Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer from Ephesians 3:14 to 20 is a beautiful and biblical prayer, and it is good that you are asking God for these very things. He hears this kind of prayer because it asks for what He desires to give.
You are asking to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner person. This is where you need strength the most. The enemy is strong and temptation is real, and none of us has the strength in ourselves to stand. God strengthens you according to the riches of His glory, not according to your own ability. The word for power there speaks of the same mighty power that raised Christ and that enables you to be a witness for Him. It is the Holy Spirit working inside you that gives you power to live a victorious life and to put to death the deeds of the flesh. You cannot do that by your own will, but by the Spirit you can.
You are asking that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. That word for dwell means to settle down and make Himself at home, to be comfortable there. When you first came to Jesus, the Holy Spirit was with you drawing you and showing you your need for Christ. When you received Him, the Spirit came to live in you and your body became His temple. Now the prayer is that Jesus would be fully at home in every room of your heart, as you trust Him day by day.
You are asking to be rooted and grounded in love and to know the dimensions of the love of Christ. This love is not something you can manufacture or work up on your own. Before Christ your spirit was dead, and this kind of love, agape love, is only known in the realm of the Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit in your life. The true evidence that the Spirit of God is abiding in you is not any outward display, but love. God is love, and when His Spirit dwells in you His love is perfected in you. It shows itself in a genuine love for God and for His people, an unfeigned love with a pure heart. As you dwell in God and He dwells in you, that love is made mature. His love for you is so wide and long and deep and high that it passes knowledge, and yet the Spirit helps you to comprehend it more and more. You come to see how He who was in the form of God humbled Himself and became obedient even to the death of the cross because of love for you.
You are asking to be filled with all the fullness of God. This is the result of the Spirit's strengthening, of Christ being at home in you, and of being rooted in love. God does not fill you from without only, He fills you from within as you walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. If the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, you belong to Him, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set you free from the law of sin and death, and He writes His law on your heart so that your desires are directed by Him.
God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think, according to the power that is already working in you. That power is the Holy Spirit Himself. So keep asking, keep trusting, and keep walking in step with the Spirit. Do not grieve Him by holding on to bitterness, anger, or unkind speech, but let Him build you up and conform you to the image of Jesus. As you do, you will know more deeply that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ, and His joy and peace will keep your life in close communion with Him.
May the Father grant you this prayer fully, for His glory in Christ Jesus.
You are asking to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner person. This is where you need strength the most. The enemy is strong and temptation is real, and none of us has the strength in ourselves to stand. God strengthens you according to the riches of His glory, not according to your own ability. The word for power there speaks of the same mighty power that raised Christ and that enables you to be a witness for Him. It is the Holy Spirit working inside you that gives you power to live a victorious life and to put to death the deeds of the flesh. You cannot do that by your own will, but by the Spirit you can.
You are asking that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. That word for dwell means to settle down and make Himself at home, to be comfortable there. When you first came to Jesus, the Holy Spirit was with you drawing you and showing you your need for Christ. When you received Him, the Spirit came to live in you and your body became His temple. Now the prayer is that Jesus would be fully at home in every room of your heart, as you trust Him day by day.
You are asking to be rooted and grounded in love and to know the dimensions of the love of Christ. This love is not something you can manufacture or work up on your own. Before Christ your spirit was dead, and this kind of love, agape love, is only known in the realm of the Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit in your life. The true evidence that the Spirit of God is abiding in you is not any outward display, but love. God is love, and when His Spirit dwells in you His love is perfected in you. It shows itself in a genuine love for God and for His people, an unfeigned love with a pure heart. As you dwell in God and He dwells in you, that love is made mature. His love for you is so wide and long and deep and high that it passes knowledge, and yet the Spirit helps you to comprehend it more and more. You come to see how He who was in the form of God humbled Himself and became obedient even to the death of the cross because of love for you.
You are asking to be filled with all the fullness of God. This is the result of the Spirit's strengthening, of Christ being at home in you, and of being rooted in love. God does not fill you from without only, He fills you from within as you walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. If the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, you belong to Him, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set you free from the law of sin and death, and He writes His law on your heart so that your desires are directed by Him.
God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think, according to the power that is already working in you. That power is the Holy Spirit Himself. So keep asking, keep trusting, and keep walking in step with the Spirit. Do not grieve Him by holding on to bitterness, anger, or unkind speech, but let Him build you up and conform you to the image of Jesus. As you do, you will know more deeply that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ, and His joy and peace will keep your life in close communion with Him.
May the Father grant you this prayer fully, for His glory in Christ Jesus.
