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Ephesians 3:16-17 - Experiencing the Love of Christ and the Fullness of God.Ephesians 3:16-17 (NIV) 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,Ephesians 3:16-17 (AMP) May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]. 17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, INTRODUCTION God's love is total, says Paul. It reaches every corner of our experience. God's love is wide - it covers the breadth of our own experience, and it reaches out to the whole world. God's love is long - it extends throughout our lives and into eternity. God's love is high - it rises to the heights of our celebration and elation. God's love is deep - it reaches to the depths of discouragement, despair, and even death. When you feel shut out or isolated, remember that you can never be lost to God's love. (For more of Paul's reflection on God's immeasurable and inexhaustible love, see his words in Romans 8: 38-39.) God's love finds complete expression only in Christ (Colossians 2: 9-10). In union with Christ and through his empowering Spirit, we are complete. In Christ we lack nothing, have nothing to lose, and have nothing to fear. We have all the fullness of God available to us. But we must claim that fullness by living in touch with the Holy Spirit through faith and prayer each day. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians is also for you. You can ask the Holy Spirit to fill every aspect of your life to the fullest and know that he will answer. [Life Application SB 2019] COMMENTARY PEARL At The End Of Your Rope When life feels overwhelming and out of control, we're prone to bear down and turn inward. We try to muscle through whatever obstacle is in front of us. We grab on to whatever we think we can control, believing the lie that our own might and self-sufficiency will save us. When you're at the end of your rope, you are supposed to turn inward. Not to your own strength but instead to the Spirit that God placed in you - the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is who empowers, encourages, and helps you endure any and every hardship. When you turn to the Spirit of God in you, you can let go of the things you are clutching so tightly in your hands. You can breathe in the miracle of grace that triumphs over all forms of self-striving. You can let God carry your burdens. He can handle everything that is weighing you down. When you let God be your source of strength, He will sustain you and show you His gentle and tender grace. Dear Lord, I unclench my fists today and surrender what I've held to so tightly. Thank You for Your grace that lives in me. [Grace and Glory by Louie Giglio] COMMENTARY Truth in Christ and through Christ is measureless. The student of Scripture looks, as it were, into a fountain that deepens and broadens as he gazes into its depths. Not in this life shall we comprehend the mystery of God's love in giving His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The work of our Redeemer on this earth is and ever will be a subject that will put to the stretch our highest imagination. Man may tax every mental power in the endeavor to fathom this mystery, but his mind will become faint and weary. The most diligent searcher will see before him a boundless, shoreless sea. The truth as it is in Jesus can be experienced, but never explained. Its height and breadth and depth pass our knowledge. We may task our imagination to the utmost, and then we shall see only dimply the outlines of a love that is unexplainable, that is as high as heaven, but that stooped to the earth to stamp the image of God on all mankind. Yet it is possible for us to see all that we can bear of the divine compassion. This is unfolded to the humble, contrite soul. We shall understand God's compassion just in proportion as we appreciate His sacrifice for us. As we search the word of God in humility of heart, the grand theme of redemption will open to our research. It will increase in brightness as we behold it, and as we aspire to grasp it, its height and depth will ever increase. Our life is to be bound up with the life of Christ; we are to draw constantly from Him, partaking of Him, the living Bread that came down from heaven, drawing from a fountain ever fresh, ever giving forth its abundant treasures. If we keep the Lord ever before us, allowing our hearts to go out in thanksgiving and praise to Him, we shall have a continual freshness in our religious life. Our prayers will take the form of a conversation with God as we would talk with a friend. He will speak His mysteries to us personally. Often there will come to us a sweet joyful sense of the presence of Jesus. Often our hearts will burn within us as He draws nigh to commune with us as He did with Enoch. When this is in truth the experience of the Christian, there is seen in his life a simplicity, a humility, meekness, and lowliness of heart, that show to all with whom he associates that he has been with Jesus and learned of Him. COL128-130 ONE LINER To know (have a relationship with) God is to love Him; DA 22 LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY Ephesians 3:19: Experiencing the Love of Christ and the Fullness of God. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20240618-0958.html https://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20230802-1029.html http://www.abible.com/devotions/2022/20221010-0845.html http://www.abible.com/devotions/2019/20191212-0906.html Romans 8:38, 39 - Omnipotent Love. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20241104-1426.html LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT https://abible.com/links/ |