Paul's Prayer for Strength and Love

Good Morning

Did you about the man that is wanted for stealing the wheels off of the police cars?

The police are working tirelessly to catch him!!!

I am looking forward to our Good Friday and Easter services next weekend. If you are available on Friday, I encourage you to come. It will be a short service and it will be a good way to get our minds and hearts ready to praise our King on Sunday.

Today we are going to be in Ephesians 3:14-21. We are finishing this chapter today. The end of chapter three is a transition section of Ephesians. The first three chapters are about who we are in Christ. The last three chapters are about how we are to live. Understanding both of these are crucial for believers, but we have to have more than just knowledge of these things.

Paul uses this prayer to transition us from who we are to how we should live as we are in Christ. In this prayer, Paul is asking God to give the Ephesians power. This is a great model and reminder for us, In order to do God’s will, we must have His power. That is the only way!

Paul has already taught us important truths about prayer. He taught us in 2:18, that prayer is a conversation with the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. In verses 1:17-23, Paul showed us that we need to pray for illumination. We need to ask our Father to give us His wisdom and understanding. We learned in 3:12, that we can come to God with boldness and confidence because of Jesus. In our verses today, Paul is going to show us that we need to pray not only for us but for the church to receive power from God through His Spirit.

Please stand as we prepare to hear God’s Word.

Ephesians 3:14–21 ESV

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family 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.

Paul begins by saying for this reason. What reason is he talking about? I am glad you asked. Paul has just finished telling the Ephesians about all the blessings and grace that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a list of some of what he told them.

They were once dead and now are alive.

They are adopted as son’s and daughter’s

God lavishes His grace on them.

We now have an inheritance in Christ.

We are sealed by the Spirit.

We are His glorious inheritance.

They are unified into God’s household.

As the church, they are the dwelling place of God.

For those reason’s, Paul is bending his knees and praying to God. Thinking about all of the grace and blessings that we receive in Christ Jesus, cause Paul to worship God in prayer.

Next we can see Paul’s posture during this prayer. He is on his knees! This was not the normal position of prayer for the Jew. Normally they would stand to pray. This is not to say that kneeling is the only way to pray, we see several different postures of prayer in the Bible. The posture we take when we pray says a lot about our attitude during that prayer. When we get on our knees to pray, we are showing humility and gratitude. On your knees is not the only way to do this, but this is the posture we are looking at today. For some of us, praying on our knees means more that it does for others. When I knee, it hurts physically. Despite the pain, I still like to knee when I pray sometimes. The pain reminds me that I have a broken body that will one day pass away, and that God has a new body for me that will never feel pain. However you pray, the important thing is that you are talking to the Father as often as possible in humility and gratitude.

Psalm 95:6–7 ESV

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Let us kneel before the Creator, our God.

In verse 15, Paul is referring to God as the creator of all mankind. He is the father of all. Adam is called the son of God because God created him. Also all believers are called children of God once they are made new. Not all men are children of God by nature, they are children of disobedience and children of wrath. Paul tells us this in 2:2-3. As Creator, God is father of all, but as Savior, He is only the Father of those who repent and believe.

Paul begins his petition in verse 16. He asks go to grant the Ephesians to be strengthened with power through the His Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit is given to us “ according to the riches of His glory”. Christ is seated in glory and He sent His Spirit from glory to indwell and empower His people. It is so marvelous that God gives that power according to His riches and not out of His riches.

If Elon Musk went around OKC and gave one thousand kids $10, he gave out of his riches. Now if he went to those same kids and gave each one one million dollars, now he has given according to his riches. The first is a portion, the second is a proportion. Our Good Father does not hold back from His children. He loves to give good gifts.

Notice where Paul asks for this power to be given. He wants God to give power to the inner man. Our inner being is where we need that power the most! It is our inner being that fights sin, proclaims the gospel with courage, and loves people the way that Christ loves us. In 2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul tells us that the inner man is perishing.

2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

It is not hard to tell that our outer bodies are wearing out! While our bodies are dying, our inner man is being renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Last Wednesday, we talked about God making the wisdom of the world to be folly. The world places a lot of importance on the outer person, but the inner person is far more important. The outer will pass away, the inner will be for eternity. Make sure you are giving the lion’s share of attention to the inner being.

Why is it so important to be strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man? I am so glad you asked!! Paul tells us it is so that Jesus Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith!

I thought that Christ was already in the hearts of believers? He is, but Paul is talking about so much more than just Jesus dwelling in our hearts. Paul is talking about Christ Jesus our King ruling in our hearts. The word that Paul used for dwell didn’t mean to just inhabit, instead the word he used means to settle down. It carries the idea that Jesus is at home in our hearts, in our inner being. He has taken up permanent residency, not a short term renter!

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians We Need to Be Strengthened by the Spirit’s Power (3:16–17a)

D. A. Carson points out Paul’s word choice and then illustrates the difference between a short-lived resident and a long-term resident. Carson says, when Christ takes up residence in a believer, it is like a couple who purchases a home that needs a lot of work. Over time they clean it up, repair it, and eventually say, “This house has been shaped to our needs and taste and I really feel comfortable.” Then Carson says,

When Christ by his Spirit takes up residence within us, he finds a moral equivalent to trash, black and silver wall paper, and a leaking roof. He sets about turning this residence into a place appropriate for him, a home for which he is comfortable.… When a person takes up long-term residence somewhere, their presence eventually characterizes that dwelling.… When Christ first moves into our lives, he finds us in bad repair. It takes a great deal of power to change us; and that is why Paul prays for power.… [He is] transforming us into a house that pervasively reflects his own character. (Spiritual Reformation, 186–87)

Christ enters the heart of a Christian so that He may live, abide, and reign there. He enters so that we can reflect His character. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:15-16

Colossians 3:15–16 ESV

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Let us imitate Paul in this matter!

Paul now moves from power to love, but he is not leaving the power. We need that power if we are to understand the fullness of the love of Jesus. The Ephesians knew God’s love, Paul is asking for them to know it better, to experience it!

Paul is not focusing on the Ephesians love for Christ, but rather Christ’s love for them. We must always be looking to better understand how Jesus loved. After all we are commanded to love like He did.

John 13:34 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

How can we love like Jesus, if we do not understand how He loved! We need understanding, we need more that just knowledge, we need to experience it in our lives.

It is when we begin to understand Christ’s love for us, we begin to live a crucified life. It is no longer my will, but thy will!

Paul is not asking for the Ephesians to be able to speak better about the greatness of God’s love in Jesus. He is asking God for them to have the power to understand the dimensions that love in their experience.

God revealed His love at the cross in Christ. That love is to be tasted. It is to be experienced. Paul isn’t asking for more head knowledge, he is asking for them to comprehend a love that surpasses knowledge. It is a love that is knowable and explainable to a degree, but to truly understand and comprehend it, you must experience it.

Paul has spent 3 chapters telling us about God’s truth. Now he is telling us that we need to experience it to truly know it. God’s love can’t be experienced sitting at home. To be able to experience God’s love, you have to be out among His people and out among the broken people of this world. When you go out and begin to love the unlovable and go out to the ones that the world rejects, there you will experience God’s love like never before. Jesus didn’t stay at home, He went out to the people.

Our lives are to be built on the love of Christ. His love is our foundation. We are commanded by Jesus to love like He did. Jesus didn’t save us from glory! He came down to earth and walked among us! He breathed the same air we are breathing. He is Immanuel, God with us! He had no home to sit and wait for people to come to Him in. He went out and love on people, He went out and told them about the way to God. He went out and told them the truth. We must do the same.

Paul next expresses his desire for the Ephesians to grasp the fullness of the love of Jesus. He says he hopes that we may be able to comprehend it. We can, with the power of God through His Spirit. We are supposed to do this on our own. No, we are to do it with all the saints! We are to dwell on the love of Christ together. We are to discuss His love, share about His love, study the Bible together. On our own, we can never fully comprehend the fullness of God’s love. We need each other to do this. We all experience God’s love in different ways, and by sharing those experiences, it helps the church grow in its understanding. The gathering of the church is important and commanded. God uses community to shape us into more and more like His Son. God doesn’t call anyone to be a isolated Christian. How does that show the love of Jesus?

Paul ends this prayer by hoping that they will be filled to all the fullness of God. Paul wants them to be mature spiritually, the inner man.

As believers, we are going to be filled with His Spirit. The Church, although we are already filled with His fullness, we are to grow more and more like Christ until we reach fullness. God is growing us and maturing us in Jesus. We can not be mature if we do not know and experience the power and love of God in Christ. We need the fullness of God’s love and power in order to be like Christ Jesus. It is up to us to seek the fullness of God’s power and love that we may love our neighbors, our churches, our families, and this broken world.

Paul ends chapter 3 by stating God’s power and why God gives us this power to love like Jesus.

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians What? (3:20a)

God can do more in response to one prayer than we can do in one hundred years of planning and plodding. Do we believe God alone is the only Sovereign? He is the One who raised Jesus from the dead and placed Him as head over the church, and He has put all things under His feet! If so, then pour out your heart to Him, believing He is able.

We need a vision of God that increases our faith in God’s greatness. The best way to do this is to fill our minds with the Word of God.

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians How? (3:20b)

How does God work beyond our imaginations? Paul says it is “according to the power that works in us” (20b, emphasis added). Think about the examples of this in the Bible. Think of His work in the lives of Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David, Elijah (a man like us according to

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Why? (3:21)

Why does God do these things? Paul says it in verse 21. This should be the ultimate goal for our prayers for power and love: “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” God blesses His people for His own glory.

But notice Paul says that God desires His glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. Stott says, “God desires glory in the bride and in the bridegroom; in the community of peace, and in the Peacemaker” (Ephesians, 141).

For how long? Forever. Forever, God will be glorified for His power and love. Forever, God will be glorified by His people. Forever, God will be glorified in Christ Jesus, the Lamb who was slain. Forever, God will be glorified in the Christ, who fell to His knees before the Father in the garden of Gethsemane, who took the cup of wrath that we could receive the cup of grace, who has reconciled us to the Father and one another, and who now dwells in our hearts, through faith by the Spirit. To God be the glory forever!

Watching others is the best way to learn.

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Humble Desperation

Are you coming to God desperately? Do you realize you are helpless and powerless without God?

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Humble Desperation

The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride.

He walked into town and found a group of people by the well. “I’ll show myself to them,” he thought.

But they didn’t notice him. They went on drawing their water and paid him no mind.

“Throw your garments down,” he said crossly. “Don’t you know who I am?”

They just looked at him in amazement. Someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move.

“Miserable heathens!” he muttered to himself. “I’ll just go to the market where the good people are. They will remember me.”

But the same thing happened. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the market place.

“The palm branches! Where are the palm branches?” he shouted. “Yesterday, you threw palm branches!”

Hurt and confused, the donkey returned home to his mother.

“Foolish child,” she said gently. “Don’t you realize that without him, you are just an ordinary donkey?” (Rice, More Hot Illustrations, Kindle)

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Humble Desperation

Apart from Christ we can do nothing (

It is encouraging because He is with us. Jesus tells us that He is with us always! Matthew 28:20

Matthew 28:20 ESV

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

In Hebrews 13:5 we are told that He will never leave us or forsake us!!

Hebrews 13:5 ESV

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

We serve a Good Father, a Great God! If we are not in Christ, the we are worthless. We can do nothing if we do not have the Holy Spirit in us giving us the power to love like Jesus did. We can be saved and not have this full understanding of His love. It is something that we have to work at understanding. It is something that we have to get out of our houses and go and experience it. We have to be an active participant in the church, not just an hour or two on Sundays. You will never fully mature if you are not an active member of a church. Jesus commanded us to not forsake the gathering of believers. The early church in Acts, they met every day and discussed the teachings and broke bread. They had community, we have social gatherings. We are called to work out our salvation. We are called to do, but we have to make sure we are doing what He has called us to do. We have to make sure that we are in Christ before we do anything in his name, otherwise it is for the wrong reason.

The only way we can become mature, active, obedient children is if we are in Christ everyday, every moment of every day.

May this Psalm be the desire of our hearts. Psalm 42:1

Psalm 42:1 ESV

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

God is our life, we have to be actively drinking from His cup.