“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19).
What can be said of Paul from the first part of Ephesians 3?
- Prisoner of Christ Jesus
- Minister of the Gospel
- The very least
- Preacher to the Gentiles
- Carrier of the light
What can be said about followers of Jesus?
- We are fellow heirs.
- We are members of the same body.
- We are partakers of the promise.
- We have been given boldness.
- We have been given access with boldness through our faith in Him.
Among all that's going on in this passage, it seems that Paul wants the Ephesians to see and understand at least two things:
- Paul wants them to see and understand that God is Powerful
- Paul wants them to see and understand that God is loving
One could argue that our failure to grow is a failure to understand and experience the Love and power of our awesome God.
These verses begin with the Apostle Paul falling to his knees. We must do the same!
- Pray for His Spirit to empower us with inner strength.
- Allow the roots of our life to go deep in the soil of His love.
- Ask to understand the fullness of the love of God.
- Ask to experience the love of God since we cannot fully understand it.
- Ask the Spirit to make us complete with all life and power that comes from God.
- Yield to God’s mighty power to work in each of us, which accomplishes more than we can ask or imagine!
- Solomon prayed on his knees (1 Kings 8:54).
- Ezra prayed on his knees (Ezra 9:5).
- The Psalmist called us to kneel (Psalm 95:6).
- Daniel prayed on his knees (Daniel 6:10).
- People came to Jesus kneeling (Matthew 17:14, Matthew 20:20, and Mark 1:40).
- Stephen prayed on his knees (Acts 7:60).
- Peter prayed on his knees (Acts 9:40).
- Paul prayed on his knees (Acts 20:36), and other early Christians prayed on their knees (Acts 21:5).
- Most importantly, Jesus prayed on His knees (Luke 22:41).
The Bible has enough prayer not on the knees to show us that it isn’t required, but it also has enough prayer on the knees to show us that it is significant.
Love shifts everything! It changes the narrative, and the power to impact the lives around us. Let’s silence the skeptic and release the message that has depth, width, length and height…the sound that is rooted in the love of God!
To come to any understanding of the dimensions of God’s love, we must come to the cross. The cross pointed in four ways, essentially in every direction, because…
- God’s love is wide enough to include every person.
- God’s love is long enough to last through all eternity.
- God’s love is deep enough to reach the worst sinner.
- God’s love is high enough to take us to heaven.
Paul wrote of something we can know. This isn’t speculation, guesswork, emotions, or feelings. This is something to know.
- Paul asked God to fill these Christians unto all the fullness of God.
- The word unto is a better translation than the word with. Paul wanted Christians to experience life in Jesus Christ, the fullness of God, and to be filled to their capacity with Jesus, even as God is filled to His own capacity with His own character and attributes.
“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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
Paul says that God is able to do above all that we ask or think. The we included Paul and the other apostles and they certainly knew that Jesus could do great things.
- You can ask for every good thing you have ever experienced – God is greater.
- You can think of or imagine things beyond your experience – God is greater.
Concerning the phrase “exceeding abundantly” one commentator writes “He has constructed here in the Greek an expression which is altogether his own. No language was powerful enough for the apostle, – I mean for the Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle, – for very often Paul has to coin words and phrases to shadow forth his meaning, and here is one, ‘He is able to do exceeding abundantly,’ so abundantly that it exceeds measure.’”
Here’s the key - We are rooted and grounded in love!
- God does this in our life now, not beginning with heaven. This power… works in us now.
- The things Paul prayed for in the previous verses (spiritual strength, the indwelling Jesus, experiential knowledge of God’s love, and the fullness of God) belong to us as children of God.
- However, they must be received by believing and can be furthered in the lives of others by our prayers for them.
- When the church understands and walks in God’s eternal purpose, God will be glorified and the church will fulfill its important duty of simply glorifying God.
The “more than we can ask or think (imagine)” is one of a christian’s favorite verses, but we must put it into context. This verse comes after verses 16-19. There is a progression that we cannot skip.
- We come to know the love God has for us.
- We come to know God is love and we are to abide in Him.
- As a result he abides in us and in us God’s love is perfected.
- As a result we have confidence in the day of judgement.
- We have no fear because love casts out fear.
- We love because God loved us first.
Is your life rooted and grounded in God’s love?
