Ephesians 3:16–19b (NIV)

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

In this prayer, Paul asks God to strengthen the hearts (“your inner being”) of the Ephesian believers with power through his Spirit so that two things might happen: One, that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith; and two, that they might grasp and know the love of Christ. These two requests sound ordinary but they are anything but that. I’ve already discussed is a previous article what the apostle meant when he prayed for Christ to “dwell in your hearts through faith” and so in this article I will focus on his second extraordinary request.

So why does Paul pray that God empower the Ephesian believers to comprehend and know the love of Christ? Well, we pray for God’s power to intervene in peoples’ lives when their lives are beyond the help of human assistance. We do the same for ourselves. We turn to God for his help (his power) when we cannot be or do what we long to be or do. For instance, I turn to the Lord for his power when I am exhausted and can easily become irritated with family members. I desire to be gentle in speech and patient in heart and so I continually turn to Jesus for his grace (his power) to strengthen me in my weariness.

So Paul prays this prayer because the Ephesian believers and we cannot grasp and know the love of Christ without His enabling power. But why can’t we comprehend and know Christ’s love on our own?

You can probably think of a variety of reasons but I’ll just share one. I think the main reason we cannot understand and fully embrace the love of Christ on our own is because the source of our love is not the same. Jesus’ love for others flowed out of a life that was completely abandoned to the Father’s immeasurable favor and love for him (John 5:19-20, 30). While our love flows out of a life that’s dependent on the favor and love of others (John 5:41-42).

Basically, we love those who give us something in return. It might be friendship, a favor, pleasure, respect, gratitude, money or just a smile but we are always looking for something in return from the person we have “loved”. You might think, “No, I love people regardless of how they respond to me.” Well, that may be sort of true for those you engage with sporadically throughout the year or just once, but what about those you interact with on a daily basis? What about your spouse to whom you vowed to love until “death do you part”? What about your sibling, relative, in-laws or even child? I have found that when a person who is “loved” by me no longer gives me something in return (whatever that might be), then my “love” for them withers. It grows cold and even mean.

It’s within these daily relationships that I have found Jesus’ love to be completely different than mine. His forgiveness, patience and kindness are not dependent on the love-ability of the person. His faithful love continually engages and forgives. It speaks truth and yet humbly does not coerce or threaten. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.

However, my love has a limit. And it’s when I’m at my limit that Paul’s prayer becomes my prayer. Oh Lord God, grant me the strength by the power of your Spirit in me to comprehend your unending love. Empower me to experience it and freely give it as you have freely given your love to me. Enable me to love like you even when it surpasses my knowledge and make no sense to me. Fill me with your love so that the fullness of your image be restored in me. Amen.

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

One of the things I have the privilege of doing is coaching girls volleyball along with girls and boys basketball at San Gabriel Christian School. I do so, in part, because some of my grandchildren attend and play ball there.

One of the things I try to teach them is how to play with PUP. PUP stands for Poise Under Pressure. In sports and in life, we need to be prepared to handle the “Big Moments in Life” when they stand at our doorstep.

Junior High athletics is a good place to start. Whether it’s serving match point, shooting a game tying free throw or being introduced at a championship game, how do you handle those “Big Moments in Life”?

Isaiah 41:10 teaches us that we need not be anxious regardless of what is going on around us because the Lord is there to help us. He will always uphold us during the “Big Moments in Life”.

Practically speaking in sports, when experiencing a “Big Moment in Life” don’t do anything you haven’t done before and do it as you have practiced it. Don’t try to hit your serve harder or more precise. Serve as you have always served it. Don’t guide your free throw or take extra pre-shot time to focus. Shoot it as you have always shot it.

I reiterated this to our girls’ volleyball team just before we played for the championship last November. I instructed them to play as they practice and as they play in regular matches. Don’t do anything special or try any harder to play well.

As the match unfolded, it was apparent that the best player on the other team was trying too hard. She was attempting to hit the ball harder and over-playing the court by stepping in front of teammates and taking passes away from them. We played with PUP. We played as we always played and practiced, no more and no less.

The net result was that we won the champion with relative ease holding our opponent under 15 points in each set.

Poise Under Pressure. How to do handle the “Big Moments in Life”?

Remember Isaiah 41:10 and then move forward with confidence and assurance that the Lord is with you so just do as you normally do in the presence of God.

One of my favorite verses is Philippians 4:13. Read it and see how it fits.

Something to think about…

Lies can lead us to ungodly beliefs. Lies also tend to cause separation. Lies can lead to blaming others.

Genesis 3 records the event of humanity’s original sin. While living in Paradise, they decide to believe a lie and disobey God. The net result was to blame others rather than take personal responsibility and repent. Here’s the account.

“9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ 10 He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’ 11 And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ 12 The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.’ 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” Genesis 3:9-13

The account shows us that Adam began by blaming God saying, “The woman whom You gave to be with me”. Then Adam continued by blaming the woman, “she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

When God confronted the woman, she played the blame game by saying, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” To her credit, Eve realized that the serpent had lied to her.

It seems as though the natural result of lies and sin is blaming others. It happened in the Garden and continues to happen to this very day with sometimes tragic consequences.

For example, whenever a first-born child dies, the once euphoric couple has only a one in three chance of staying together. Normally, blame sets in and divorce transpires. The blame is usually the result of lies that the couple believes. I am aware of a couple whose toddler died by drowning in their home swimming pool. The husband believed that it was the wife’s fault for not watching the child every second of the day while the wife believed that the husband should have never insisted on a swimming pool for their home.

In the example, where’s the lie? For one, the ungodly belief is that when tragedy strikes, it is always someone’s fault.

Is there someone you blame for something which has caused a rift in the relationship? Are you sure they are to blame or have you adopted an ungodly belief based on a lie?

Here’s another ungodly belief for consideration. Whenever someone does sin against us, it is alright to blame them, refuse to forgive them and separate from them. Sound familiar.

Maybe it’s time to quit blaming others, start forgiving those whom we think trespass against us and begin a process of reconciliation.

Something to think about…

On this Thanksgiving Eve, I have been reflecting on all things for which I am thankful. There is much for which to be thankful. God has been so good.

In the midst of a heart filled with thanksgiving, I am mindful of those who are going through very difficult times during this season. There have been deaths and illnesses, which have been challenging at best and debilitating at worst.

I am reminded of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which says, “…in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” Essentially, no matter what is going on in our lives, we should always have an attitude of gratitude towards our loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for our lives.

I am always encouraged by the testimony of the saints. Stories like that of Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsie, who thanked God for the infestation of fleas in the barracks of the concentration camp in which they were imprisoned. After giving reluctant thanks to God in light of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, they discovered that they were able to have Bible Study, prayer and times of solitude in their barrack because the guards choose not to enter due to the fleas.

Writer Barbara Johnson tells of another story: “The day had not started out well for a certain woman. She had overslept and was late for work. Then some things happened at the office that only contributed to her harried condition. By the time she reached the bus stop for her trip home, her stomach was tied in an intricate knot.

As usual, the bus was late and packed, and she had to stand up. The bus started, stopped, turned left, then right, pushing and pulling her in all directions. The day wasn't improving even as it came to an end.

Then she heard a man's voice up front proclaim, ‘Beautiful day, isn't it?’ Because of the crowd she couldn't see the man, but he continued to comment on everything the bus passed that added to his joy: a church here, an ice cream store there, a baseball diamond here, a library there. The atmosphere in the bus grew immediately more carefree as did the woman's heart. The man's enthusiasm was so winsome, the woman found herself smiling.

When the bus reached the woman's stop, she worked her way through the crowd to the door. As she did so, she glanced at the "tour guide"—a plump man, wearing dark glasses, and carrying a white cane. He was blind.

As she stepped off the bus, she realized the day's tensions had disappeared. God had sent a blind man to help her see that, though things go wrong sometimes, it's still a beautiful world.”

You know, sometimes, there is none so blind than those who refuse to see.

Regardless of the circumstances of your life, be open to giving thanks to God so that He will allow you to see what He has in store for you.

Wait upon Him with a hopeful, expectant and grateful heart.

Something to think about…

Ephesians 3:16–19b (NIV)
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—"

In a previous article, I shared that in order to appreciate Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, we first needed to understand his requests. Paul asks for two things: One, that Christ may dwell in the hearts of the Ephesian Christians through faith; and two, that they might grasp and know the infinite love of Christ. At first reading, those two requests don’t sound like huge requests but they are. Let’s begin by looking at Paul’s first request and what he means when he prays for Christ to “dwell” in their hearts.

When a person initially places their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, they graciously receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39; Romans 8:9-11). However, this initial giving of the Spirit is NOT what Paul is requesting when he prays for Christ to “dwell” in their hearts. In Paul’s prayer, he is asking that the Spirit who is already within them to empower them so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. So, to have Christ dwell in your heart means something different than receiving Christ into your life.

Side Note: Sometimes Paul writes of Christ in us and other times he refers to the Spirit in us. Who is it that’s in us, Jesus or the Spirit? Paul would answer, “Yes. Jesus is in you. And yes, the Spirit is in you”. This is just another example of the triune nature of God that we see taught in the Bible. To study more about this, pick up a copy of Wayne Grudem’s book Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. You can buy it used at Amazon for about $26 (includes shipping!). Total deal dude! 

So, what exactly does Paul mean? First of all, in the Bible, the heart is not just your emotions and desires but it’s your entire inner life – your emotions, desires, character, beliefs, attitudes, etc. 

Second, in this passage, Paul is using the metaphor of a home to describe the heart (the inner life). In English, we don’t immediately see the metaphor but the Greek word “to dwell” is specifically used for dwelling in a home. This is why the New Living Translation paraphrases it, “Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him”.

Do you remember the booklet, My Heart – Christ’s Home, by Robert Munger? I read that booklet YEARS ago in high school and this passage reminded me of it. Anyway, I looked it up online, purchased it on Kindle (only a $1.20!) and to my surprise, the opening sentences read as follows, “In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes these words: “That [God] … may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph 3:16-17). Or, as another has translated, “That Christ may settle down and be at home in your hearts by faith (Weymouth). Without question one of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ himself through the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there.” BAMMO! I simply discovered the same thing that inspired Munger to write his booklet! Pretty cool, eh? 

So, Paul is praying that Jesus “make his home” in your inner life. That he make himself at home in your mind as you cruise the internet or scroll through social media feeds; that his pure and patient love take up residence in your marriage or premarital, romantic relationship; that his gentleness and mercy make himself at home in your words and tone of voice as you speak to your children or your spouse; and that his truth and priorities dwell in your values as you spend hundreds or even  thousands of dollars each month on the resources he has asked you to steward.

Paul is basically praying that you would be so filled up with the heart and soul of Jesus that you would beautifully reflect the glory of Jesus in EVERYTHING you say, think, feel, desire and do.  That’s what Paul is praying for and that’s why he calls on God to strengthen you with power by his Spirit according to his glorious riches! For Christ cannot make his home in our inner lives apart from us whole-heartedly trusting in God’s Spirit to make it happen! 

In my next article, I will explain Paul’s second request.