To Be Strengthened with Power

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 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.

“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.” (Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV)

Now Paul here (vv. 1-13) was addressing his remarks specifically to the Gentile (non-Jew) Christians in Ephesus. And he was letting them know that they were now fellow heirs of the promise that God gave to Abraham and to his seed, members of the same body as all Jews who believed in Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Lord. We who are Gentiles by physical birth are of the same body as all Jews who believe in Jesus Christ, which is the body of Christ, which is God’s holy people, his holy nation, his chosen ones.

Now in all of Paul’s writings he made clear what was the message of the gospel of Christ and what it means to believe in Jesus. And he taught that by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to obey its desires, for if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, but if we obey obedience to God, its end is eternal life with Christ.

[Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Titus 2:11-14]

Paul reiterated that gospel message all throughout his writings to the churches because that message needed to be continually reinforced. Why? Because people are human, and we still live in flesh bodies, and we as humans may get deceived by liars, and/or we may get distracted by the trappings of this world, and/or we may be in danger of falling away from our pure devotion to the Lord. So we need reminders that faith in the Lord that is saving faith dies to sin daily and walks in practice in obedience to God.

But Paul’s concern was not just for the salvation of human lives but for the spiritual growth and maturity of those who are walking by faith in the Lord in walks of obedience to the Lord in holy living. And so he prayed for them often, and he made it his goal to encourage them in their walks of faith, which sometimes involved a strong encouragement (exhortation, rebuke). And so here his encouragement was that the Gentile Christians might be strengthened with power through the Spirit in their inner beings.

And the reason for this encouragement, and for his prayer to God, was that the Gentile Christians might have Christ dwelling in their hearts through faith in order that, being rooted and grounded in the love of God, they might have strength to comprehend (understand) with all the saints (true followers of Christ) what is the vastness of God’s love for them, and that they might know that love of God intimately in their lives and in their practices – a love which surpasses human knowledge, that they might be filled up with God.

But this love of God is not a free pass into heaven based on human emotions and lip service only to the Lord Jesus. This is the love that sent Jesus Christ to the cross to die for our sins so that we might now die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, by the grace of God, in the power of God. And this love requires this death to sin and these walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands for us to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God, for that is the purpose for why Jesus died on that cross.

So if we are to be strengthened with power through God’s Spirit in our inner beings, it is for the purpose that we will live holy lives, pleasing to God, that we will deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in daily practice. For this is the will of God for our lives. This is why Jesus died on that cross and was resurrected from the dead. And that is that we might put sin to death in our lives, by the Spirit, and now walk in faithful surrender to our Lord according to his will and purpose for our lives.

But not one of us can do any of this in our own power and strength and wisdom. We are only able to live like this in the power and working of God’s Spirit now living within us giving us strength and wisdom and understanding to know the will of God for our lives and to do his will. And this way all the glory goes to God, and not to ourselves, for any ways in which God changes us and uses us for his purposes and for his glory, and in the lives of other human beings. And I attest to this truth in my own life and work for God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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