Ephesians 3:14-21 • Full to the Brim

Review & Overview

1. Ephesians’ Overview

Paul wrote Ephesians to remind believers of who they are in Christ and to encourage them to live like it.

The first half of the letter (chapters 1–3) focuses on what God has given us—adoption, redemption, inheritance, power, grace, and His incredible love.

It’s all about our identity in Christ. Interestingly, there are no commands in these chapters, just reminders of what God has done and who we are in Christ.

So Chapters 1-3 deals with the Christian’s Position Spiritually.

2 Previous Study’s Review

In chapters 1–3, Paul has been laying out the riches of our identity in Christ—no commands, just gospel truth.

He’s shown us that we've been chosen, redeemed, sealed by the Spirit, and made alive together with Christ.

Then in chapter 2, he explained how Jesus broke down the wall between Jew and Gentile, creating one unified body—the Church.

And by the time we reach chapter 3, Paul is in awe of the mystery: that Gentiles are now fellow heirs in God’s family.

And all of that leads him to one response—he drops to his knees in prayer. That’s where we pick up today. Here in Vs. 14.

3. Current Study’s Overview

The Title of Today’s Message is: Filled to the Brim

Because… Have you ever poured a can of soda a little too quickly and watched the carbonation overflow?

And then you can see the liquid tremble at the edge?

That’s the image Paul wants us to grasp. We shouldn’t be half-full Christians, not even 90%, our souls should be so filled with God that there’s no room left for anything or anyone else, including yourself.

And the crazy part? Most of us take spiritual sips of God, when God is a fountain of living water.

Tonight we’re going to look at Paul’s prayer for the church, He’s on his knees, pleading that believers stop running on fumes and start living filled—to the brim.

If you’r taking notes we want to look at 5 “P’s” that involves Paul’s Prayer…

1. Paul’s Prayer Involves Posture Vs. 14-15

2. Paul’s Prayer Involves Power Vs. 16

3.Paul’s Prayer Involves Presence Vs. 17a & 19b

4. Paul’s Prayer Involves Penetration Vs. 17b-19a

5. Paul’s Prayer Involves Praise Vs. 20-21

1. The Posture of Prayer Vs. 14-15

Paul begins this section with humility: “For this reason I bow my knees…”

Question: When is the last time you bowed your knees:

Because some of us only bow our knees when we drop our phone under the car seat

Paul’s dropping to his knees in a Roman prison to pray.

He’s showing his dependence, reverence, and submission to the Father.

He recognizes God the Father as the source of every family in heaven and earth and His fatherly care.

Now notice he says, “For this reason”…  speaking of the Mystery of Christ that God entrusted to Paul to steward…          for this reason I pray…

Since the Gentiles are now fellow heirs with the Jews,

because Jews and gentiles are one body, and we are all partakers of Gods promise,

which is, the promise of His Holy Spirit.

Because of all of that, Paul prays…

Paul was so blessed by the fact that God had formed His people, the church, that it caused him to bow his knees in prayer.

1. The Posture of Prayer

2. The Power for the Inner Man Vs. 16

So remember, Paul starts this prayer by calling God “Father,” not “Lord” or “Sovereign king.” Why?

Because It reminds us that when we pray, we’re talking to someone who truly cares for us and has everything we could ever need.

Ephesians 1:3 “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

It’s like saying, “Hey Dad, I know you’ve got this”—and then trusting Him to provide not just a couple bucks, but the full treasure chest.

Philippians 4:19 “..my God shall supply all your need according to His riches…”

So with that framework in mind, the first thing Paul asks the Father for is, strength—just like he did back in…

Ephesians 1:19 “19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power”

And later in…

Ephesians 6:10 “…be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

But Paul doesn’t just want us to toughen up by raw willpower.

Notice there at the end of Vs. 16, it is through His Spirit.

Paul points us to the Holy Spirit living in our “inner being.”

2 Corinthians 4:16 NKJV

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Paul here makes a contrast between the perishing outward man with an inner self that’s being renewed every single day.

That inner self is where our heart, mind, will, and spirit all live—basically the core of who we are.

And the Holy Spirit moves right into that space to fill us with God’s power.

Philippians 4:13 “13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

So, when Paul prays “that we would be strengthened with might” he’s picturing the Holy Spirit making His home in our innermost being,

transforming us from the inside out so we can continue to live our lives for God.

1. The Posture of Prayer 2. The Power for the Inner Man

3. The Presence of Christ Vs. 17a & 19b

3.1 Presence of Christ in our Hearts Vs. 17a

Paul is using a very powerful image here, imagine Christ moving into your innermost room, taking up residence.

The most secret part of your life, that is where He lives.

And understand this: He’s not just staying for the weekend; He’s there full-time.

This is not an Airbnb! Jesus is moving in, changing the locks, and rearranging the furniture.

In fact, other parts of the bible say the same things:

Romans 8:10 “…if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin…”

2 Corinthians 13:5 “5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?…”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”

So all these scriptures point to a real, ongoing presence of Jesus working in and through us.

So, what I think Paul is talking about when he says “in your hearts”?

I think Paul is getting at that core place where we think, choose, and feel.

It’s the epicenter of who we are. It’s where your beliefs and desires live, not just your head knowledge.

And this lines up with the Bible. The bible teaches that the heart is the source of our actions and intentions.

Proverbs 4:23 NKJV

23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Now notice here, how does Christ actually move in?

Paul says “through faith.” Faith is like unlocking the door of your heart: You believe in Jesus, you invite Him in, and He steps into the rooms of your heart.

APPLICATION: This is the definition of intimacy…

Jesus is the only one who can be that close and intimate with us.

Not your Spouse, Family, or friends.

3.2 Filled with Fullness Vs. 19b

Now scholars differ in opinions as to what Paul means here.

But what makes a lot of sense considering the flow of Paul’s prayer—is that Paul is describing the very presence, power, and life of God filling the believer.

In other words, Paul isn’t just praying that we’d be “good Christians” or full of head knowledge or moral behavior.

He’s praying that we’d be so filled with God Himself—His presence, His Spirit, His love, His energy—that our lives overflow with Him.

That we wouldn’t just be people who talk about God but people who are marked by God.

Saturated with His Spirit, by His power. So full of Him that there’s no room left for anything else. Even yourself.

That’s the kind of fullness Paul is talking about.

Not just being busy with Christian activity, but being filled to the brim with the reality of God.

APPLICATION: And if we’re honest—we’re always filling ourselves with something.

Some of us fill our schedules with religious activity… Some of us fill our minds with entertainment and opinions... Some of us fill our hearts with the desire for approval, success, or comfort...

But Paul prayed that we would be filled with all the fullness of God.

Here’s the truth: We experience symptoms in the inner man when we’re not being filled with God.

You’ll notice cravings—restlessness, boredom, that urge to scroll, binge, buy, or escape.

That’s your inner man saying, “I'm hungry—but you’re feeding me the wrong things.”

Craving the world isn’t always a sign of ENMITY, sometimes it’s a sign that your EMPTY

It’s a sign to draw near and go back to the Source. Sit with Him. Soak in His love. Because only God’s presence can fill the place where your soul is aches the most.

1. The Posture of Prayer 2. The Power for the Inner Man

3. The Presence of Christ

4. The Penetration of Love Vs. 17b-19a

4.1 Rooted & Grounded in Love Vs. 17b

I believe that being rooted and grounded in love is what happens because of the two earlier things Paul prayed for:

inner strength through the Spirit and Christ dwelling in our hearts.

So, the idea is—if God is working in your inner being, and Jesus is truly taking up residence in your heart…

Then! Your life is going to be rooted and grounded in love.

Now, Paul uses two images here—one from nature and one from construction to drive home how central love is supposed to be in the Christian life.

You are to be rooted like a tree, and grounded like a building.

So Paul’s prayer here is more like a vision of a Christian Person that’s so filled with the presence of Jesus, and so shaped by the Spirit…

That love becomes the very soil he grows in and the foundation that he stands on.

ILLUSTRATION: You know, before I worked for the church I was a Real Estate Agent.

And I sold home here in town and the sellers were green thumbs and were leaving behind several young trees.

So they gave me one. And I planted it in my yard. It looked good—green, vibrant—but I made a rookie mistake.

I didn’t pay attention to the depth of the soil or how compact the ground was.

The roots couldn’t go deep. So that weekend a windstorm rolled through, and guess what happened?

It flew away! Why? Because it had no depth—no anchor.

It was funny bcuz the tree went into my neighbors yard and he came to my door and said, “Is this your tree?”

I looked like a good neighbor for sec until the windstorm exposed me as a fraudulent gardener.

ILLUSTRATION: That’s what life is like without God’s love.

You might look “green” on the outside—put together, even thriving—but the first storm that hits your marriage, your faith, or your health, you're on the ground, unless your rooted deep.

And the only soil STRONG enough for roots like that is the love of God—that is unchanging and unconditional.

ILLUSTRATION: Now, Paul also says we're grounded, like a building.

Have you ever seen a skyscraper being built?

They don’t start with the glass windows and rooftops.

No—they dig down. Deep.

Sometimes they spend months just laying the foundation. Why?

Because the higher the building is meant to go, the deeper the foundation has to be.

APPLICATION: Same with us. If you want to stand tall in this broken world, if you want to carry the weight of your calling, leadership, your marriages, parenting, ministry—you better be grounded in something stronger than self-help books.

Listen, You need a foundation that won’t crack. And Paul says that’s the love of Christ.

4.2 Love is Transcendent Vs. 18

When people read this verse, people typically ask why does Paul mention four dimensions—width, length, depth, and height—instead of the usual three?

Because normally, we think in terms of three dimensions—left to right, front to back, and top to bottom.

So why does Paul throws in this fourth dimension?

I honestly don’t think Paul’s not trying to make a technical point here.

I think he’s just going all-out to say: God’s love is massive—it stretches in every possible direction. 

Job Ch. 11 actually uses similar language when describing how vast and mysterious God is: 

Job 11:7–9 NKJV

7 “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? 8 They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? 9 Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.

Paul may be tapping into this same vibe—God’s love is beyond measuring.

So the big idea is this: God’s love, is so big, it goes beyond what our human minds can fully grasp. 

Look at verse 8 because Paul called it “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” 

Ephesians 3:8 “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,”

In verse 19 we’re gonna see that God’s love “surpasses knowledge.” 

Paul isn’t saying we can’t understand anything about God’s love—otherwise, why would he pray for us to know it?

He’s saying we’ll never reach the bottom. We’ll never hit the ceiling. There’s always more.

There are different angles…

And also notice, Paul says this isn’t something we experience by ourselves—we experience this “with all the saints.” 

You can’t fully grasp the love of Christ alone in a cave.

You need the body of Christ, the church. We need each other to explore and experience the love of God.

4.3 Love Should Be Experienced Vs. 19a

Here Paul prays for something that almost sounds contradictory at first: to know something that surpasses knowledge.

But it’s important to understand what he means by the word “know.”

The Greek word Paul uses here for “know” is γινώσκω (ginōskō)—and this isn't the word you use just to learn something from a textbook to pass a quiz.

This kind of knowledge is relational, experiential, even intimate.

It’s the same word used in the Gospels when Jesus says, “I know My sheep, and My sheep know Me” (John 10:14).

It’s not about information—it’s about experience.

Now compare that to the word Paul used in verse 18—“comprehend”—which comes from the Greek word καταλαμβάνω (katalambanō).

That word deals more with the mind—to grasp, to lay hold of, to mentally seize and understand. 

That’s the intellectual side of it. Paul wants us to be able to wrap our heads around the breadth, length, depth, and height of Christ’s love.

But in verse 19, he takes it a step further.

He prays that we wouldn’t just grasp the idea of God’s love—but that we would taste it, feel it, walk in it.

That we’d know it deeply in a way that fills our soul and transforms our lives.

Because here’s the dilema Paul wants us to wrestle with: God’s love goes beyond what our brains can handle. 

It “passes”—the word there is ὑπερβάλλω (hyperballō)—it’s where we get the English word “hyperbole.”

It literally means to throw beyond. In other words, God’s love goes so far past what we could comprehend, it’s like trying to fit the Ocean into a cup.

Your intellect can only get you so far.

That’s why experience matters…

I believe Paul is showing us that both are essential—and both must happen together.

Because you can’t truly know the love of Christ without experiencing it. He’s not just praying we’d know about it—he’s praying that we would be overwhelmed by it.

APPLICATION: Have you every just sat in your prayer closet or in the middle of a worship night and say, “I can’t even explain it, but I know He loves me.”

God doesn’t want you to just recite His love. He wants you to encounter it.

Because facts about God’s love won’t hold you when you’re experiencing hardships.

Only the real, personal, felt love of Jesus—the love that passes understanding—can.

1. The Posture of Prayer 2. The Power for the Inner Man

3. The Presence of Christ 4. The Penetration of Love

5. The Praise to God Vs. 20-21

5.1 He Is Able Vs. 20

So here we’ve come to Paul’s big finale in chapter 3—the closing doxology, which is just a fancy word for a moment of praise that points out why God is worthy of glory.

And here’s the deal—everything we just read in Ephesians 3 is leading up to this massive, powerful conclusion here in verses 20-21.

If I’m filled with all the fullness of God, then of course God’s going to work powerfully through me.

This is where verse 20 comes in.

Notice, there’s this natural build-up in our study:

inner strength → Christ dwelling in us → truly knowing His love → being filled to the brim with God Himself.

That’s the path that leads to spiritual power.

This is the game changer when the power of God begins to flow, be activated, and move in us.

And notice how this verse stacks one phrase on top of another, each one lifting us higher than the last:

God is able.

God is able to do.

God is able to do what we ask.

God is able to do what we ask or think.

No—He’s able to do all that we ask or think.

Actually—above all that we ask or think.

Wait—abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Even better—exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think!

Paul here sounds like he skipped breakfast and had three espressos.

He just keeps going: exceedingly, abundantly, above all you could ask!

At this point, we are in this spiritual outer space.

So high in the power of God…

APPLICATION: But here’s the unfortunate truth—most of us live in the shallows…

We barely scratch the surface of what God offers.

You know, Humans can do a lot of great things in the world.

But that won’t get you spiritual power. That won’t get you lasting transformation in ministry or in life.

True spiritual power—Kingdom power—only comes by walking through the path Paul laid out in Vs. 14-19.

APPLICATION: So don’t settle for the shallow when God’s inviting you into the deep.

If you’ve been frustrated with a lack of…

breakthrough, spiritual dryness, or just feeling stuck,

maybe it’s because you’ve been trying to access God’s power without walking the path that leads to it.

You can’t skip the steps Paul laid out—inner strength, Christ dwelling in you, being rooted in His love, filled with His fullness—and then you can expect explosive power.

APPLICATION: If you want to see God do “exceedingly, abundantly above” in your life, start by letting Him do the deep work within.

Because the more space He takes in you, the more power will flow through you.

That’s why Paul told Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power…” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Isaiah beautifully said something similar too. Look…

Isaiah 40:28–31 NKJV

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

That’s our God! So why do so many of us walk around thinking we’re helpless or stuck?

That’s not faith—It’s like some of us have spiritual amnesia.

If you’re not seeing God’s power in your life, it’s not because He’s holding out on you.

It probably means you’re not filled with His fullness.

And if you’re not full of Him, it’s likely because Christ isn’t at home in your heart.

And if Christ isn’t at home, maybe you’re lacking that inner spiritual strength.

It’s a chain reaction—and it starts with your inner man being strengthened.

APPLICATION: But here’s the encouragement: when you walk this out, you’ll hit a point where you’re full of God—and then things start happening that you couldn’t have dreamed of.

When trials hit, you’ll stand stronger than you ever thought possible.

When ministry opportunities come, you’ll operate in power, not in your flesh.

APPLICATION: Stop blaming your weakness when God has already offered you His strength.

If Paul—a man who was beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, and constantly under pressure—could say God worked mightily in him, then what’s our excuse?

That same Spirit is available to you right now.

Now, you might be thinking, “Why would God do all this for me?” Look at verse 21…

5.2 God’s Glory Vs. 21

And that’s what it’s all about, giving glory to God!

That’s a big deal. The church—flawed as we are—is the stage where God is carrying out His plan on earth.

Our mission is to always to reflect glory back to God.

This is what drove Paul’s entire ministry—a vision of God being glorified through Jesus and His people.

Paul here, looks all the way to the end of the story and sees the church and Christ together, pouring out endless praise to God.

He says to all generations, forever & ever.

That’s the reason. God wants glory.

He wants His greatness on display—not just in eternity, but right now, through the church. Through you.

But Here My Question: what happens when we say we serve an all-powerful, life-changing God... and yet our lives look weak, defeated, and powerless?

The world will begin to look at us and thinks, “Either your God is not who you say He is... or you’re lying.”

Somebody’s not telling the truth.

APPLICATION: Ask yourself this question: If my life is meant to display God’s glory, then what are people learning about Him when they look at me?

Paul makes it clear—God’s glory is supposed to shine through the church and through Christ, not just one day in heaven, but right now.

That means our words, our worship, our witness, and our walk should all be shouting, “Look at how good and powerful our God is!” 

But when we live with compromise, fear, bitterness, or spiritual laziness, we give people the wrong picture.

We end up glorifying our weakness instead of God's greatness.

APPLICATION: So here’s my challenge to you: Live in a way that makes God look as big as He really is.

Let your life be living proof that the gospel works—that Christ transforms, that grace restores, and that power flows through broken people who are surrendered.

Because your life is telling a story… the question is: Does it glorify Him?

As we draw to a close… The heart of Paul’s prayer is simple: Jesus wants to fill you with Himself. 

Not just facts, not just feelings—Himself. He wants to move into every room of your heart, ground you and root you in His love, and pour His presence into the deepest parts of who you are.

But Remember the Sequence: intimacy precedes power. 

His strength doesn’t rush into hearts that are distant—it flows through hearts that are surrendered.

If you’ve been living dry, distracted, or discouraged, maybe it’s not about trying harder… maybe it’s about drawing closer.

And Jesus is standing at the door—with joy. And when you let Him all the way in, you won’t just survive this life… 

He will fill to the brim—with His power, His love, and His glory overflowing.

ENDING…