This prayer lifted before the throne is among the richest in all Scripture, and it opens with a posture most blessed, bowing the knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging that the whole family in heaven and earth is named by Him. There is no family but that which gathers under the paternal roof of God, and none can rightly claim a place there save through union with His Son. See how the apostle piles petition upon petition, craving that the saints might be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. This is the very core of need, for the outer man decays, but the inner man must be renewed day by day. What power is this? Not a spasm of excitement, but a deep, abiding might wrought by the Holy Ghost in the secret chambers of the soul. It is a strength for endurance, for holy living, for wrestling with iniquity, and for pressing on toward the mark. Without this, we are as weak as water.
And why this strengthening? That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Mark that word, dwell. He does not visit as a wayfaring man turning aside for a night, but He takes up perpetual residence. Faith becomes the door, the root, the channel by which the King of Glory enters in and makes the heart His pavilion, paved with love in the midst of it. The chariot of the text in the Song is lined with love, unseen from without, known fully only to the King and to the soul in which He rides. Even when the outside is beset with trials and buffetings, within there is love; yes, love in the very heart of grief, love in the furnace, love in the valley of death. This is the mystery, that Christ dwells richly where the eye of sense can trace no token, and the heart knows a calm which outward turmoil cannot disturb.
Let us never be content with a mere intellectual grasp of this love, for the prayer presses further, that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints the breadth, length, depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. Here is a seeming contradiction divine. A love known, yet passing knowledge; comprehended, yet infinite. A child may carry the ocean in a shell, but the vast deeps remain unsounded. So it is with the love of Jesus: to know it is to be swallowed up in it, to lose all measurement in its immensity. It is as broad as the multitude of sins it covers, as long as the eternity it secures, as deep as the misery from which it rescues, as high as the throne to which it lifts. Do you ask whether you may apprehend this? Come to the Cross. There every dimension is displayed. The love that brought Him from heaven, that held Him to the tree, that made Him bear the mass of iniquity and its crushing penalty, this is love that can never be exhausted, never diminished. All fullness dwells in Him, and from that fullness we receive grace upon grace.
Yet some will say, “I cannot feel it; I cannot see a trace of love in my present sorrow.” Beloved, look again. The chariot is paved with love within. It is not plated on the outside for the world’s gaze, but lined within for the comfort of the passenger. The very trial that seems severity is sent in love; the darkness is the shadow of His wing. Unbelief is blind and cries out, but faith sees the love-glints even in the midnight hour. Has He not loved you with an everlasting love? Has He not drawn you with cords of kindness? Did He not turn the heart of stone into a heart of flesh? That is love’s doing. And the same love that effectually called you will never let you go; it must burn on forever.
Consider, too, that it is possible to be an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ, and yet to act as if we had never heard of Him. Coldness, ingratitude, and a wandering heart are the scourges of the saints. But the remedy is not to flee from Him, but to fly to Him. The love of Christ is not stirred by our merit but by our misery. Return then, and let your very contrition be the token of your love. He is more charmed by the penitent tear of His little ones than by the formal offerings of a hundred self-righteous souls. Refresh Him with your contrition; let the feet of the Man of Sorrows be washed with your tears, and wipe them with the hairs of your head in self-denying service.
And what is the goal of all this? That we might be filled with all the fullness of God. Oh, the daring of faith! To be filled with God, what a destiny for dust and ashes! This does not mean we become gods, but that the fullness of the Godhead, as it dwells in Christ, flows into every faculty and fills it to its utmost capacity. Nothing short of this will satisfy the divine hunger He has planted within. Partake, then, of Christ without stint. Do not restrict yourself as though you could go too far in feeding upon Him. Dread not excitements of true fellowship with Jesus; do not fear being too happy in the Lord, or having too much assurance, or loving too ardently! The intercommunion is complete, He sups with us, and we with Him. Our joy makes Him glad; He rests in His love, He joys over us with singing.
This praying is on a scale immeasurable, yet the apostle will not conclude without ascribing glory. He points us to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. The power already working within, the strength of the Spirit in the inner man, is the pledge and measure of all future outdoing. He will surpass prayer and conception both. That is a sweet word for a timorous heart: He can do beyond what you are able to frame into a petition or conceive in your most large-hearted thought. Let faith, therefore, quit her cramped quarters and launch out into the deeps of divine sufficiency.
And to whom does the glory belong? To Him, in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, world without end. Amen. The love that has no bound must have an endless song. We see but the hem of His garment now; we shall soon see Him as He is. Till then, grow in grace, but keep to the Cross. Cling to the love of God in Christ Jesus. It surrounds you always; it is the air the renewed spirit breathes. You sleep in it, you wake in it. Wherever your lot is cast, love encircles you. Let the sweet bonds draw you nearer, and let your love to Him be more than a duty, let it be the pulse of your heart, the most natural and constant expression of a life hidden with Christ in God. We love Him because He first loved us. To the glory of His grace, amen and amen.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
