Printable View We have looked at Ephesians 1:16-19 as a powerful prayer.
The second prayer in Ephesians is found in Ephesians 3:14-19
“For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be fill up to all the fullness of God.”
“For the reason, seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ, I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that Father from Whom all fatherhood takes its title and drives its name, may He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with might power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit indwelling your innermost being and personality. May Christ through your faith actually dwell, settle down, abide, make His permanent home in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love. That you may have power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints, God’s devoted people, the experience of that love, what is the breadth, and length, and height and depth of it. That you may really come to know, practically, through experience for yourselves, the love of Christ, which far surpassed mere knowledge without experience; that you may be filled, through all your being, unto all the fullness of God, may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself.” (The Amplified Bible)
Okay, let’s dig in and find out what Paul was praying for the Ephesians in this one.
There is a definite difference between this prayer and the one Paul prayed in Ephesians 1.
In the first prayer, Paul petitions God for knowledge; and in this one, he prays for love.
The first prayer is for revelation; the second is for enablement.
It is not enough merely to know; we must “be.”
The fruit of divine knowledge is the expression of divine life.
There are two significant features of this prayer that should be noted:
First, it has many parallels to the praise and prayer in chapter 1. In a sense, 3:14-19 could be considered a further application of the ideas developed earlier:
¨ Prayer is offered to the Father (1:17)(3:14)
¨ Prayer is for the Spirit (1:17)(3:16)
¨ The sphere of God’s action is in the mind, or the inner self. (1:18)(3:16)
¨ There is an aim for knowledge and fullness. (1:18)(3:18)
¨ There is a linking of knowledge and power. (1:19)(3:19)
¨ Finally, praise and glory are offered to God. (1:6, 12, 14)(3:21)
Second, this prayer has a wonderful and ever-expanding progression to it.
Paul begins by listing 3 specific requests. He prays that his readers may:
¨ Receive inner strength from the Holy Spirit.
¨ Experience the abiding presence of Christ in their hearts.
¨ They be root and ground their lives in love.
Paul envisions two significant developments, or outcomes, from this:
¨ A deeper understanding and appreciation of the extent of God’s love.
¨ The ultimate goal, being “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.”” (3:16)
In this prayer, Paul draws upon the vast reservoir of God’s resources; “I pray that out of His glorious riches.”
Notice the basis of Paul’s’ confidence in God’s ability to answer prayer abundantly, God’s “glorious riches,” fabulous wealth, unfathomable resources, unimaginable riches and the power they create.
You can see this theme in several of Paul’s’ letters (Ephesians 1:7, 18; 2:7; 3:8; Colossians 1:27; Philippians 4:19)
So often we pray out of our own lack of faith, out of our own spiritual poverty.
Rather, we must learn to pray based on our belief in God’s inexhaustible supply.
When we can see that in our mind’s eye, our faith can rise to the occasion without hindrance of worrying about how God will ever be able to answer our prayer.
In this prayer, the apostle draws upon the vast reservoir of God’s resources,
“I pray that out of His glorious riches.”
The glory of God is the essence of all that God is, and so there is no limit to His ability to give, and we pray as if this were not true.
I had the Lord tell one time that if you took all the money in the world, all the gold, silver, other precious metals, all the precious jewels, and stack them up in one big pile, that it would be pocket change to Him. There is a passage in the Psalms that says He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. In returning from a mission trip to another state, we drove past some hills with cattle feeding on them. As we were driving by I thought of that passage in Psalms, and then the Lord spoke to me and said, “I own the hills too”!
Normally, one’s prayers are limited by the ability to comprehend God’s riches and ask accordingly. (Ephesians 3:20)(James 4:2, 3) Do we really believe that He can do above and beyond all that we could ask or think?
Would we have a problem asking any of the world’s billionaires and millionaires for money? God is richer that they are, because He owns it all anyway.
Ephesians reminds believers that God gives out of His glorious riches, and guess what, it never runs out. You cannot deplete His supply.
I would like to see His treasury room.
The first request is for inner strength from the Holy Spirit. Inner being is an inclusive term that can mean the heart, mind, spirit, anything that stands in contrast to the outer person. This inner strengthening is to take place by means of the “power” (dunamis) imparted by the Holy Spirit. It is the means by which God works with the believer’s life. Consider Ephesians 3:20, the last part of that verse, “according to the power that works in you.” What is the power he is talking about?
The Holy Spirit is the power that works in you.
What are you doing with all that power?
The sun provides our planet with 126,000,000,000,000 horsepower of energy every day. This means that 54.000 horsepower is delivered to every man, woman, and child on the earth in each 24 hour period. Unfortunately, most of us have not figured how to tap into all that horsepower and it goes unused. As children of God, we also have access to a great power that too often goes untapped.
What we need to learn to do is to plug into the power. Your lamp won’t work unless it is plugged into the wall socket. Your computer won’t work unless it is plugged into a power source. Sadly, many Christians don’t experience that power.
Sometimes we experience a “power shortage” because we simply don’t “plug into” the power source; we don’t ask God to empower us. The Apostle James offers some insight into asking God for something:
“You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasure. (James 4:2-3)(NASB)
We need to realize that the power of God, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you.
To help you understand this, a flashlight has batteries inside of it. The power source is there. You can wave it around, toss it in the air, speak to, and do all sorts of things to get the light to come on, but until you appropriate the power that is on the inside, that light will not come on. You appropriate the power by turning the switch on. You turn the power switch on by praying in the Spirit, asking God to empower you. In Romans 5 it talks about walking in the Spirit. You walk in the Spirit by yielding to the Spirit instead of yielding to the flesh. When you yield to the Spirit, praise, worship, praying in the Spirit, you turn the power switch on to appropriate the power. Acknowledge the presence of the power within you. Acknowledge the anointing that is already in you.
How can you “plug in” to the power?
I have listed a few things above.
Jesus made a promise of power to His followers:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, ant to the ends of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8)
Review James 4:2-3 and Acts 1:8 every day for a week. You may want to do that first thing in the morning, or before you go to bed at night.
Ask God to empower you to do the things He wants you to do that day, or the following day. You have the power in you, learn to tap into it.
Second, there is the abiding presence of Christ in one’s hearts, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
Paul emphasizes that Christ dwells within the believer. The indwelling is to be perceived as Christ taking up residency in the believer’s heart or in his or her inner most being.
It is a relationship granted through faith.
We will look at three aspects of the indwelling of Christ in our hearts:
THE MIRACLE OF CHRIST’S INDWELLING
THE MEASURE OF CHRIST’S INDWELLING
THE MASTERY OF CHRIST’S INDWELLING
THE MIRACLE OF CHRIST’S INDWELLING
“Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
These words mean more than Christ’s initial entrance.
I am assuming that this has happened to you already:
¨ You have bowed at the cross.
¨ We have experienced redemption through the precious blood.
¨ We have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
¨ We have been baptized into the body of Christ
¨ As a result Christ is alive in us by His indwelling Spirit. (Romans 6:3-4)
This is one of the greatest miracles and mysteries of Holy Scripture.
In describing this to the church at Colossae, the Apostle Paul searched for words to convey the mystery hidden from humans and angels in all ages but now revealed to us, namely, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
Let’s look and at Ephesians 3:14-17.
In praying for this miraculous operation to take place, Paul has believers in mind, those who were already sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Dr. Handley Moule comments on this verse:
“Why do we need a supreme empowering just in order to receive (the Indweller)?
Does the hungry wanderer need power in order to eat the food without which he will soon sink?
Does the bewildered mariner need power to welcome onto his deck the pilot who alone can steer him to the haven of his desire?
No; but there is another aspect of the matter here.
For the heart, though it immeasurably needs the blessed Indweller, has that in it which “dreads His absolute indwelling?
So the hand stretched out to “open the door,” falls again and shrinks from that turning of the key which is to set the last recess, open to the Master.
Here is the need for the Spirit’s power.
What is the reason so many Christians aren’t rejoicing in the wonder of an indwelling Christ?
¨ They are afraid to make Jesus absolute Lord.
¨ They hesitate to throw open every door of the house life in which they dwell.
¨ Yes, He can come through the front door and go into the living room.
¨ He can go into the dining room and kitchen, but there are other rooms of the house they don’t want Him to enter.
¨ So they keep those doors locked, the doors to those last inner recesses of the human personality.
¨ They have big signs like “NO TRESPASSING,” “KEEP OUT,” “RESTRICTED AREA,” “OFF LIMITS,” plastered on these doors.
¨ They don’t want Him to be at home in their hearts.
¨ This is why they need the miraculous operation of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
ILLUSTRATION: I recently saw a Star Trek Next Generations show in which Deanna Troi had to help her mother who was dying by entering her mind to find out the reason she was not responding. In the dream, as Deanna entered her mother’s mind, there was a hallway with many corridors. Each corridor had a series of doors. Behind each door was a memory, or an aspect of her mother’s life. Deanna’s mother would not let her enter a particular door because behind it was a painful memory, which had not been dealt with, but was the cause of the problem. It was only as Deana was allowed to enter that room, did the healing begin. Only as we allow Jesus to enter into the rooms that are off limits to Him can He really be Lord of our lives.
Not only is a miraculous operation needed, but also a “miraculous revelation.”
Paul had two encounters with our Lord Jesus Christ that will have an impact on our study:
First, on the road to Damascus God broke in on his soul and revealed Christ “to” him. (Acts 9:6)
Second, the second encounter occurred later when Christ was not only revealed “to” him, but Christ was also revealed “in” him.
Galatians 1:15-16 states, ‘It pleased God, who called me through His grace, to reveal His Son “in” me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles.”
He had a revelation not only “of” Christ, but also of great things “in” Christ.
Christ was not only real to him, but Christ was real “in” him.
Is I John 4:4 a reality to you?
God expects nothing more or less from our self-life than utter failure. (John 15:5)
Why?
God has condemned, crucified and buried our sinful flesh and that Christ can be a living reality when He is revealed “in” us.
A revelation is needed of the victorious message of the indwelling life of Christ.
Do you know that experience in your life?
THE MEASURE OF CHRIST’S INDWELLING
The phrase “Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20) is a reminder of the verse we so often use to lead sinners to Christ, Revelation 3:20.
Actually, it is a message to the church and to the Christian within the church:
“Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking; if you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with Me.”
The Lord Jesus is standing outside of a constituted church where He has been dethroned from His place of sovereign authority. As a result, the church has become lukewarm. Because it is lukewarm, He warns of judgment. The church dares to say, “We are rich and need nothing,” and does not recognize that it is “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” So the lord counsels these lukewarm Christians to buy from Him gold refined in the fire, to restore a standard of value, and white garments to clothe the shame of nakedness and eye slave to cure spiritual blindness. “Repent,” He commands as He stands and knocks at the door of the church that has ousted Him, and asks to enter in all His fullness.
You ask, “What does that mean?”
¨ The simple answer is that He longs to indwell the individual believer and the church body as undisputed HOST.
CHRIST IS ALREADY GUEST IN OUR LIVES: “I WILL EAT WITH YOU”
All genuine Christians know the indwelling Christ in that measure; otherwise they are not saved.
Romans 8:9 declares that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.
But Christ can dwell in our lives as Guest, and only as Guest!
The majority of Christians, who are neither effective in their churches or in the world in which they live, have this problem. They are converted, but carnal. They are out of Egypt, but have never entered Canaan. They claim to be committed to the Word, but they are conformed to the world. Christ lives in their hearts, but He is only a Guest.
The text teaches a deep truth: Christ must be altogether Host in our lives: “If you open the door, I will come in to you and eat with, and you with me.”
We need to capitulate to Christ and hand over the keys to every room of our life.
One of the saddest facts about Christian churches today is that Christ is Guest, but He is not Host. We must own Him as Host: He must become the Had of the table.
Prevalent false teaching suggests that by making Christ totally Lord, we negate the distinctiveness of our personalities. That is not true. God makes originals. He does not make duplicates. He wants us to be our unique and renewed selves in Jesus Christ. Think of it this way, a diamond has many facets. Each one of us is a facet in a diamond that reflects Christ.
“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Yes, I still retain my personhood, but now I reflect the Lord Jesus Christ like nobody else. All the difference in the world separates between knowing Christ as Guest and knowing Christ as Host.
The church at Ephesus was a mature body of believers, yet Paul prayed for them to be strengthened in order to appreciate the wonder of Christ’s indwelling:
¨ The word “dwell” means “a settled residence,” to be at home.
¨ It means to be “completely at home.”
¨ That Christ may “be more and more at home in your hearts.” (NLT)
¨ The idea has a royal ring to it.
¨ The sovereign Christ must reign as “A Master resident in His proper home.”
¨ So Paul’s longing for the saints at Ephesus was that Christ might be at home in their lives.
¨ With so many of us, Christ is in the house, but He is not “at home.”
¨ We still have doors marked “Strictly Private.”
¨ There is a difference between being “in” the house and being “at” home.
This is precisely why Paul emphasizes “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” Where there is faith, there is mutual trust and, therefore nothing to fear.
What is true in human relationships is even more meaningful in the divine relationship with Christ. When this is not so, it is an evidence of sin in our lives.
Is Jesus “at home” in your life, or are there some rooms marked “Private” where Christ would not be welcome?
What is even more important, is the Lord Jesus HOST in your life, or is He still only that tolerated GUEST?
He must be given the best room in the house, which is the heart and complete headship in the home, which is the life.
Only then can the believer affirm, “Christ lives in me.”
We have been thinking of the miracle of His indwelling, through the operation and revelation of the Holy Spirit, but there is something more.
THE MASTERY OF CHRIST’ INDWELLING
When we say, “Christ lives in me,” it means more than the miracle and measure of His indwelling. It denotes the mastery of His indwelling.
Paul had to state, “Christ lives in me,” (Galatians 2:20) before he could declare “For me to live is Christ.” (Philippians 1:21) In that phrase he sums up the whole of Christian experience. In that one comprehensive utterance is gathered up life “FROM” Christ, life “WITH” Christ, life “IN” Christ, and life “FOR” Christ.
Paul, in effect, is affirming that “living IS Christ,” which parallels the statement that “Christ is our life. “ (Colossians 3:4)
The title “Christ,” when used in this context must always be associated with the fact that our Messiah is anointed Prophet, Priest, and King.
¨ If Christ is living in you and me, He must dwell in more than just certain rooms.
¨ He must be the only Spokesman in our lives as Prophet.
¨ He must be the only Savior in our lives as Priest.
¨ He must be the only Sovereign in our lives as King.
As Prophet, Priest, and King, He gives the mastery of a life of victory. (I Corinthians 15:57)
The victorious Christian life is the life of the victorious Christ living within.
Here are the words to a children’s song that says it all:
There ‘s a flag flown high from the castle of my heart
From the castle of my heart
From the castle of my heart
There’s a flag flown high from the castle of my heart
For the King is in residence here.
Let it fly in the sky, let the whole world know
Let the whole world know
Let the whole world know
Let it fly in the sky and let the whole world know
That the King is in residence there.
Is your flag flying high at full mast?
Or, is it at half mast, or not flying at all.
In England, when the Queen is at Buckingham Palace, the flag is flown at full mast to let everyone know the Queen of England is in residence there.
Is the King in residence in your heart?
Make I John 4:4 a reality to you by acknowledging the presence of Christ within you.
The third request is the readers may be rooted and established (grounded) in love.
Paul has described a Christian’s relationship to God by:
1. Being empowered by the Spirit in the inner person.
2. By Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith.
3. He adds a third, by being rooted and grounded in love.
“And I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power, together with all the saints, 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.” (3:17-18)
To illustrate the depth of life that he is after, the Paul uses a botanical and architectural metaphor. One sends it roots deep into the soil, whereas the other is grounded on a firm foundation. Paul refers to their present level of understanding as being rooted, “rizoo,” and ground, or established in love. The second verb is “themelioo,” which means “to provide a base for some material object or structure, lay a foundation,” then figuratively, “to provide a secure basis for the inner life and its resources, establish, strengthen.” The tense of the verbs in Greek, a perfect passive, indicates this action already has taken place but is to continue as a reality in the believer’s life. Remember that one of Paul’s petitions that we are getting to in verses 18-19 is to fully comprehend Christ’s love.
Paul had recently heard of the Ephesians’ “love for all the saints, so they are not without love. (1:15) But the practice of love must be deepened. He is asking in verse 17 that the Ephesians might be “rooted and grounded in love,” that is, that love might more and more be their way of life. Only if we know the experience of loving hard people can we truly comprehend the ins and outs of Christ’s immense love.
After making these three specific requests, Paul concludes by mentioning the “effect” that his prayer will have upon their understanding of God.
He is still addressing the Gentile Christians and indicates that their reception of God’s gifts is not something that they experience in isolation but “together will all the saints.”
These words are especially appropriate to people of a Greek background, with their tendency toward rationalization and love for knowledge. Even though Paul has been developing a Christian philosophy of history with respect to God, humanity, and the world, the emphasis is upon love rather than knowledge. He would not condone a Gnostic system that elevates knowledge as the highest gift.
The real test of one’s spiritual maturity is whether or not one is rooted and grounded in love; love, not knowledge, leads to a deeper understanding of God.
Knowledge, when grounded in love, will unify, not divide God’s people.
Thus Paul prays that the Gentiles will realize that spiritual insight and maturity are not uniquely thiers; they do not exist in isolation from the way that God has worked out His purposes historically, particularly among the Jews.
And since they are members of the same body, fellow heirs, they share knowledge of Christ’s love and the fullness of God “together with all the saints.”
This knowledge of God’s truth is not the possession of a few privileged individuals; it is not a matter of secret doctrines for a small inner circle.
Knowledge of God’s mystery is given to individuals in and for the community of believers in the same way that all spiritual gifts are given for the welfare of the entire body. (Ephesians 4:11-16)(I Corinthians 12:4-13)(I Corinthians 14:12, 26)
This is a timely message to Christians of any age when individualism tends to destroy the unity of the body of Christ.
Paul’s prayer is leading to two outcomes, or results of the first part of the prayer.
The outcome or results are”
1. To comprehend the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
2. To be filled with all the fullness of God.
OUTCOME ONE: TO COMPREHEND THE LOVE THAT SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE (3:18-19)
Having prayed for the Ephesians practice of love, Paul gets to the first outcome he seeks for the Ephesians.
“And I pray that you, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” (3:17-19)
The prayer includes the “power to grasp,” in other words, strength to comprehend or the complete ability to realize “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
He prays for them “power to grasp,” a phrase with two verbs.
The first verb (exischuo) means, “to be fully capable of doing or experiencing something, be strong enough.”
The second verb (katalambano) involves the imagery of chasing someone and seizing him, then used figuratively, “to understand, grasp, learn about something through the process of inquiry.”
This is the power to grasp, the ability to comprehend the incomprehensible.
“The breadth, and length, and depth and height”
This should be seen as Paul’s attempt to show the magnitude of Christ’s love and should not leave the reader searching for objects that the author may have in mind.
When Paul reflects on Christ’s love, he quickly discovers that there is no tangible way to describe it, and so he resorts to these rhetorical expressions.
Christ’s love can only be described in spatial images.
How can Christ love those who are His enemies?
How can God send His only begotten Son into a den of serpents to redeem them?
To the natural mind it doesn’t make sense.
It is truly mind blowing.
He acknowledges this with the phrase “love that surpasses knowledge” (3:19), using the verb “huperballo” that we saw in Paul’s earlier prayer in 1:19, which means, “to attain a degree that extraordinary exceeds a point on a scale of extent, go beyond, surpass, outdo.”
Even as Paul summons his readers to understand Christ’s love, he realizes that any effort to do so falls short of its intended goal.
No matter how much power of comprehension one has, Christ’s love “surpasses knowledge”; it exceeds “one’s capacity of comprehension.”
What an indictment of those people who claim such knowledge for themselves!
But he doesn’t just pray that we might “get it.”
He prays that we might grasps the full scope of His love, width, length, height, and depth.
Have we achieved this?
I don’t think so.
Though is legitimate and necessary to seek such comprehension, it is folly to claim full attainment of it.
There are many people I have trouble loving, which is an indication of how little I really comprehend the immensity of God’s great love.
Father, fulfill Paul’s’ prayer in my own heart!
QUESTIONS: WHAT KINDS OF THINGS PREVENT US FROM COMPREHENDING THE FAR REACHES OF CHRIST’S LOVE? (3:18-19)
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE WAY WE LIVE WHEN WE DO COMPREHEND, KNOW, AND EXPERIENCE THIS LOVE?
WHAT WOULD BE DIFFERENT ABOUT YOUR LIFE IF YOU COULD GRASP THIS?
OUTCOME TWO: FILLED WITH GOD (3:19)
Now we come to the second outcome Paul seeks for the Ephesians:
“That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (3:19)
I like the way it is put in the Amplified Bible:
“That you may be fill through all your being unto all the fullness of God and may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself.”
Although believers never fully understand God’s love, it is a step toward being “filled will all the fullness of God.”
Paul began by praying that the power of the Holy Spirit, in indwelling of Christ, and the grounding in love would lead to an understanding of Christ’s love.
But the ultimate goal is that the believers attain the fullness that belongs to God, that is, all the riches and glory that belong to Him.
John Stott writes, “God’s fullness or perfection becomes the standard or level up to which we pray to be filled.”
He doesn’t want the believers to be half-filled, but filled (“pleroo”) completely.
The term “fullness” (“pleroma”), which we say in 1:23 suggests “sum total, fullness, even (super) abundance.
Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians to be filled with “all the fullness of God.”
Robinson comments: “No prayer that has ever been framed has uttered a bolder request.”
Have you prayed and asked God to fill you with all of His fullness?
What does it mean to be “filled with all the fullness of God”?
Going back to Munger’s theology of Christ having access to all the “rooms” in our “house,” it means unlocking some doors and cabinets that have been hitherto closed to Christ’s influence, and cleaning them out. Each of us has suffered wounds.
In many of us, these hurts have not healed, but underneath the scab are festering sores of bitterness. If that is the case, we must go back, open the wound, dress it with forgiveness, and cover it this time with God’s grace that can cover a multitude of sins. Unlocking some of those doors may require rethinking our value system that has been too strongly influenced our culture and realigning it with the Word of God. It may involve a change in the way we treat people. Perhaps making amends and asking for forgiveness.
Dear friends, if you and I want to be filled with all the fullness of God, that requires Christ’s access to and welcome in every area of our lives, no matter how much pain His entrance might entail, do you think it is worth the price you will have to pay?
He must have all of us if He is to fill us completely.
Years ago, Dr. Sam Shoemaker advised people, “ Give all you know of yourself to all you know of God.”
That requires our increased knowledge to be matched by a renewed dedication to God.
To engage in Bible study to expand the mental understanding without a commensurate willingness to surrender our lives to conform to that knowledge is both hypocritical and dangerous. (James 3:1) Bible study requires engaging both mind and heart in a dual quest to know God more fully and be possessed by Him more completely.
What a profound prayer Paul prays for the Ephesians, and for us, “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
How can we summarize this prayer?
¨ Pray for inner strength from the Holy Spirit, both for you and others
¨ Pray to experience the abiding presence of Christ in your heart and the hearts of others.
¨ Pray that you and others would be rooted and grounded in love.
Envision two significant developments, or outcomes, from this:
¨ A deeper understanding and appreciation of the extent of God’s love.
¨ The ultimate goal, being “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
