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God is able to do far more abundantly than you can ever think or ask. Take your prayer life seriously. Your spiritual growth depends on it.
Ephesians 3:14-21 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Last time, I started by asking, “Do you pray with purpose? Do you know what “praying with purpose” means?” If you believe that “praying with purpose” means praying for our needs or the needs of others, then you are missing out on experiencing the full power and potential of prayer.
The problem is that when people pray only for their personal needs and the needs of others, it limits the scope of their prayers. They need to know that Satan would do anything to keep them in ignorance so that they may never learn to pray with purpose and fail to experience the full power and potential of prayer.
Ephesians 3:14-21 was Paul’s prayer as he mentored his readers through his writings. The purpose of his prayer was that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would strengthen the readers through the power of the Spirit, the indwelling of Christ in their hearts, and the understanding of God’s love so that they may be filled with the fullness of God.
The big idea that we began to look at last Sunday was, if we want to realize the full power and potential of prayer, then we need to learn to pray with the purpose that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may fill us with the fullness of God. This matters because then we will understand the power of the Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ, and the plan of God and their implications for practical life.
The Power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:14-16)
Ephesians 3:16 says, “16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” The purpose of Paul’s prayer that his readers may be filled with the fullness of God begins with the strengthening of the inner man, the real you, and the means by which the inner strength is gained is the power of the Holy Spirit.
The inner being is the place where the spiritual man is born, renewed, and transformed. God the Holy Spirit brings spiritually dead people to life, grants them faith to hear the gospel, convicts their hearts of sin, and draws them to repentance.
When we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts to energize us to do God’s will. However, when we get too busy with ‘works’, good or bad does not matter; we begin to lose our connection to the power source, the Holy Spirit which energizes our inner being, and we experience power shortages.
As a result, sin begins to rule our minds, hearts, and bodies; hopelessness begins to drag us into darkness, depression, and despair; and we end up doubting our salvation, the power and potential of prayer, and even God’s intentions for us.
In verse 16, the purpose of Paul’s prayer is inner strength because when our inner being is weak, it affects all aspects of our life. It weakens our ability to think, act, and live according to God’s Word.
One summer, many years ago, I was riding a bike and suddenly I felt I could not see and fell off the bike. As I was about to pass out, I saw a construction worker and I crawled toward him. Before my eyes shut, I saw him rushing to my aid. The man gave me Gatorade which energized me and I was able to think rationally, act responsibly, and live respectfully. Similarly, when our inner spiritual being is weakened, we lose the ability to think, act, and live the way we are supposed to as Christians. We need the power of the Spirit to energize us.
Application
Stay connected to the spiritual power source, the Holy Spirit, if you want to experience the fullness of God, which is a lifelong process to transform us into the image of Christ.
The Presence of Christ (Ephesians 3:17-20)
In Ephesians 3:17-18, Paul prays, “17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth…”
Holy Spirit Strengthens Our Inner Being
Paul starts verse 17 with “so that” which indicates the power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen our inner being (verse 16) is needed so that Christ may dwell in our hearts.
But Galatians 2:20 teaches Christ lives in us the believers. Then why is Paul praying for the indwelling of Christ in believers’ hearts? The Greek word for dwell is katoikeō which means taking up permanent residence or settling down. When Christ first comes into our lives, we are still a mess, our inner being is weak, and our hearts are full of things that Christ simply cannot tolerate. So, God sends the Holy Spirit to strengthen our inner being to turn it into a place where Christ can make a permanent residence, in other words, settle down.
That is what Paul is praying for because when Christ settles down, His very presence transfers into us and changes everything about us. There were many sinful things in my life that I thought would never go away but over the years they are gone because of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life.
Christ Dwells in Our Hearts
Paul continues verse17 with, “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” That means that although the power of the Holy Spirit strengthens our inner being to make it a suitable place for Christ to settle down permanently, it also requires us to exercise our faith. The faith Paul refers to is not the saving faith but rather the living faith.
The difference is that saving faith is what a sinner needs to be saved, but living faith is what a saved sinner needs to trust God daily in all matters of life. Last night, I prayed with a church family whose father is in the hospital in serious condition. I encouraged the family to have faith in the power of our Lord to heal and restore him. Sometimes God allows these things to strengthen our faith. Without having strong faith in times of crisis, we may not feel His presence.
Christ Loves Us
Paul finishes verse 17 with “that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” He turns the focus of his prayer to experiencing the love of Christ— the love that brought the Son of God from heaven to earth, the love that was fully displayed on the cross.
The purpose of Paul’s prayer is like the rungs of a ladder. First, he prays that the power of the Holy Spirit strengthens the inner being of believers, then to turn their hearts into the permanent residence of Christ, and then he prays that they may experience His divine love to experience the fullness of God.
Paul in Ephesians 3:18, says,“may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.”
Breadth. It signifies the reach of God’s everlasting love for believers in Christ. In Ephesians 1:5, we read, “In love he [God] predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” This means the reach of this love goes beyond time, space, and the history of creation. This love in eternity past caused our election, resulting in being adopted into the family of God.
The spiritual principle we learn here is, we can never be too far from God’s loving reach, no matter how Satan may portray the situation. This means that no sin is greater than the love of God, for “He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all (Romans 8:32)”; for it pleased the Father to crush His Son (Isaiah 53:10) on the Cross. Romans 8:29 tells us, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
Length. It signifies the never-ending love of Christ. God cannot run out of love for us who believe in Christ and therefore we will never run out of His grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
Height. It signifies how exalting His love is above all kinds of love that the world offers. Put God’s love above all other kinds of love.
Depth. It signifies how deep the Father’s love is. It is so deep that it is incomprehensible. No one can ever fully understand or experience the love of God, only God the Son does. The deeper the relationship we have with Christ the deeper His love we will experience. However, that does demand exercising our faith daily in all sorts of situations against doubts.
I remember when I was leaving for missions work in Afghanistan, I was so full of faith. Everyone told me not to go to Afghanistan, but I had faith that Christ was leading me. At the beginning of the trip, it was amazing, but as time passed and my body became weak because of a lack of food and water, I began to doubt my calling. I remember I sat down under a tree to complain to God, why have you left me, didn’t you bring me to Afghanistan?
Application
Pray for the strengthening of the inner being daily, for the growth of living faith daily, and for the understanding of His never-ending love daily. Otherwise, in times of affliction, self-pity can turn our focus away from God to us as a result we struggle to feel the presence of God.
The Plan of God (Ephesians 3:19-21)
Ephesians 3:19 “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Praying that the Holy Spirit strengthens our inner being to make our hearts a suitable place for Christ to settle in permanently makes sense. Praying to know as in to experience the incomprehensible love of Christ makes sense too.
However, praying to be filled with all the fullness of God doesn’t make much sense. Does it mean when we convert we get half of Christ, a quarter of the Holy Spirit, and some of God? No. Colossians 2:9 says, “For in him [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”
It means to pray that the Holy Spirit may illuminate the Word of God daily to strengthen our faith daily to renew our minds, thoughts, and hearts daily so that we are not driven and controlled by our circumstances but by God the Spirit.
When God the Holy Spirit fills our minds, thoughts, and hearts with divine truths, they overflow in our living and express themselves in love, hope, peace, joy, mercy, forgiveness, care, and compassion. Then we feel the power of the Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ, and the love of Christ, and people witness the change in our lives because we live out Christ in us daily in all situations.
Then we understand what is written in the doxology in Ephesians 3:20-21, “20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
The verse doesn’t just say that God can do more abundantly than we can ask or think. It says He can do far more abundantly than we can ask or even think, which means beyond our imaginations because of His immeasurable love.
The prodigal son’s story in the Bible is a great illustration of God’s immeasurable love. The younger son returns after squandering his inheritance, hoping that his father will take him as one of his servants. But when father saw him coming back, he welcomed him with a love that the son could not have ever imagined.
Application
No matter the nature of our sin, or the nature of our need, God is willing to do far more abundantly than we can ever imagine because of His everlasting, incomprehensible, inexhaustible love for us. However, we do need to learn to pray with purpose to be filled with the fullness of God. Otherwise we will never realize the full power and potential of our prayers.
Some time ago, I saw an elephant in a circus doing whatever a little man was telling him. Imagine if the elephant knew his strength. Christians often do whatever the little outer man says. If we only knew the power of the Holy Spirit and the presence of Christ inside of us.
Action Step
Allow the power of the Spirit, the presence of Christ, and the plan of God to fill you with the fullness of God, which is in Christ.
Appeal
Whatever season of life you are in, know God is able to do far more abundantly than you can ever ask or think. So, please take your prayer life seriously. Your spiritual growth depends on it.
Study Questions
1. For what does Paul pray in Ephesians 3:14-21?
2. What does it mean for the Holy Spirit to strengthen our inner being?
3. What does it mean for Christ to dwell in our hearts?
4. What does it mean to be “rooted and grounded in love?”
Deeper Study Questions
1. Share how you have experienced the power of God’s love.
2. As a group, pray for each other. Pray that you will be strengthened with spiritual power and be filled with the fullness of God.
3. If you took a prayer commitment card and prayed for someone
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