Raising An Altar Conference 2026 by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Understanding Ephesians 3:20

I love to teach the word of God because when we understand the word of God, it helps our conviction and then it strengthens us in our walk with God. Our walk with God depends on alignment and understanding.

There are at least four layers for consideration in Ephesians 3:20. It is a very deep scripture.

When you read contextually from Ephesians 3:1 to Ephesians 3:21, Paul began with a defense of his apostleship. Through the election of grace he was given the apostleship to minister to the Gentiles, and he was given a mystery that before time had been hidden but has now been revealed through apostles and prophets. The verse connects from Ephesians 3:14, "for this cause", which led to a prayer. He was praying a prayer and it doubled as a charge.

Ephesians 3:20 and Ephesians 3:21 read together, leaving out everything in between, make it plain that the whole subject of discussion is Him. Not just the power, not just the exceeding. There are two "unto Him" statements, one in verse 20 and one in verse 21, so you have to focus there. He is talking about a person. Before you explore the subject of His power and the church, the real emphasis is Him.

The Four Layers of Ephesians 3:20

1. Now Unto Him: Know the Person Ephesians 3:20

   Paul was one person who had an abundant revelation of God, and he says "unto Him". Forget about what He is able to do for a moment. Your understanding and appreciating what He is able to do depends on knowing the Him Paul is talking about.

   The same Him is introduced again: Philippians 3:10. Paul wants to know Him, and when he knows Him, then he will know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. It starts by knowing Him.

   Knowing comes before receiving: John 1:10 and John 1:11. The same Him is in view again. You cannot receive Him until you first know Him.

   Those who know their God: Daniel 11:32. The result of knowing their God is, number one, they shall be strong, and number two, they shall do exploits.

   It would be a careless assumption to think everyone understands the Him Paul is talking about, because "Him" means many things to many people. Isaiah 40:28 is a profound description of the God we serve. He is talking to those who don't know Him or are not sure who He is, and the Bible uses three very clear expressions: the everlasting God, the Lord (Yahweh) and the creator of the ends of the earth. The word Lord there means absolute owner, not contractual. The owner, not a steward. The ownership there does not just talk of possession, it talks of being the originator, the source. Psalm 24:1.

   Just describing Him begins to affect you. By the time you start talking of His ability, when doubt wants to rise, you will remember who this Him is.

   Six Major Attributes of God

   From a theological standpoint, these are the qualities that define God. When you are trying to define or describe God, you define Him by and through His qualities.

   God is eternal. There is no beginning and there is no end. He has always been and will always be. Every other thing and every other person has a beginning. Genesis 1:1. God is in the beginning, not from the beginning.

   God is self-existent. He does not owe or derive His existence by partnership with another entity. He does not depend on anything outside of Himself. Lack oxygen alone and you will die. Lack food alone and you will die. One of the ways they punish criminals is to incarcerate them and leave them alone, because human beings thrive on connection. But God is self-existent. He is not frustrated by the absence or the presence of anybody or any factor. Whatever makes for His sustenance is within Him.

   God is immutable. He is unchanging in His person and His character. His methods can change and His ways are dynamic, but His person is consistent. That means we can trust Him. James 1:17 and Malachi 3:6. Integrity is not something that comes to men by default, which is why you celebrate people when you find them persons of integrity. It is not intrinsic in men, because we bend based on the situation we find ourselves in. But because He is immutable, we know that a thousand years from now His character will not change.

   God is omniscient. He is all-knowing. God's knowledge is not progressive. God does not learn. His knowledge is absolute. If He should learn, that means there is someone higher than Him who educates Him. There is no such thing as future with God. His realm is now. The vastness of His understanding is beyond human comprehension: perfect knowledge, perfect understanding, perfect wisdom.

   God is omnipotent. He is sovereign and all powerful.

   God is omnipresent. He is not affected by time and space. Psalm 139:7.

   The revelation of Him, the eternal one, the self-existent one, the all powerful one, will help you believe every other thing that follows. Most believers do not take the time to know Him, but focus on the things He can do. Then they find a conflict in the mind, because the description that follows "unto Him" is a very ambitious one. If you don't know Him, that statement will look like a lie. When you know Him, it begins to make sense. Isaiah 55:9.

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   Able to Do Ephesians 3:20

   This talks about ability and capacity. There are people who are able to say but not able to do. There are people who are able to think but not able to do. The one who is able to do must be all powerful.

   Power belongs to God: Psalm 62:11.

   A profound scripture we have made songs out of: Exodus 15:11. We are still talking about the Him.

   Able to do means: Able to give a child even without a womb. Able to pick an individual from a dunghill and announce him regardless of who believes you or not. Able to restore, able to save even unto the uttermost, able to lift, able to anoint me with fresh oil and announce me as a sign and a wonder to the nations. Hebrews 7:25. Able to put a coin in the mouth of the fish so that I cheaply go and pick it up and have the resources. Matthew 17:27. Able to make all grace abound toward you so that you have sufficiency in all things. 2 Corinthians 9:8. Able to frustrate the tokens of liars. Isaiah 44:25. Able to do beyond human understanding. Ecclesiastes 11:5. Sarah laughed, yet He is able.

   There are things even Satan can do. The enemy does stealing and killing. But there are certain acts of redemption and intervention where you see that this one is God's signature. When you find a man who is lifted by God from nowhere to anywhere, the One who is able to do has visited him. Genesis 21:1. God visited Sarah. Only God can do that one.

   There are people who say, "I wish I had the money, I would really help you." They have the heart but they are not able to do, because the ability to do is a description of capacity. A man asked Jesus, "If you are willing, you can make me clean," and Jesus said, "I am willing, be thou clean." Matthew 8:2 and Matthew 8:3. He had the power to do. Blind Bartimaeus understood this about Jesus. Mark 10:47 to Mark 10:51. It was not "can You do it", because he knew He could. If He doesn't do it, it is simply because He doesn't want to. Able to do is the foundation of Bible faith: a revelation of who God is and the extent of His power. Ephesians 1:19 to Ephesians 1:21.

   The reason we doubt God is that we do not know Him, and we have not taken time to explore the fact that He is able to do. We sing "He's able" and we dance, but we really don't understand what we are saying. He has left His credentials. You want to know how far God is able to do? Read your Bible. He made the heavens and the earth. He brought Israel out of Egypt regardless of Pharaoh. He did not have to kill Pharaoh to bring them out. Pharaoh only died when he tried to stop what God had done. Most times we think you kill the enemy, strike the head of the serpent, and then deliverance happens. But He can come to the camp of the enemy, leave them alive, pick the one He wants and take him out. You should be grateful but not surprised when God decides to change your story. It is those who don't know Him who will doubt.

   When you know God is able to do, you will not fear the assignment He gives you. God will never give you an assignment that you have the capacity to do on your own. He will give you an assignment that He can do through you. One of the ways you know you have heard God is that what He told you must make you afraid. If it is easily achievable, most likely it is a familiar spirit. God will tell you something only He can do, because what that instruction makes out of you is better than the achievement. It is a journey that will stretch you until you trust Him.

3. Above All That We Ask or Think Ephesians 3:20

   Why did Paul add "that we ask or think"? He could have stopped at "exceeding abundantly far above". If I say someone is wealthier than Dangote or wealthier than Elon Musk, by making that contrast I also reveal that those are standards themselves. By making the contrast, Paul introduces a very important part of understanding how God works through men.

   The doing of God depends on two dimensions of man's participation: your asking and your belief system. The usual rule as far as God manifesting His power is that there must be participation through your asking and your thinking. God can go above it, but He is not neglecting the rule. Because God is so mighty, He can go above and beyond your adherence to the rule.

   Asking

   Having is a function of asking. James 4:2. Having help, having breakthrough, is a function of asking. Every time you find those who have, it is because they have learned how to ask.

   Everyone who asks receives. Matthew 7:7 and Matthew 7:8. Jesus is teaching, not an angel. This is not privy to men of God, nor to those in the west or the east. It says everyone. Blind Bartimaeus received because he did not assume, he asked. Mark 10:51. The woman with the issue of blood received. Mark 5:25 to Mark 5:34. The wedding at Cana was saved from embarrassment because the people could ask. John 2:5.

   Ask that your joy may be full. John 16:24. Mark 11:24.

   Thinking

   "Ask or think" is like saying "sit here or here": either way you are not disadvantaged. They almost measure the same in quality. In the realm of the spirit, your belief system is as powerful as your prayer life. Your belief system is also a prayer warrior, and there is something it is asking God to do or not to do. You can pray well and your belief system cancels out everything you are praying. Your prayer can be saying "God move me forward" while your understanding is saying "God let me remain here". God hears all of it.

   When God wants to release His power in the life of a man, your prayer life and your belief system must both grow. Many believers are prayerful but they are not transformed enough to allow the answers to arrive. One of the greatest ways God answers prayer is to cause the man praying to grow to a level that can allow for the answer. Providing the answer is capacity dependent.

   The talents: Matthew 25:15. The talents were given not according to love but according to each one's ability, and at the end of the parable you see that he was right. God will not carry a man of one-talent capacity and give him five. Four talents will be wasted. He taught us that He is not the God of waste. John 6:12, where He had the baskets gathered so that nothing would be wasted.

   The crown and the scepter: The scepter that is a symbol of royalty will only be a burden on the head and hand of a child. Imagine dropping a heavy pure gold crown on the head of a baby and giving the baby a heavy scepter. You did not enthrone the child, you are punishing that child. Imagine giving a baby the shield and the sword of a warrior to lift. You are not arming the baby for victory. What is missing is not the crown or the scepter. It is capacity.

   How people limit God

   Psalm 78:41. The Holy One of Israel is the one who does not change, the one who has integrity, yet a man can limit the unlimited God. When you ask why God cannot visit a family, there is an asking problem or a thinking problem. For Africa, most of it is a thinking problem, because we have done well in asking. The asking says "Lord open doors", the thinking says "no need". The asking says "take me higher", the thinking says "I can't receive it". The asking says "open the gates of the nation", the thinking says "I don't think I'm ready". Both are sounds that God hears.

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   Psalm 78:19. This is how they limited God. This Him, the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth, the self-sufficient one, and they ask if He can make a table in the wilderness. God could do more, but their minds had already imagined a vain thing.

   Many of your thoughts and beliefs have frustrated prophecy over your life. It is not demonic attacks. The devil did not need to attack you, because there is already a construct that is in partnership with him. He will allow you to keep shouting and wonder why God cannot be revealed in your life. The problem is not the Him and not His capacity. It is that you have not learned how to ask or think.

   The mind of Christ

   Philippians 2:5. The life of Christ plus the mind of Christ equals victory in the kingdom. If you have the life of Christ, you have the potential for an indomitable life, but the life of Christ is powered by the mind of Christ. To already have the life of Christ and not have the mind is like buying a brand new television and not plugging it to power. 1 Corinthians 2:16.

   I have the mind of Christ.

   The reason the prayer lives of many people keep frustrating them is not that prayer is bad, but that they have an incomplete approach. The value of prayer is that it sponsors transformation, not just delivers answers. Africa focuses on the request and petition dimension of prayer: "Lord give me, Lord give me." The better part is "Lord make me". The greater assignment of prayer is to alter the way you think. Luke 9:29. Nothing was given to Him, but He changed.

   When you lay hands on someone and say "in the name of Jesus be healed", it is not just the correctness of the prayer. Your understanding is a gateway through which the power of God can flow to that person or not. Three people can have the same impartation, but for one of them the possibilities that flow from his life through that impartation will be richer. It is not the love of God. It is that the impartation rested on a mind that is more superior and more transformed.

4. According to the Power That Works in Us Ephesians 3:20

   The accurate rendition of this line is: according to the measure of His power that is allowed to flow and work through us. The literal word there means licensed. That line redefines the whole verse. The verse is not just about what God can do, it is about what God can do through us. The limitless God wants to do something through you, but you can become an obstruction and a hindrance.

   Ephesians 3:21 gives perspective on the purpose. When His power flows through believers in a dimension unrestrained, it brings glory to Him by the church. Whether or not your life captures and manifests God's ability, it does not change the fact that He is all powerful. But it changes how people perceive God through the lens of your life, because we are living epistles. 2 Corinthians 3:2. He wants your life to be like a Bible that is open, so that people who learn God through your life learn a powerful God, a God of limitless possibilities.

   God can heal whether you die of sickness or not, but flowing through you to release the healing anointing gives Him glory upon the earth. God is consistent, but He can be consistent and yet misrepresented upon the earth. The battle is for an accurate representation of God. What we think about Him does not change who He is, but it robs Him of the opportunity to be glorified upon the earth.

   Three things to peg in your mind: first, God is all powerful and limitless. Second, He wants that limitless power manifested through believers, the church. Third, the limit of the manifestation of God's power on earth is caused by the level of faith, capacity or transformation of the believer.

   If you really understand Ephesians 3:20, the prayer is not just to learn about God's power. It is to say, "Lord, let me grow. Let that limitless power find expression through my life. Let that limitless healing anointing find expression through my life."

   When someone ministers and you get healed, delivered or transformed, do you think that was the only time God wanted to reach you? No. But that was the time He found someone with capacity enough to allow that dimension of His power to flow through. When a person stands up from a wheelchair, that day was not the day God earned the healing. It was the day God found a man with capacity enough to allow His power. When a word is spoken over your life, "by this time tomorrow", and it happens, most of the time it is not that tomorrow was pre-ordained. It was the day you coincided with the vessel that could host God's power enough to produce that possibility. When God looks powerless within a territory, it is because the vessels He wants to flow through do not have the capacity, and they keep misrepresenting His potential. When Satan seems to prevail over a territory and makes God look incapacitated, God is still all powerful.

Capacity: The Key to Dominion

Prayer and transformation is the key to dominion. As we submit ourselves to prayer and to learning and transformation, there is an enlargement in the spirit. It is according to the power that works, not according to the power He has.

The step-down transformer

What leaves the power holding company is too high for what arrives at your house, so there is a step-down transformer. But there are times the light that comes to your house is a misrepresentation of what left the power company, because of a poor connection or wrong wires. High voltage left heaven, but by the time it got to your family it was not power enough to produce anything. It is always a capacity problem. God is not a man that He should lie. Numbers 23:19.

What then should be done? The assignment is: ask and think. Ask represents prayer, that every day you keep submitting yourself. Then you submit yourself to transformation. As you do this, there is an enlargement in the spirit.

Every move of God requires a certain dimension of anointing, and that anointing does not just depend on the love of God. It depends on the capacity of the saints.

Do not just covet the results you see. They are not just a product of God's predetermined counsel. They are a product of capacity.

There are many people serving God whom God cannot trust with a national assignment, because this requires capacity, not just hearing. You can hear accurately and the vision never comes to pass.

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There is nothing wrong with God's power. Jeremiah 32:17. The question is why that power is not revealed here and now. It is not God.

For eighteen years a woman was bound. Luke 13:11. Every time she went to church she was bound, and every time she heard them speak about the healer, the lifter, the great one, the everlasting God, she kept wondering. Then Jesus, God who became man and built capacity, looked at her and said she would not be delayed. Luke 13:12. The power of God was always there but could never reach down, because men did not have the capacity. They did not know how to pray and they did not contend for transformation.

Two things Jesus did that brought Him capacity

First, He prayed. Mark 1:35 to Mark 1:37.

Second, He submitted Himself to learning. Luke 2:49. His parents thought He was missing. Was His Father's business learning at the temple? His Father's business was representing the life of God, but that was the pathway to learn. By the time Satan came to Him, His answer was "It is written". Matthew 4:4.

Weight and Capacity

This is an uncomfortable truth. When we see people serving the program of God at certain heights, we look for very nice words like the predetermined counsel of God. Sometimes humility does not let you see the truth about what really happened. We say "God be glorified", and it is true, but this is a capacity issue.

There is a level of weight you can carry in the spirit such that you step into a place and do not need to open your mouth. The Bible talks about the weight of glory. 2 Corinthians 4:17. Glory is in weights. Ten people can hold the same trumpet and play skillfully, but the problem is not the sound, it is the weight. A man of God can open his Bible and read a simple scripture, and it is not the words, it is the weight. If you want to verify, repeat the exact same statement, not by divination.

In boxing there is featherweight, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight. You cannot put a featherweight to fight the battle of a heavyweight. Even the association that regulates it will not allow it. A heavyweight loser will still defeat the champion of featherweight. This journey is not just about the power of God. It is about enlarging yourself so that you will be a carrier of weight. If there is one word to take away, it is capacity.

Promises are capacity dependent. That you found it written in scripture does not mean it will be your reality. When the Bible writes promises, it is based on the assumption that the person who covets those promises is also willing to contend for the capacity that the Bible takes for granted. They are yours, but not under every condition: influence, finances, greatness.

Not everything in the kingdom is a gift. There are things that are rewards, because they are capacity dependent.

Disciplines enlarge you. Worship, prayer, consecration and fasting will look useless and a burden if you do not know that they are the things that enlarge you, so that the power at work in you can be to the level. When you say "I love the Lord", do not just sing it. Build capacity so that more of His glory can find expression in you.

Capacity and finances

If all that you have home and abroad is one thousand naira, it affects your confidence. The moment we start talking about purchases, embarrassment is imminent. One thousand is money, but not enough to buy anything serious. But somebody who has a billion naira is not threatened by what you are saying, because all the purchases are still under his capacity. If the rent is fifteen million, his problem is willingness, not capacity. Someone who makes a hundred million every week releasing ten million is like playing a computer game, because he will come back. He has found a way of replenishing.

Dunamis is power that is capable of being replenished. As it is dispensed, it is not a disadvantage to the one it flows from. It is like lighting a candle from another candle: does it threaten the one that was lit? No. Dunamis, according to the power that works within us.

How do you know you have capacity? Check your fear factor. If God says organize a program somewhere in your town, you are not threatened. But if God says rise up and go to Brazil, the reason you are afraid is not that you doubt God. It is that a part of you suspects you will fail, and you are right. This is not negative confession.

The tap illustration

Why is there a knob around the tap? It controls the flow. The water from the water body is not affected. If you turn it to only drips, even after one hour your bucket will not be halfway. It is not a function of what left the water board, it is that you did not learn how to turn it. But some taps are a gusher: as soon as you open it, in less than a minute you can keep pulling buckets. This is how it is in the spirit. One thousand milliliters or ten thousand milliliters wanting to flow into a container that is just two hundred milliliters will not work. There will be waste.

Delay Is Mercy

So many times God suspends things because He does not want to bring waste into your life. There are many things that look like delays, but it is not delay, it is mercy. If it were to land with that bankruptcy of capacity, God has not introduced you to your helpers yet. It is because He knows that men don't forgive. When you stand without capacity and they watch you, they fix your limitation in their minds, and even when you change they won't give you a chance again. So He suspends your rising while you are binding demons. God is saying, "This is not the devil. I am suspending you so that you will build capacity."

He tests you with the lion and the bear. Then when you pass it, one day He will use a scenario and send you to Goliath. When Saul looks at you and asks what gives you this confidence, you can say, "I know Him." 1 Samuel 17:34 to 1 Samuel 17:37. Now unto Him, I know what He can do, but I also know what He can do through me.

Many of us know what God can do, but do you know what He can do through you? You know He speaks, but can He speak through you? You know He heals, but can He heal through you? You know He blesses, but can He bless through you? Experiencing the mighty hand of God and seeing the ability of God is a call for growth. It is a call for capacity. It is not a call to probe into God's power. He has proven it from Genesis to Revelation that He is consistent.

Prayer for Enlargement

Confessing that we have made God too small is not a song for sinners. It is a song for intelligent believers. It is the language of repentance, and it is the assignment of a true apostolic ministry. Ephesians 3:9.

The inability to enlarge has made God look small. His power is allowed through growth, His power is allowed through enlarging our capacity.

It is unto Him, but it must be unto you. Mary said, "Be it unto me" (Luke 1:38). Be it unto me means I agree. Be it unto me means I take up the burden of enlargement. Be it unto me means I receive grace to stretch.

Within that statement is the formula for enlargement: ask or think, prayer and transformation. When you desire to enlarge, you invest in prayer and then you contend for transformation. The only way you contend for transformation is by methodically submitting yourself to the ministry of renewal through the word, to re-engineer your understanding and your perspectives. You can be prayerful, but if you are not transformed you will still be a loser, because a major part of prayer depends on the power at work in you.

Making It Right with Jesus

The subject of capacity is for those who are in Christ. The journey begins with a real encounter with Jesus. Do not play church and do not play religion. This is a business of destiny. For someone who needs rededication, you cannot keep playing games with one leg in and one leg out. Hebrews 3:15 and Acts 2:39. The business of salvation is everyone's concern.

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