!” But Elisha replied, “You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!””

This officer’s fate is a warning of what unbelief or small thinking can cause a person to stand right at the place of breakthrough, watch others receive, yet miss out personally. ‘He saw it but did not taste it’ is not because God was unwilling, but his unbelief closes the heart to receive from God.

Proverbs 4:23 - “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts. If we think about lack, we will live in lack. If we think just enough, we will have just enough. If we see God as small, our life will be small. God cannot move beyond the strongholds in our mind. But if we meditate on the abundance of God, abundance will manifest. You don’t have to force it to come out, it will happen.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 - “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

God’s ability to bless and proper us has no boundaries. Let’s not limit Him by insisting it comes only through career-related channels like job changes, promotions, bonuses, or salary increments. God can provide creative ideas and strategies to prosper us!

Daniel 1:17 - “God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams.”

Isaiah 48:17 - “This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.”

Psalm 32:8 - “The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”

4. We limit God by fear

Fear shrinks vision, closes doors, and suffocates faith.

Mark 4:35-41 - “As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!””

Fear and faith cannot operate simultaneously.

Isaiah 41:10 - “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

He is not just with us, He is inside us.

How to stop limiting God?

1. Align our thinking to God’s truths

Focus on His nature and ability, not on our limitations and circumstances. Mind renewal produces faith to appropriate God’s promises.

Romans 10:17 - “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”

2. Enlarge our vision

Isaiah 54:2 - ““Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense!”

God cannot help you do this.

3. Speak only what God or the Holy Spirit says, not what we feel or want

Proverbs 18:21 - “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

2 Corinthians 4:13 - “But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.””

Break limits by speaking God’s truths in abundance, not lack, shortage, or deficit.

Don’t limit a God who has no limits. Purpose of God’s abundance:

Ephesians 3:21 - “Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”

God’s ability to do exceedingly abundantly is not ultimately about us. It’s about His glory being displayed through the church. When we stop limiting God and allowing Him to work through us in His fullness, He gets glory, the church is strengthened, the world sees His power and generations are impacted.

2 Corinthians 3:5 - “It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.”

Amen.