The problem is we don't always tap into the tremendous resources that God has made available to us.
The verses just before this is one of Paul's prayers for the church.
Ephesians 3:14-19 says, 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 filled up to all the fullness of God.
1st - Paul prays that we would be strengthened ...in the inner man. When we get up in the morning we usually shower, shave, get dressed for the day, make sure our hair is fixed. We spend a lot of time on the "outer man", but oh how our inner man needs that same attention.
2nd - Paul prays that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. This is really how we gain our strength. The word dwell literally means "to make Himself at home". In other words, Paul is praying that Jesus would feel at ease and comfortable in your life. In reality this has to do with Christ being Lord of your life, He must have full control.
3rd - Paul prays that we would be able to comprehend ...and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. Paul prays that we would understand something we aren’t able to understand.That our understanding would go beyond the mere religious grasp to a personal, growing, overwhelming experience! It's like Paul taking us out on a dark night and looking up at the stars in the sky and vastness of the universe and saying, "God's love for you is bigger than all that." It’s absolutely crazy that He loves me that way! I don’t deserve His love, but He loves me and you anyway!
4th - Paul prays that we would be filled up to all the fullness of God. The following story may help to understand this. A little girl came home from Sunday School and asked her mom, "If God is bigger than we are and if we have God living in us, then wouldn't He show through? And that's the point. We should be so full of God that He shows through.
This prayer that Paul prays for the church is my prayer for my own life, for those in the church where I serve, and for you!
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