Glory Beyond Imagination

We lift You higher | Your name be louder than any other song | You are forever seated on Your throne | You are forever, God and God a lone

THAT is the cry of any true church… that God would be seen and adored as HIGHER… MORE GLORIOUS… MORE AWESOME THAN ANYTHING ELSE...

…because he has made us HIS people...

We are IN HIM… and he is dwelling IN US… we are his temple… his dwelling place… together.

We are ONE CHURCH, sharing ONE FAITH… lifting high the anthem of our glorious King.

Really, that type of response to God is what the Apostle Paul is trying to stimulate in the churches when he wrote the letter of Ephesians...

He wrote this letter to stir us up to pursue God’s unimaginable vision for his church so that he would receive MUCH glory.

Not just through what we say or what we do… but in who we ARE.

God gets much glory for who he has created us to be as the body of Christ.

Today we are coming to the end of the first section of the book…

The end of chapter 3…

Next week, David Parker will preach the transitional verses of chapter 4:1-6 that launch us into very applicational matters for the rest of the letter...

But at the end of chapter 3, Paul wraps up this heavily doctrinal section of the letter with a prayer...

This is his second prayer in the book… in fact you could say that it’s a continuation of his prayer in chapter 1...

He’s continually praying throughout the letter that these churches would “get it.”

That they would take hold of the GLORIOUS PLAN that God is working out in his church… and that God has entrusted Paul to reveal...

He’s praying that they would fully embrace and embody it, and in doing so, that they would EXPERIENCE the glory of God in their midst.

Just like the prayer of chapter 1… Paul’s prayer for the churches surrounding Ephesus must become OUR prayer for OUR church...

So let’s read it… we are going to explore it in depth using two main questions… and then we are going to pray it over our church.

Read Eph. 3:14-21

Now this is another one of those LONG run-on sentences from the Apostle Paul… he gets so caught up in what he is saying that he forgets to breath...

And so it can be hard to find the main request that he is praying for here…

We can see EASILY his REASON for praying… he says, “For this reason...”

And you might remember from last week that chapter 4:1 started out with the same words, “For this reason...”

He’s picking up where he left off before going down a Spirit-inspired rabbit trail about his job description as an Apostle to reveal the mystery of Christ and how it relates to the Gentiles.

And so “for this reason” refers to what came at the end of chapter 2…

The revelation that the GENTILES are fully in Christ… in the Messiah… just like the Jews...

That God has created one NEW MAN in place of the two divided people groups… one NEW body who is united under Christ, the head.

And in doing so, he has made the Gentiles CITIZENS of a NEW KINGDOM…

With the full rights and privileges of a natural born member of God’s people unlike what they could be under the Old Covenant.

He made the Gentiles MEMBERS of a NEW FAMILY.

He made them BUILDING BLOCKS in a NEW TEMPLE...

TOGETHER they are a DWELLING PLACE FOR GOD.

And because of this glorious truth, Paul is bowing his knees before the Father as he sits in prison because he made this mystery known…

But what is the main thing he is praying for? What is Paul is asking God to accomplish?

I believe the answer to that question comes in verses 18-19...

We are going to look at those verses first… because they are the pinnacle of his request… and it’s in these verses that we see Paul fully going after God’s vision for the church as he prays.

He’s praying that these churches would EXPERIENCE what it means to be a dwelling place for God through the Spirit.

Look at 3:18-19 again - Paul prays “[That you] 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.”

We are going to ask two main questions based on Paul’s prayer today:

What is God’s vision for his church? (this is really the point of all that we’ve been studying so far in Ephesians)

And then, based on that, what must happen for our church to experience this vision God has for us.

[repeat]

Let’s look at this first question from verses 18-19… we’ll start here and then answer the second question by going back through the whole prayer.

(v. 18-19) What is God's vision for his church? That we would be filled with all the fullness of God together.

THAT is the bottom line of what Paul LONGS for every church… and I would suggest that is the best summary of God’s vision for his church that Paul is revealing in Ephesians...

v, 14 told us Paul is praying BECAUSE he knows God is making the Church his dwelling place… and so he prays that the churches would be filled with all the fullness of God together.

Now we can say that quicly… but it is a MASSIVE… GLORIOUS vision if you stop to think about it...

We aren’t just humans gathering together to perform for God… to put on a song and dance for him so that he would be appeased or so that others can be entertained.

We are vessels being filled up with God himself! THAT is what is going on in the church.

How can WE… finite human beings… be FILLED with ALL the FULLNESS of an INFINITE God?

Solomon prayed at the dedication of the Temple in the Old Testament, saying,

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! (1 Kings 8:27 ESV)

And that serves to demonstrate the wonder of what is being said here...

The heaven… and the highest heaven cannot contain him…

But God has CHOSEN to build FOR HIMSELF a PEOPLE who will be his dwelling place…

whom he will FILL… TOGETHER… with all his fullness… with his glory.

And he will do that in two ways:

He will grant them to comprehend the full dimensions of his glory together…

And he will grant them to experientially know the love of Christ.

I’m suggesting here that the idea of being “filled with all the glory of God” is the summary of the previous two phrases.

The previous two phrases are how we are filled with all the fullness of God.

Being filled with God’s fullness will mean that we begin to...

1) Comprehend with all the saints the fill dimensions of his glory...

Paul starts this main heart of his request by saying, “that you may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,” (Ephesians 3:18, ESV)

And we read that, and we are like, “The breadth and length and height and depth… OF WHAT?!?! FINISH THE SENTENCE!”

It’s almost like when you get so excited about something and are so speechless that you forget to finish what you are saying…

Now if you have an NIV Bible, it makes an interpretation and ties this directly to “the love of Christ...”

And it’s not wrong to say that Christ’s love has vast dimensions, but that’s not what the original actually says...

It just leaves it open ended...

And there are a lot of interpretations to what this is referring to… because of the vastness of God, I’m not sure we can say any of them are necessarily WRONG or inaccurate to say of God...

But I think it is probably referring to the vastness of his total glory…

Paul’s prayer echoes a passage in Job where it says,

“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.” (Job 11:7–9, ESV)

The deep things of God… the limit of the Almighty… has vast, unsearchable dimensions...

The word we could use to describe that is GLORY.

And Paul prays that we would comprehend the vast dimensions of that glory “together with all the saints.”

Knowing God… being filled with his fullness… going deeper into our understanding of him… is not an individual pursuit.

The best way to get to know the deep things of God is not to wander off by yourself into the woods to meditate for a while...

It’s not to isolate yourself like a Monk...

The way we comprehend the magnitude of God most clearly is by getting to know him “together with all the saints.”

We need one another in order to grow deeper in our knowing God.

We need one another in order to have true insight into God’s word.

We need one another to help us discern God’s leading...

We need one another in order to see the vastness of what God is doing in his people… both here… and all around the world…

To be filled with all the fullness of God means to comprehend the vast dimensions of God’s glory TOGETHER...

AND it means to...

2) Experientially know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge

Paul prays that they would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

The word for know is not just to “know about”… rather it’s to KNOW PERSONALLY… INTIMATELY… to be FULLY ACQUAINTED with his love.

He’s describing a paradox… that Christ’s love is SO big that we can never FULLY grasp it… And yet it is SO CLOSE that we can totally experience it.

We finite human beings cannot comprehend the type of love that God has for us.

Our love is fickle.

It is often controlled by our perceptions of things outside of us… how loveable are they?

Even when we truly love someone, we do not perfectly express the beauty of biblical love: patience, kindness, humility, and the rest of the attributes described in 1 Cor. 13.

But Christ is always perfect in his love.

He loved us while we were yet sinners… he laid down his life for us while we were still dead in our sin...

And he continues to lavish his love on us as his children… fully adopted into his family...

We will never find the extent of his love, no matter how hard we search.

And to be filled with this fullness is to experientially KNOW his love.

This is what it looks like to be filled with all the fullness of God...

To comprehend the vast dimensions of his glory together...

And to experientially know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge...

Apply: THIS is God’s vision for his church… THIS is Paul’s greatest longing for the churches… is it yours?

Is this what you are PURSUING as you participate in Christ’s church at Oak Hill?

When you imagine what our church could be… is our experience of the overwhelming glory of God your highest aim?

When you pray for our church… is this the heartbeat of your prayer that we would know and experience the presence of God in this way?

Maybe that seems foreign to you… maybe it seems too intangible...

Pastor Ben, you need to give me something CONCRETE. Something that I can understand and wrap my head around.

I’m sorry… I can’t. Because if I did, it would be far too small.

But even though this vision is foreign to our flesh and beyond our comprehension, when you seek it, you will find it… and when you find it, you will know it...

Because you will see God at work in ways that you never saw before.

You will experience a deeper relationship with him than you ever thought possible.

You will realize that God isn’t just a being that we talk about who lives “out there” somewhere in the highest heavens...

But that he lives right here with us...

Or maybe rather that we are… spiritually speaking… truly seated in the heavenly places in Christ… able to increasingly experience his fullness.

But we must seek it… it must become our most fervent prayer and highest aim… and God must do a powerful work in our hearts...

Really the rest of this prayer that surrounds this main request answers the question...

What must happen for our church to experience this vision God has for us?

And the first thing that must happen is this...

1) We must humble ourselves in prayer before our Father. (v. 14-15)

Explain: Now that we understand the essence of the prayer, we can now return to v. 14… to all that Paul says that leads up to this primary request…

And he says, “I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.”

Being filled with all the fullness of God has to start here: HUMBLE PRAYER.

A church that does not fervently pray cannot comprehend God’s vast dimensions… and they cannot experientially know his love…

Because PRAYER is the channel by which God delivers those things to us.

Prayer is our direct connection of relationship with the infinite God who made us.

In prayer, we seek God’s glory as our highest pursuit...

In prayer, we express our longing and need for God...

Not just for the things God can give us… but we seek God himself.

We seek his face, not just his hand.

Which is WHY Paul prays from his knees.

Praying from the knees is a way to express our humility before God…

…our awareness of our dependence upon him… and our desperate need for him.

The physical posture of praying from our knees is often helpful… even if it’s not always necessary…

Because the heart posture of humility is ALWAYS essential in prayer.

We pray to our Father who is the King of Heaven and Earth...

We pray to our Father who created all things...

Paul acknowledges this when he says that God the Father is the one “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.”

In other words, as we come together as the family of God and approach our Father in prayer, we are going to the Father of Fathers.

He is the one who created all families and defines what it means to even BE a family...

And it is this Father who is OUR Father in heaven… we… as members of his household… are particularly named from him.

And this Father of Fathers is the one who must fill us with all his fullness.

As his family, we need his glory to define us.

We need to know what it means to be a child of the Living God… not a child of wrath.

And so we must PRAY.

One of our Oak Hill Family Values is “fervent prayer.”

And that’s not just a value because it gives us something to do when we are together...

It’s not just a value because we all know churches are supposed to pray...

It’s a value because our very existence as a church depends on us being FERVENT in our prayer...

THIS type of prayer… that seeks the glory of God as our highest aspiration and longing.

THIS type of prayer… in which we BOW ourselves before God and seek HIS vision for his church.

This isn’t just a value for the elders… or for our deacons… or for those most invested in serving...

This must be a value for EVERY SINGLE PERSON who calls Oak Hill “their church.”

Because without this kind of prayer, we cannot BE the church God wants us to be… we cannot be FILLED with all the FULLNESS of God.

We pray because we know that what God wants for his church is something that only God can do...

What must happen for our church to experience this vision God has for us?

2) God the Father must grant this experience to us. (v. 16a)

Look at v. 16 - “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power...”

Explain: I’ll get to the “strengthened with power” point in a minute… but for now I want you to see that this vision for his church is something that God the Father must GRANT to us.

It is something that God the Father initiates.

My son Titus had his 7th birthday this week...

And he really wanted a new bike… you could even say he NEEDED a new bike..

And so he asked us… and he assumed that just because he asked, we were going to get it for him.

And it’s true, we WERE going to get him a bike… it was our JOY to do it...

But I had to remind him that just because he asked for something, it didn’t mean he automatically got it or deserved it...

We had to GRANT it… to WILL it… as a gift.

We ask… but God grants.

Now, we know from the rest of this letter that this prayer of Paul’s is TOTALLY in line with God’s will for his church...

So I’m not saying here that God is RELUCTANT to answer yes… or that he would ever answer “No” to this request...

God the Father is EAGER to fill his praying church with all his fullness… he’s EAGER to make us his dwelling place...

But it’s still important for us to acknowledge that God must grant it to us.

It’s not something that we deserve.

It’s an act of his grace.

The highest heaven cannot contain him… and so he must condescend to make his dwelling among his people.

And that shows just how gracious he is.

He acts according to the riches of his glory… out of the abundance of who he is… to fill his church with all of his fullness.

He grants… according to his supreme wealth… that we should comprehend the vast dimensions of who he is...

He grants… according to his limitless supply… that we should experientially KNOW the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge...

He GRANTS this experience to us.

That is why we can ask… because we KNOW that God wants to grant it.

Jesus said this about prayer,

“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”” (Luke 11:11–13, ESV)

God is eager to give the good gift of his fullness to his children who ask… and just like Jesus said… that gift comes THROUGH the giving of the Holy Spirit...

Look at verse 16 again - “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”

What must happen for our church to experience this vision God has for us?

We must pray...

God the Father must grant it…

and this is more specifically what he must grant to us… that...

3) God the Spirit must strengthen our inner being with power. (v. 16b)

Explain: I love this… the thing that God wants to do in his church is not something we can naturally handle.

It’s so big… so glorious… so incredible… that we need to be STRENGTHENED...

The word as the sense of exercising to grow in strength...

But here it’s not PHYSICAL strength… it’s SPIRITUAL strength… the strength of SOUL… the strength of our inner being.

And the power… the ability… to strengthen the inner man is provided by the Holy Spirit.

Very God of Very God… the Holy Spirit... must himself strengthen us in order for us to be able to receive all that he has for us.

We’ve already seen in Ephesians that the Holy Spirit is the one who indwells us and seals us… he is our all-access pass to the Father… he is the one building us into a dwelling place for God...

Which means he is the one actively preparing us for all the relationship with God that he has for us.

He’s the one DELIVERING that relationship to us.

He is providing us with STRENGTH to comprehend the vast dimensions of God....

He is communicating the love of Christ to us… according to Romans 8, he is confirming to our Spirit that we are truly adopted Sons of God...

I want you to understand this: we need an active awareness of the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives if we are going to experience all that God has for our church.

We can’t assume him.

We can’t ignore him.

We must ASK GOD to provide the Spirit’s strengthening in our inner being.

We ARE NOT asking God to GIVE US the Spirit like we don’t have him already… we DO have him… God’s already DONE that for us...

We are asking God to STRENGTHEN US BY HIM… because he is already with us and in us.

In his book, Ablaze for God, Wesley Deuwel writes,

The secret of the manifestation of the Spirit is our asking for it (Luke 11:13; James 4:2).... We are too easily satisfied and glory in occasional past moments when God touched us by His power. God is delighted to empower us as often as we need Him, and we need him more often than we realize. We have become complacent and too easily satisfied with minimum manifestations of his power.” (Wesley Deuwel, Ablaze for God pp. 37-38)

Apply: Is that you? Satisfied with minimum manifestations of God’s power in your life and in our church?

Then ask God to grant that you be strengthened… together with ALL the saints... with even more power through his Spirit in your inner being.

Enter the Spirit’s weight room of prayer and the ministry of the word… together with the rest of the saints...

Enter the Spirit’s fitness class of serving in ministry... where he empowers you with spiritual gifts and stretches your dependence upon him so that you can see his glory at work.

Enter the Spirit’s sauna of suffering… where he turns up the heat and produces endurance and causes you to rely on God’s promises through faith.

It’s at that point… when we are prayerfully seeking God the Father to grant us to be strengthened by God the Spirit… it’s then that...

God the Son can dwell in our hearts through faith.

Look at verse 17 - “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith...”

For us to be filled with all the fullness of God...

4) God the Son must dwell in our hearts through faith. (v. 17a)

Explain: Notice that we have all three members of the Godhead at work to fill us with all the fullness of God.

You don’t HAVE a concept of the glory of God until you understand him as ONE GOD in THREE PERSONS.

It’s part of what MAKES him glorious… it’s part of his FULLNESS… that he is TRIUNE.

So God the Father grants that God the Spirit would strengthen us…

AND he grants that God the Son… CHRIST… would dwell in our hearts through faith.

By the way, when I was a kid, I thought the idea here was that Jesus is somehow living inside your chest cavity in the muscle that pumps blood to the rest of our body...

It was SO confusing… and that is NOT what is going on here...

The idea is that Christ… the Savior King… is with us to stay...

This word for “dwell” describes the difference between living in a house and camping for a weekend in a tent… in this verse, he is living in a house… he’s here to stay.

He has taken up long-term residence in our hearts… or to say it another way… he is living at the center of our lives.

Our heart is our essential being… the sum of our mind, soul, and body… the center of what makes us who we are.

And Jesus is not just passing through… he hasn’t just set up a tent… he is here to stay to control our heart…

And this dwelling comes through faith.

In chapter 2, Paul explained that we are saved BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH.

Faith is the vehicle by which God delivers his grace to us because faith is us saying, “I believe that I am who you say I am… a formerly dead sinner saved entirely by grace.”

Faith is us saying, “I believe that you are who you say you are. You are the glorious Christ, Only Savior and Lord… who died in my place so that my sin could be forgiven… and who rose again so that I could live for you.

And it is through that faith that Christ first comes to dwell… to reside at the center of our being… our heart...

And it is through that ongoing faith that he remains there.

Saving faith is active faith that continually surrenders to the control of Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Is that the type of faith you have in Christ?

…the type of faith that is ongoing… that is active… that seeks the presence of Christ?

It is when we walk by faith in Christ in this ongoing way that he DWELLS in our hearts… it is through the presence of faith that he is ACTIVE and PRESENT and NEAR.

As we abide in him through faith, he then abides in us.

So now that Paul has called upon the whole Trinity to work to bring about this vision that the church might be filled with all the fullness of God… he is now approaching that pinnacle of the prayer…

but he recognizes one more stop he needs to make before he gets to the destination...

Eph 3:17 - “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,”

What must happen for our church to experience this vision God has for us?

We must pray… God the Father must grant the SPIRIT to strengthen us and for Christ to dwell in our hearts…

Now this...

5) We must find stability and nourishment in love. (v. 17b)

Explain: There is a question whether this is God’s love for us… our love for God… or our love for one another...

Again, I’m not sure there’s really a BAD answer in those three… all are needed…

Maybe it’s a bit of all three...

Whatever the type, LOVE is our ROOT SYSTEM and our FOUNDATION… our GROUNDING...

Being ROOTED is a obviously a plant metaphor… think about a tree in your backyard or a plant in your garden...

Roots keep the plant upright… they make sure it is stable… but they also provide nourishment...

And LOVE is the nourishment God’s people need.

It is the sap running up the stem… through the vine… and into the branches...

It’s the life source for experiencing more of God’s fullness… one could say it IS the experience of his fullness.

Love is also our GROUNDING… our FOUNDATION...

This is a building metaphor.

It’s emphasizing the stability that love provides.

If we can’t love each other, we won’t be able to comprehend “with all the saints...”

And that will NECESSARILY limit how much we are seeing of God’s glory… and how much we are experientially knowing of his love.

It’s like when you have an argument with your spouse… [you married people have those right?]

And you are so into your argument that you don’t even notice your kids are there watching and trying to get your attention.

Our lack of love will distract us to God’s presence and work in his church.

Apply: And for us to pursue God’s vision for his church, we MUST… WE MUST… find our stability and nourishment in love.

We cannot let a lack of love in our hearts go unchecked…

Bitterness, unforgiveness, impatience… we cannot let those things go unchecked.

Even if it’s not erupting in active fights… a lack of love will inhibit our ability to see God at work in his church.

But when we are rooted and grounded in love… we “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.”

That’s the GOAL! That’s God’s vision for the church!

And it must become ALL of our prayer!

Which is why Paul invites them in to pray with him…

Up until this point, he has been describing to them the prayer that he prays FOR them...

Now he draws them in and turns their eyes upward…

Look at v. 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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

What must happen for our church to experience this vision God has for us?

We must pray…

and God the Father must grant that the SPIRIT would strengthen us

and that Christ would dwell in our hearts…

We must find stability and nourishment in love...

Now this...

6) We must seek God's inexhaustible glory as our highest aim. (v. 20-21)

Explain: Paul says, “Now to him.” He’s saying… get your eyes on him...

This vision of being FILLED with all the fullness of God… this is a HUGE vision… it may feel IMPOSSIBLE!

It may seem too high and lofty… it may feel like a pipe dream...

And in our own limited capacity it is…

But we are no longer limited by our own capacity… we are the church who is IN CHRIST JESUS.

And so we aim our eyes on HIM… on HIS ABILITY to do FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY than all we ask or think!

We rely on HIS POWER that is at work within us.

You see...

God IS GRANTING that his Spirit strengthen us with power in our inner being...

He IS GRANTING that Christ dwell in our hearts through faith...

He IS CAUSING his love to flow through us...

He IS ABLE to make us comprehend...

He IS WILLING to take us into a deeper knowledge of Christ’s love...

He IS EAGER to fill us with all of his fullness...

…because THAT is what brings him much glory.

And so we look to him… to do what only he can do… because that’s when he receives MUCH GLORY… that’s when he gets all the credit.

We see in verse 21 that God is primarily working out his plan for his glory in two inter-related spheres… in the church… and in Christ Jesus.

We said last week that God is revealing the wisdom of his plan to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places… and the church is the TROPHY CASE of that wisdom.

That’s because the CHURCH is the result of his work IN CHRIST JESUS...

The Church herself is IN CHRIST JESUS… united to him in his death and resurrection...

Seated in him in the heavenly places...

Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

The Church is the outworking of God’s glory demonstrated in Christ Jesus.

And as the church, we will demonstrate the glory of God’s work in Christ from generation to generation… forever and ever… because the life he gives is ETERNAL.

We will stand as a testimony to Christ’s power and victory throughout all eternity...

...because those who were dead are now alive…

...those who were hostile enemies are now united in his love.

His glory must be our highest aim… and when it is, we will experience more and more of our fullness.

These two verses are the THEME verses for our whole series...

And that’s because they show both the aim of the church pursuing… and the ability to get there… it’s all about God working according to the riches of his glory to bring himself the most glory.

What God wants to do in the church is beyond imagination because his glory is beyond imagination.

A number of weeks ago, I asked this question: What is the best thing you could imagine God doing in our church? Would it be...

…celebration gatherings where Jesus is proclaimed and adored as our highest aspiration?

…Gospel Communities who are devoted to one another and genuinely helping one another grow to maturity in Christ?

…disciples who are equipped and using their God-given spiritual gifts to edify the church and evangelize the lost?

…masses of lost people turning from their sins and trusting Jesus as their Savior and Lord?

These are some of the highest tangible things that we could ask or imagine for our church.

But what if we believed that God actually wanted even more than this for his church?

What if we really believed that God is willing and "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us...”

Adore:

Bow before the Father (physically if possible). Tell him why he is better and different than any other father, and recount some ways that his family (the church) is unique.

Align:

Recognize your need for the Lord to give you a greater capacity and hunger for your the Holy Spirit's empowerment. Confess any ways you have settled for a smaller view of God in his church.

Ask:

Ask the Lord for the fullness of his glory and love to increasingly fill our church. Ask him to reveal his glory and love through the church.

Acknowledge:

Acknowledge before the Lord that he is able to do far more than we ask or think for the sake of his glory.