24
The Appeal of Prayer
Eph. 3:16‑19
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
It’s hard to know how to start addressing such a sublime passage as this. In the opening words of his message on verse 16, that great 19th Century expositor Alexander MacClaren stated:
In no part of Paul’s letters does he rise to a higher level than in his prayers, and none of his prayers are fuller of fervour than this wonderful series of petitions. They open out one into the other like some majestic suite of apartments in a great palace-temple, each leading into a loftier and more spacious hall, each drawing nearer the presence-chamber, until at last we stand there. [1]
Indeed, no other prayer of Paul rises higher in content than this one. In fact, this prayer is one of the highest mountain peaks in all Scripture.
As we’ve observed before, may we note again that Paul is concerned with the spiritual, not the material. This is, in fact, an underlying principle of Paul’s life. Before we deal with what he did pray for, let us consider what he did not pray for. First, Paul didn’t pray for himself. He didn’t ask for a change in his circumstances, nor did he ask for any physical thing for himself. Second, Paul did not pray some “general prayer” for other believers. We see today many “generic prayers.” We hear a lot of prayers like, “Lord, bless all the missionaries,” or, “Lord, bless everyone in our church.” In contrast, Paul prayed for specific spiritual realities in the lives of God’s people. Third, as we’ve said before, Paul didn’t even pray for material things for others, rather spiritual things. Oh, how often our prayers are filled to overflowing with material petitions when they are of secondary importance! Again, we can and should pray for material needs, but these are secondary. Moreover, even when we do pray for such things, the final result should be some spiritual reality, a spiritual end. A physical need should never be the end in itself. The end, the ultimate goal, should be a spiritual one.
Now let us now turn to what Paul did pray for. A truly amazing truth here is that Paul’s four petitions progressively build upon one another. We could present them this way:
· Paul prays that they would be strengthened by the Spirit, so that
· Christ may indwell by faith, so that
· They may comprehend Christ’s love, so that
· They may be filled with the fullness of God.
What a truth this is! We shall come back to this fact over and over in our study. As Alexander MaClaren again puts it: “Each [petition] is the cause of the following and the result of the preceding.”[2] Like Paul, these are the petitions pastors should be praying for their people.
I. Strengthened By the Spirit (v. 16)
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
May that really sink into our minds! What a thing to pray for! We recall that the first prayer in Ephesians (1:15‑23) was for enlightenment, while this second prayer is for enablement. Therefore, the first thing that enables us is the Holy Spirit giving strength. Let us meditate on four principles in this verse.
The Substance of Strength
The substance of our strength is in our being strengthened with might. Often preachers talk about “power for living,” but this power often goes undefined. When we speak of strength and power, what exactly do we mean? Men usually think of strength in the physical sense, but the strength spoken of here is spiritual.
The Greek for might is dunamis, the word from which is derived English words such as “dynamic.” One Greek authority explains that this was an interesting concept in ancient Greek. The word dunamis described a cosmic principle, the natural force that controls and governs the cosmos. Humans were outside this force and could only attain it through the mystery religions.[3] But the basic meaning of this word in the New Testament is “inherent ability, ability to perform anything.” We could also define the word as “that which overcomes resistance.” This dunamis can overcome any resistance, overcome any obstacle, perform any task. Man claims to have the ability to do anything, but God’s Word reveals that he falls far short of such ability.
So, the substance of strength is that God has given us might, a power and ability to perform anything that He desires of us. In other words, God does not call upon us to do anything that He doesn’t first empower us to so. This does not mean that we have power to do anything we want to do because Christ is in us. Many pervert verses such as Philippians 4:13 to teach this. Rather, all that God commands us to do we can do through Christ and His indwelling Spirit. In short, this power is the ability to do anything God wants us to do. For example, many Christians say, “Oh, I can’t be a witness; I’m just not qualified.” But God says that we are witnesses (Acts 1:8) and that we can be effective witnesses because He has given us the power and ability. To say anything different is to call God a liar. Oh, may we claim the power God has provided!
The Sphere of Strength
The sphere of our strength is in the inner man. Here is a vitally important and exciting principle. Who is the recipient of this strength? Yes, each of us is the recipient, but there is a deeper principle here. What part of us is the recipient?—the inner man. The world today concentrates on the outer man; it is obsessed with physical form, fashion, and fitness. But no matter what we do, the outer man grows weaker with age and is in a constant process of decay. The inner man, however, is designed to be continually growing stronger with power from the Holy Spirit. How tragic that the inner man in many Christians is not growing. How tragic that the inner man in many Christians is stagnant or “deformed” in its growth.
To better understand this inner man, let us point out that the Greeks understood three things about it. As we do so, we’ll see that there is another name for the inner man—personality.
First, the inner man spoke of man’s reason, his intellect. The first and foremost place in which the Holy Spirit wants to work is in our mind, our intellect. In contrast, even in man’s rationalism today he is, in the final analysis, controlled by his passions and desires. This has spilled over into the Church. One of the greatest tragedies among many Christians today is that they are controlled by their emotions. They seek some kind of “emotional high” and live their lives by how they feel.
But God doesn’t do His greatest work in the emotions? Why? Because they are so fickle, changing from moment to moment. Rather God does His greatest work in the mind, in the intellect. He wants to govern our minds so our minds will govern our passions. How then does the Spirit work in the mind? There is only one way—THE WORD OF GOD. It is the only thing that will “renew the mind” (Rom. 12:2). Feeding on the Word of God is the only thing that will bring growth of the mind. The mind only grows when facts are put into it, and the facts we place in our minds should be from the Word. If we expect to live by Truth, we must first put in Truth.
Second, the inner man spoke of the conscience or emotions. Never are we to be governed by our emotions or even our conscience. The old adage, “Let your conscience be your guide,” is wrong. Why? Because man’s “conscience” has been “seared with a hot iron” (I Tim. 4:2). Man’s conscience has been so burned and scarred by sin that he no longer feels quilt. Someone who, therefore, allows their conscience to be their guide can easily become anything from a petty thief to a serial killer. So it is the intellect, guided by the Word of God, that must be our guide. How, then, do our emotions fit in? The Holy Spirit also works in the emotions to make us more tender and sensitive to spiritual truth and spiritual responsibility. While intellect provides black and white, emotions add the color.
Third, the inner man spoke of the will. Human will is desperately weak! Often we know what is right, but our will is too weak to do it. But the Spirit of God strengthens the will. He empowers us to do right and refrain from doing wrong. Many Christians make the mistake of “trying hard to live holy” and “trying hard to have victory over the flesh.” But they fail miserably because they are relying on “will power” instead of “Spirit power.” When we try only by will power to quit that certain habit, action, attitude, or speech, we will fail. However willing our spirit is, the flesh is still weak (Matt. 26:41). Only through the Holy Spirit can we have victory.
When we put all three of these things together—intellect, emotion, and will—we truly see a transformed personality. That is the sphere of strength.
The Source of Strength
The source of our strength is His Spirit. This too we have seen already, but let us go still deeper. Back in Ephesians 2:1‑3 we saw that the inner man of the lost sinner is depraved and dead. We also know that the Holy Spirit has regenerated us, May we also see, however, that the Spirit renews us spiritually in spite of the decay of the body. What a marvelous passage we find in II Corinthians 4:16‑18:
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
How thrilling! Even though the outward is decaying (and many of us are acutely aware of this every morning), the inner man is growing day by day.
Oh, but there is still more! Not only does the Spirit strengthen us for growth, He also strengthens us for service. Acts 1:8 declares: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” This very thought takes us back to our study of Ephesians 2:10. God is working in us so that He can work through us.
So what we are really talking about here is what is called “spirituality.” Many people use this term without a clue as to what it means. We hear such statements as, “I don’t consider myself to be religious, but I feel I am spiritual.” But what does “spirituality” mean? Paul told the Corinthian believers, who were anything but spiritual, “He that is spiritual judgeth all things” (I Cor. 2:15). The Greek behind “spiritual” is pneumatikos, which means “non-carnal”[4] or “dominated by the Spirit, in contrast to [the] natural.”[5] To really be spiritual, then, means that we are characterized not by our natural instincts but by the Holy Spirit. Those who say such things as the above, therefore, are not spiritual at all because they are not dominated by the Holy Spirit but by their own opinions.
This is why Paul further says, “He that is spiritual judgeth all things.” Here is crucial principle. “Judgeth” is the same word translated “discerned” in the previous verse: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The Greek for “discerned” (anakrino) means “to investigate, examine, enquire into, scrutinize, sift, and question.” To discern something means that we don’t say, “Well, as long as that Bible teacher talks about God or Jesus, then he’s okay.” True spirituality means that we examine everything, that we investigate, question, and scrutinize what is being taught and practiced, not from the perspective of the flesh, natural inclination, or personal opinion, but by the domination of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. Most people are, just like the Corinthians, anything but spiritual; they are, in fact, the very opposite, looking at everything from their perspective not God’s. The truly spiritual person does not accept everything that comes along; rather he or she first examines it Biblically to see if it’s right or wrong.
The Scale of Strength
The scale, the measuring rod, of our strength is according to the riches of His glory. How thrilling this principle is! How is the strength God gives us measured? It is measured according to the riches of His glory. We dealt with a similar statement back in Ephesians 1:7. The key words are according to. The Greek is not ek, which means “out of,” but kata, which means “down” and, therefore, shows “dominion.” So, God has not given “out of His riches” but “according to,” that is, “dominated by” or “in proportion to” His riches. As we illustrated back in 1:7 (Chapter 4), the story is told of John D. Rockefeller that whenever he played golf in Florida, he gave his caddy a dime. He didn’t give according to his riches but “out of” his riches.[6] Likewise, if our particular local church had a multi‑millionaire in its ranks who gave twenty‑five dollars a week to the ministry of our church, he would be giving “out of” his wealth. But if he gave two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, he would be giving according to his wealth. In other words, he would be using his wealth to make others rich. This is what God has done, but on a much grander scale.
Now, putting Ephesians 1:7 with our present text, we see a beautiful contrast: Not only are these riches POSTITIONAL, but they are also PRACTICAL. How foolish are those Christians who say, “I don’t want doctrine; I want something practical,” for we cannot have right practice without right doctrine. Let us put that statement to the test.
There are many truths in Ephesians 1 and 2 that are positional and doctrinal; they are things that God has done: He has chosen us before the foundation of the world (1:4), redeemed us through Christ’s blood (1:7), made known to us the mystery of His will (1:9), given us an inheritance with Christ (l:11), saved us by grace from our depravity (2:1‑5), reconciled us to Himself (2:16), and many others. But still some say, “Oh, that’s just doctrine; it’s not practical.” On the contrary, these truths are most practical. It is actually these riches, and the understanding of these riches, that give us power for living and witness. Paul is not praying for God to give us these riches because we already have them. Rather, he is praying that we will realize we have them, that we will understand them, and that we will use them.
For example, how can we ever doubt our security in Christ
when we know that we have been chosen in Him before the foundation of the
world? How is that not practical? How is it not practical to know that our
salvation is based not on our works but on the finished redemptive work of
Christ? How is not practical to know God’s will, to know what He is doing in
the world? How is it not practical to know that earthly riches mean nothing
because an eternal inheritance awaits us? And on it goes. Indeed, as Martin
Lloyd-Jones writes, “The most
foolish of all Christians are those who dislike doctrine, and decry the
importance of Theology and teaching. Does not that explain why they fail in
practice?”[7] Much church ministry today is
based on entertainment, that which appeals to the flesh, instead of what people
really need—doctrine that leads to practice.
Oh, how can we possibly know all this and not feel dynamic? How can we possibly wallow in our weakness, ignorance, and unfaithfulness when we know that the Spirit is in us giving strength? How marvelous to be strengthened by the Spirit! Dear Christian, are you claiming that power?
II. Christ Might Indwell Our Hearts by Faith (v. 17)
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Flowing from the first petition is this second request. Paul prays that Christ may indwell in [our] hearts by faith. A fact that is hard to accept, but one we must realize, is that the average Christian today grows very little in spiritual depth. A massive number of Christians do not get enough of the Word of God to produce any depth. They stay always on the surface and never plunge into the depths of God’s Word. Sometimes this is caused by pastors who do not adequately feed God’s people, and sometimes it is caused by Christians who just do not concentrate on the Word that is given. How imperative spiritual depth is! Paul gives three pictures in verse 17 that show us what spiritual depth is and how we can have it.
“Dwell”
Paul is not speaking of the indwelling Holy Spirit Who enters at conversion. The Holy Spirit already indwelt the Ephesians, as is proven by Paul’s use of the word “saints” in 1:1. The Holy Spirit enters at the moment of salvation (Rom. 8:9, 11, 23; I Cor. 6:19; I Jn. 4:13). Neither is Paul referring to Christ’s indwelling that also occurs at conversion (II Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27).
The key to understanding Paul’s words lies in the Greek for dwell, which is katoikeō, a compound word: kata, “down,” and oikeō, “to inhabit a house.” Within the present context, however, the word is intensified. It doesn’t just mean that Christ is in the house of our hearts, but that He is at home there. As Kenneth Wuest translates: “That Christ might finally settle down and feel completely at home in your hearts.”
May this prompt each of us to ask, “Is the Lord Jesus part of my household or just a visitor?” Several years ago there was a popular plaque that decorated many Christian homes and perhaps still does. It read: “Christ is the Head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal, the Silent Listener to every conversation.” That is a nice sentiment, but He should be more than just a guest. Our Savior is a part of the family.
To illustrate this principle, my wife and I traveled for about four years in a music and preaching ministry. We stayed in many Christian homes, and my next words are in no way meant to be negative. But when people have guests, they do things differently than when there is just family around. The lady of the house will cook, clean, cater, and make sure everything is just “so‑so.” In our experience, however, regardless of how “homey” the host and hostess tried make things, we were still visitors, not family. Again, my intention is not to be negative, but a guest is a guest and family is family. We even had one dear couple say, “If you want to raid the refrigerator in the middle of the night, feel free,” but we were still visitors and would move on a few days. In contrast, the Lord Jesus is family. Do we make Him feel welcome? Some Christians “put on the dog” when the pastor comes over to their house since they consider him to be “God’s representative.” How ridiculous! Our lives and our homes should not be any different at such times because Jesus Himself is part of the family.
Now comes the question, How do we make our Savior feel at home? Our text gives the answer—by faith. Only when we trust Him and lean upon Him can He be at home. When we are living like the world, holding on to the same values and attitudes, the Lord cannot feel at home in our hearts. If we are trusting in “self” instead of Him, He feels like He is merely a visitor whose presence we only tolerate.
Old Testament incidents quite often illustrate New Testament truths. Our present thought is illustrated in two incidents involving Abraham and Lot (Gen. 18 and 19). Recall first that when the preincarnate Lord came with two angels to visit Abraham and Sarah, He felt very much at home. He talked with them and even sat down and ate a meal with them. All this was because Abraham was a man of faith and obedience. In contrast, however, the Lord did not go with the two angels to warn Lot of the coming destruction of Sodom. Why? Because even though Lot was a believer, he wasn’t living by faith. Therefore, the Lord did not feel at home in Lot’s place of residence. Moreover, how could the Lord have felt at home in an abominably wicked place like Sodom? May we each ask ourselves, “Is the Lord really at home in myheart?
“Rooted”
Paul’s second picture is that of a tree. The third picture, which we will see later, is that of a building. We mention it here because there are many similarities between a tree and a building: both have firmness, durability, and a certain degree of permanence. But there is also one major difference: while a building is strong and durable, and can withstand great stress, a tree is alive; it can grow. So, the picture Paul is giving here is that a Christian grows because he is rooted like a tree.
This brings us to the question, In what is the Christian to be rooted? Here is an amazing truth! A tree, of course, is rooted in the soil. It is from the soil that it receives water and nutrients. The roots go deep so the tree cannot easily be uprooted and therefore destroyed. The parallel is that love is the soil in which we are deeply rooted. Therefore, our spiritual nutrition, all that builds us up and makes us strong, comes from the soil of the love of Christ. Perhaps you are thinking, “But I thought the Word of God is where we get our spiritual food.” Yes, but while the Word of God is the seed, love is the soil. The Word of God is placed in the soil of the love of Christ; the two are inseparable. Ponder it this way: How can we grow in the Word if we do not love the Word? Many today say they “love Jesus,” but they don’t love His Word. What a staggering contradiction! If we don’t love the Word of God and want to grow through It, we do not love the Lord Jesus, because it was He who was the Word who became flesh (Jn. 1:14).
As I am preaching through Ephesians, I am also in the preliminary stages of preparing an exposition of Psalm 119, David’s absolutely fascinating Psalm on the Word of God, born out of his love for It. Of its 176 verses, all but two mention the Word of God using one of eight synonyms. David mentions four out of the eight when writing of his love for Scripture: “O how love I thy law!” (v. 97); “I love thy testimonies” (v. 119); “I love thy commandments above gold” (v. 127); and “I love thy precepts” (v. 159). Why are Christians today shallow? Why is church ministry geared toward entertainment? Because people don’t love Scripture. Scripture alone is not enough to keep them coming back. Such people simply do not love the Lord.
So, before we can grow in the Word, we must love the Word. But now we must ask, How can we love it? By being rooted in the love of Christ. What is the love of Christ? As we have seen often, love is the Greek agapē , “a self‑emptying self‑sacrifice.” So, the love of Christ is a selflessness that allows Christ full control over the life. This will then produce a love for the Word because we are no longer conscious of our own opinions and ideas. This w111 also produce a love for others because we are no longer conscious of our own needs feelings. Alexander Maclaren summed it up beautifully:
Where Christ abides in a man’s heart, love will be the very soil in which his life will be rooted and grow. That love will be the motive of all service; it will underlie, as its productive cause, all fruitfulness. All goodness and all beauty will be its fruit. The whole life will be as a tree planted in this rich soil. And so the life will grow not by effort only, but as by an inherent power drawing its nourishment from the soil. This is blessedness. It is heaven upon earth that love should be the soil in which our obedience is rooted, and from which we draw all the nutriment that turns to flowers and fruit.[8]
“Grounded”
“Mixed metaphors” are different metaphors that are used to express the same concept. We’ve all heard or read them. I ran across these doozies, each of which various people actually uttered, no doubt to their eventual embarrassment:
· Once you open a can of worms, they always come home to roost.
· Clearly we’ve opened a Pandora’s box of worms here.
· He’s been burning the midnight oil at both ends.
· He’s one brick short of the whole nine yards.
· I’m sweating like a stuck pig.
·
It’s as American as killing two birds with one apple
pie.
Those absurd examples are what are called “impermissible mixed metaphors,” metaphors that conflict because they serve different purposes. Another less humorous example is, “We can now follow the path of the core of the argument.”
There are, however, “permissible mixed metaphors,” which do not conflict with each other because they serve the same purpose and exhibit a correlation with each other. One example is, “If we keep going the way we're going, we’ll fit all the facts in.”
Oddly, one commentator slips up badly by writing, “No one seems to have warned the apostle Paul about mixed metaphors, because he uses one here.” I for one can’t accept that because Paul was not only highly educated, but also writes under inspiration. Such a comment, then, actually reflects on the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s statement rooted and grounded in love is simply an example of a permissible mixed metaphor. Yes, “the first metaphor is botanical and the second is architectural,” as the same commentator points out, but they both serve the same purpose and exhibit a correlation with each other. Their common purpose is to picture spiritual depth and they correlate because they are both in the soil of love of Christ. In other words, not only are we to be rooted in our love for Christ, but we are also to be grounded in our love of Christ. Again, the metaphors have the same purpose and are corollaries. Here’s the corollary:
· A Tree ‑ stable and productive in the soil
· A Building ‑ sturdy and permanent in the soil
Now, the most important part of a building is, of course, the foundation. Any building will only be as sturdy as its foundation. An expression in the construction world is, “If you don’t go deep, you can’t go high.” I saw this first hand many years ago as I worked on big construction sites in the building trades.
A vivid example of this, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones, points out, is the difference in the height of buildings allowed in New York City and Los Angeles. Manhattan Island is more or less solid rock, which permits the buildings to go high. This is not permitted in Los Angeles, however, because of the more unstable soil.[9]
So, the picture Paul gives here is that the Christian is to have a deep foundation. Why? Because if we don’t go deep, we can’t go high. As the Lord Jesus Himself taught, It’s the wise man who “built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock” (Lk. 6:48). If we are not firmly and deeply grounded in the things of God, then whatever we then build will soon crumble. And once again, the foundation is the love of Christ and His Word.
There is a marvelous illustration of this in Luke’s account of the Sermon On The Mount (Lk. 6:46‑49). We find there the parable of the two builders. One built his house on sand while the other built on rock. Most people today build the foundation of their lives on the sand of human philosophy, opinion, and most of common of all, personal experience. But Jesus is the Rock; it is only upon Him that we should build.
Take a moment and meditate on Galatians 5:22‑23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
We shall come back to these verses in our study of Ephesians 4:2. But we should mention here that love is the foundation of all those characteristics. Love is mentioned first, and pouring out from it are all the rest of the characteristics that the Holy Spirit is trying to produce in us that make us more like Christ. Without a solid foundation in the love of Christ, nothing else is possible. It is that foundation that gives us a love for God, for His Word, for holiness, and for other believers. Being “rooted and grounded in [the] love” of Christ will produce a love for the things of Christ.
The story is told of a soldier in Napoleon’s army who was wounded one day by a bullet entering his chest just above his heart. As the surgeon was probing the wound with his knife, another on-looking soldier said, “An inch deeper, and you will find the emperor.” The metaphor is obvious: so committed was that soldier to his master that the master’s very name was virtually engraved on his heart. Likewise, engraved on the true Christian soldier’s heart, is the name of our Commander, the Lord Jesus Christ, and when the enemy wounds us, it is that name he will see.[10]
III. We Might Comprehend the Love of Christ (vs. 18‑19a)
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
As the second petition flows from the first, the third flows from the second. Paul prays for the Christian’s comprehension. While the English reader thinks of “understanding” when he reads the word comprehend, the Greek behind it, katalambanō, is much stronger. The root lambanō means to grasp or seize, and the prefix kata (down from, through out, according to, toward) then intensifies it. So the full idea of the word is “to lay hold of so as to make one’s own, to obtain, attain to, to take into one’s self, to seize upon, take possession of.”[11]
It has been debated, however, as to what exactly Paul refers when he says comprehend. Some say he doesn’t specify in verse 18 what we are to comprehend. Many, therefore, have offered various suggestions: the Church, redemption, the mystery, the wisdom of God, and the like. But the object in view is clearly stated in verse 19—the love of Christ. In verse 17 Paul dealt with our love for Christ. He now speaks of Christ’s love for us. It is this that Paul prayed for his readers—that they might truly lay hold of the truth of the love that Christ had and has for us, that they might seize upon this truth and make it their very own. While many today speak of “God’s love,” few understand what it really means, so it is for this comprehension that Paul prays.
Notice also that Paul says that all saints are to comprehend this truth. As we’ve noted before, all Christians are saints, not just a select few or those who have been “canonized” by the Church. So, such laying hold of this truth and making it our own is for every believer.
To help accomplish this, Paul shows that Christ’s love has four dimensions—breadth, length, depth, and height. Here is one of the profoundest truths of Scripture. That is why I found the following comment by one expositor very odd; he writes that Paul “is probably not thinking of anything special to be associated with each.” We must disagree here because words always mean something.[12] Taken together these show the all‑encompassing nature of Christ’s love, but individually each demonstrates a unique dimension of it. Martyn Lloyd-Jones makes another observation of why these dimensions are important:
I am convinced that the Apostle Paul specified these particular measurements in order to encourage the Ephesians, and us through them, to work this out in our minds. To meditate upon the love of God in an abstract manner is not very profitable. We have to work it out in detail as it has been revealed.[13]
In other words, the concept of “the love of God” is so broad, so wide, so expansive, that it’s necessary to look at its separate dimensions if we are going to have any understanding of it at all.
Finally, may we also note that each of these is illustrated somewhere in Paul’s previous thoughts in the letter. We’ll note each of these.
The Breadth of Christ’s Love
Breadth is platos, which is used figuratively here (and Rev. 20:9) to mean the great expanses of the earth,[14] so the breadth of Christ’s love shows the extent of His love, just how all-encompassing it is. This extent of Christ’s love is in view back in Ephesians 2:11‑18. We recall that this passage shows God’s acceptance of Jew and Gentile equally in Christ. Remember that the Jews thought salvation was only for them. The Jews had been told of Jehovah’s love, but they never understood the extent of that love. God’s love is upon all people without distinction. Revelation 5:9 also declares the breadth of Christ’s love in that he “redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” In 7:9 John again records what he saw as the result of this breadth of love, namely, worship:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Indeed, how we should praise and worship Him for His love.
The “Length” of God’s Love
Length is mēkos, which simply speaks of length and pictures here the duration of Christ’s love; that is, it shows that His love is eternal. The love of Christ for us spans eternity past and eternity future. As we discovered in Ephesians 1:4, God loved us in eternity past: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” Ephesians 2:4 and 7 then tell us of his love in eternity future: “for his great love wherewith he loved us . . . That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” What a beautiful thought God conveyed to Jeremiah the prophet: “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). As many scientists consider time to be the “fourth dimension,” so it is that God’s love for His people transcends the physical universe to include time itself. Time is a created thing, and so it is that God loved His people before time existed, and he will love them after time ceases.
Ponder another truth: God’s love is a constant. Man’s so-called “love,” on the other hand, is variable and terribly fickle. A child might get angry at a brother, sister, or even parent and say, “I don’t love you anymore.” Many divorces today are based simply on the grounds, “I just fell out of love with him (or her).” Both of these show the childishness and fickleness of man’s affections; neither has a clue of what true love is. But the antithesis of that is that God’s love is an unwavering constant; His love is consistent, faithful, and reliable, always the same. God does not love us any less tomorrow than He does today. Neither does he love us any more today than He did yesterday because he loves us with an infinite love. So, the length of His love is an unbroken line from eternity past to eternity future.
There is a perfect illustration of the prodigal son (Lk. 15:11‑32). That foolish young fellow spurned his father’s love and went his own way. In spite of that, however, his father loved him and showered him with blessing upon his return. Likewise, God’s love is always waiting for us. It never wavers, weakens, or wilts.
Consider also Paul’s discussion of this in Romans 8. In verse 35 he asks, “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” He then goes through a list of things that many people might think are able to separate us from this love. But Paul then concludes in verse 39, “[Nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How tragic it is that there are many who refuse to accept the fact of the security of the believer when the Word of God clearly says nothing can separate us from Him. As the Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (Jn. 10:27-28). That is eternal love, from the past to the future and for that little brief period called “time.”
All this truth is not only a grand encouragement, but it is also a great exhortation. Oh, how dreadfully fickle we are in our spiritual affections! Often personal desire outweighs spiritual desire. Often worldly values are allowed to overpower spiritual values. But seeing the length of Christ’s love should shame us. Dear Christian, may we “love Him because He first loved us” (I Jn. 4:19).
The “Depth” of Christ’s Love
Depth is bathos, which metaphorically means greatness, immensity, profoundness, inscrutability, and abstruseness.[15] Paul uses this word in Romans 11:33-34 to show that God’s riches are unfathomable, as are His judgments. Paul also uses this word in I Corinthians 2:10, “For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep [i.e., unfathomable] things of God.”
So the depth of Christ’s love shows us the condescension of His love; that is, it shows that God has reached down from His level to our level. This dimension is indeed the most wonderful of the four. As Ephesians 2:1‑5 makes vividly clear, it is impossible for man to be any lower or more depraved than he already is. “But God” has reached down and redeemed man through His love and grace. We have often heard the excuse, “Oh, I am too great a sinner to come to God.” But that is utterly impossible! Every sinner is just as depraved as another.
At this point some say, “But surely a mass-murderer is more sinful than a person who lives a moral life.” No! While a mass‑murderer has committed more “sins,” or certain sins that seem more heinous, a moral person is positionally just as depraved in heart and life. A person is not lost and on his way to hell because of individual “sins,” rather because of the one “sin” of unbelief, the sin of rejecting the message of Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:36; 16:8‑9; etc.). This thought takes us back to the first dimension. God’s love must be all‑encompassing because sin is all‑encompassing.
But may we go one step deeper by considering Philippians 2:8: “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Here is a staggering truth! Christ was always God, co‑equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. But He willfully set aside His heavenly residence and reached down to His creation that had become totally depraved. Why did He do that? Because He loved us. This truth is even more astounding when we remember that there was absolutely nothing lovable about us. Romans 1:21-32 and 3:10‑18 are two other passages that clearly outline man’s wickedness. But praise be to God that His love is deeper than our depravity.
The “Height” of Christ’s Love
Height is hupsos, which figuratively means elevation and dignity. This word appears, for example, in James 1:9-10, “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation,” to mean that “the poor, in contrast to the rich, are lifted up on high by God.”[16]
The height of Christ’s love, then, shows the position to which the believers has been elevated; that is, it shows God’s ultimate and final purpose for us. How blessed this is! Not only has Christ’s love come down to us, but it also elevates us to a new and exalted position.
Notice Ephesians 2:6 once again: “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Think of it! Christ loves us so much that He has actually joined us to Himself. May we put it this way: We have been raised from the DEPTH of our SIN to the HEIGHT of His GLORY. Consider one other related passage, I John 3:1-3:
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Oh, to what greater height could we possibly be elevated!
Commentators Jamison, Fausset, and Brown summarize these four dimensions with this observation:
The breadth implies Christ’s worldwide love, embracing all men; the length, its extension through all ages (v. 21); the depth, its profound wisdom, which no creature can fathom (Rom. 11:33); the height, its being beyond the reach of any foe to deprive us of it.
John R. W. Stott writes:
The love of Christ is “broad” enough to encompass all mankind (especially Jew and Gentile, the theme of these chapters), “long” enough to last for eternity, “deep” enough to reach the most degraded sinner, and “high” enough to exalt him to heaven.”[17]
And once again, Alexander MaClaren exposits:
What is the breadth of the love of Christ? It is broad as mankind, it is narrow as myself . . . The length of the love of Christ is the length of eternity, and out-measures all human sin . . . The depths of Christ’s love go down beneath all human necessity, sorrow, suffering, and sin . . . and this is the height of His love, that it bears us, if we will, up and up to sit upon that throne where He Himself is enthroned.
It is all this that is behind Paul’s statement here in our text: And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Knowledge is the Greek ginōsis, which means “experiential knowledge.” The Greek behind passeth is huperballō, which is a compound word made up of ballō, “to cast” and huper, “above, over, beyond.” The literal idea then is “to throw beyond the usual mark, i.e. (figuratively) to surpass.” Think of it! God wants us to comprehend (lay hold of, seize upon, make our very own) that which is beyond knowing. What a minute! How can we know what is unknowable? How can we comprehend what is incomprehensible? Is this contradictory? Indeed not. What Paul is saying is that God wants us to know that which cannot be known by the natural man, that which cannot be known apart from the Spirit’s working. As Paul told the Corinthians, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14). Arthur W. Pink puts it well:
But since the love of Christ is so transcendent and mysterious, so infinite and incomprehensible, how can it be comprehended and known by us? Completely and perfectly it cannot, yet truly and satisfyingly it may be. Christ’s love to us is discovered in the Word of truth, and as the Holy Spirit enlightens our understanding we are capacitated to apprehend something of its wonders and blessedness.[18]
So the full meaning of Paul’s statement is that while we are constantly learning, no matter how much of Christ’s love we experience, no matter how much of His Word we know, there are still oceans of love our experience has never touched. This is to me the greatest blessing of the Christian life—No matter how much we see and know, there is always more. Meditate a moment on that third stanza of a beautiful “spiritual song” (Eph. 5:19) by John W. Peterson:
Love beyond our human comprehending,
Love of God in Christ—how can it be!
This will be my theme and never ending,
Great redeeming love of Calvary.
Indeed, can we possibly comprehend a love that encompasses the world? Can we comprehend a love that spans the ages, a love that spans all time? Can we comprehend the greatness, immensity, and profoundness of God? Can we comprehend the dignity and position of God? Do you remember Zophar, one of Job’s critics? He also spoke of God’s multiple dimensions and God’s secret wisdom, although he didn’t apply it to himself:
Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea (Job 11:7-9, emphasis added).
Like Paul, Zophar spoke of God’s multiple dimensions. May we also recognize, however, that while God reveals here the four dimensions of His love, there are dimensions to God that we cannot possibly perceive. May this challenge us never to sit back and deny that God is sovereign and question God about what He is doing and why He is doing it. Yes, we see here four dimensions, but how many more are there?
IV. We Might Be Filled With All the Fullness Of God (v. 19b)
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
This final petition has been described as, “The climax of all prayer.”[19] But may we go still further to say that this is the climax of all Christian experience. Our entire Christian experience, our entire growth process should be looking toward being filled with all the fullness of God. This should be our life goal, priority, and motivation. Paul has been progressing higher and higher with each petition, and he now comes to the ultimate reality. Let us look at this principle in three ways: the doctrinal foundation, the practical application, and the realistic outworking.
The Doctrinal Foundation
May we consider for a moment just how important doctrine is. We should know this by now since this has been the emphasis in the first half of Ephesians. However, many in Christianity today think the most important thing is to be “practical” and “relevant.” Agreed, practicality and relevance are important. But doctrine is far more important. It is the foundation on which application and relevancy are built. In fact, the men who have accomplished the most throughout Christian history were Theologically minded. That is, the men who did the most practically were men who thought theologically. In short, we must KNOW before we can ever DO. We shall come back to this principle when we get to Ephesians 4 and find that doctrine must always be the ground, or basis, of unity (vs. 4‑6).
May we now consider for a moment what the fulness of God is NOT. This is an important distinction. The fullness of God is not some kind of “mysticism.” More and more “Christian” books today weave in Eastern mysticism. Some mystics speak of being “lost in God.” Others teach that salvation means “absorption into the eternal.” But the fullness of God is not some vague, mystical concept. Neither does this fulness mean that we are filled with God’s material or outward blessing. Among others, the “prosperity teachers” tell us this.
What then is the fulness of God? The first thing we must understand is the word with. The Greek eis, which literally means “to” or “unto.” The idea here is not that we are filled with all that God is, that is, all that He is by nature, for this would then make us identical to God, which is, of course, what some cults teach. Rather it means we are filled to or with respect to the fulness of God. In other words, while we cannot possess all or do all that God is and does—such as omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence—we can each be filled up to our capacity in respect to the things of God. At any given moment we can be filled up to our present capacity with the things of God.
Look now at the pivotal word fulness. The Greek here is plēroō. We saw another form of this word (plērōma) back in Ephesians 1:23. Both these words speak of that which is filled. They were once used of ships being filled with sailors, rowers, and soldiers. So, in Ephesians 1:23 Paul shows that God continues to fill the Church so that it may be a full expression of Christ. Another way of translating the word is “domination” or similar forms. In fact, this translation fits in all the instances of the various Greek forms used in Ephesians:
· 1:23 – “[The Church] which is His body, the [domination] of Him that [dominates] all in all.”
· 4:10 ‑ “that He might [dominate] all things.”
· 4:13 ‑ “unto the measure of the stature of the [domination] of Christ.”
· 5:18 – “be [dominated] with the Spirit.”
So, we may translate our text this way: “That you may be filled up to all the dominance of God.” To be filled with God’s fullness means we are emptied of self and are totally dominated by Him. May we express it thusly: To be filled with the fullness of God is to be dominated by His dominance.
At this point, we might ask, “But how is it possible to be totally dominated by God? How can our every thought, every impulse, every value, and every goal be totally dominated by God?”
To illustrate, if we blow air into a balloon, we can truthfully say, “This balloon is full of air.” But we can then blow a little more air into the balloon and say, “It’s still full, but bigger.” Likewise, we may be filled with His fullness today, but we shall be fuller tomorrow. This is indeed and ever-continuing process. How tragic it is when Christians, laymen and preachers alike, think they have grown enough or think they know enough. May we each ask ourselves, “Am I being filled with all the fulness of God? Am I being dominated by His dominance?”
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The more we know the more are we conscious of our ignorance of that which is unknown.” He goes on to quote Dr. Thomas Chalmers, 19th Century theologian, professor of Theology at Edinburgh, and one of the greatest preachers of that age. Borrowing an illustration from his love of mathematics, Chalmers would tell his students, “The wider the diameter of light, the greater is the circumference of darkness.” In other words, as Spurgeon concludes, “The more a man knows, he comes at more points into contact with the unknown.”[20] Someone else has expressed it even more succinctly, “Knowledge is the discovery of ignorance.”
This leads us to our second thought.
The Practical Application
Let us consider practical, day‑to‑day living. Consider first, however, exactly what it means to be “practical.” We hear this word constantly today, but how many of those who use it know what it really means? Most people who use it simply equate it with activity. To most people, to be practical means we are going about doing things and being busy. But this is only partially true. Being practical is first an attitude long before it is an activity. So, in practice, there is one thing that will always be true of the believer who is filled with all the fulness of God: he will be totally dominated by God in the intellect, emotion, and will (the entire personality).
First, the intellect will be dominated. Oh, how vital it is that our minds be dominated by God! Here is one of the most foundational truths of the Word of God. For example, Romans 1‑8 is doctrinal in that it shows how the Gospel saves the sinner; chapters 9‑11 are national in that they show how the Gospel relates to the nation of Israel; then in chapters 12‑16 we see the practical section in that it shows how the Gospel relates to our conduct. It is at the beginning of that practical section that we find the words, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (12:2). Notice, it’s not renewing of our “emotions” or our “feelings” that is vital but the renewing of our minds. Our minds need constant renewing against the world’s attitudes and actions. Another vivid illustration of this appears in I Corinthians 2:11‑16. Verse 15 declares: “He that is spiritual judgeth [i.e., discerns] all things.” Only the spiritually minded individual can understand spiritual truth and discern truth from error. So then, to be dominated by His dominance means we can THINK spiritually. When a question or problem arises, when an issue comes to light, we do not think like the world; we think spiritually based upon the truth of the Word of God. Constantly on our lips is the question, “What saith the Scripture?” (Rom. 4:3; Gal. 4:30).
One of the clearest and saddest facts of our day is that most Christians are just not knowledgeable of God and His Word. As A. W. Tozer observed in the mid 20th Century, “The Church doesn’t teach much of anything now . . . nowadays you can go to Church a lifetime without getting much Theology.”[21] Likewise one commentator wrote in 1985:
“We must be strong in knowledge in order to be filled up to the brim with all the fullness of God. God’s fullness in us consists of knowledge, not merely the introduction of the Gentiles into the Church, but an extensive Theology. Ignorant Christians are empty, or nearly empty. It is surprising how may commentators miss this point.”[22]
And it just keeps getting worse. Evangelical churches today are filled to the brim with entertainment, social activism, and human philosophy, but the knowledge of God and His Word are conspicuously absent.
And where does most of the fault lie? Quite frankly pastors, and may we add, the schools that are training them. Writing in 1947, Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote the following in the Preface to his monumental eight-volume Systematic Theology:
Systematic Theology, the greatest of the sciences, has fallen upon evil days. Between the rejection and ridicule of it by the so-called progressives and the neglect and abridgment of it by the orthodox, it, as a potent influence, is approaching the point of extinction . . . The unchanging emphasis in the Scriptures upon doctrine, which subject is referred to in the New Testament more than forty times and is that to which a Christina is to “take heed” (I Tim. 1:3; 4:6,16; II Tim. 3:10, 16, 4:2,3), stands as a silent rebuke, whether heeded or not, to all modern notions which belittle the importance of Dogmatic Theology, and also stands a corrective to those who neglect any portion of it.
It is no secret that the average minister is not now reading Systematic Theology, nor will such writings be found to occupy a prominent place in his library. Shocking indeed this condition would have been to ministers of two generations ago . . .
Few clergymen’s libraries will included even one work on Theology . . . A form of modern thinking tends to treat all matters of doctrine with contempt.
. . . the trend, unfortunately, is to substitute philosophy, psychology, and sociology for theology.[23]
And again, over a half-century later, the situation is far graver. There are scarcely any theologians left in pulpits today. What spews from them cannot even be called “skim milk,” much less whole milk or meat, because most of it has no basis in Scripture whatsoever. The fulness of God most certainly does not dominate such intellects. This is why that, in addition to my other reading, a specific part of my reading schedule is dedicated to reading and reviewing Systematic Theology.[24]
Second, the emotions will be dominated. How often we are dominated by feelings! A common catch‑phrase today is, “Well, that’s just the way I feel.” Yes, and that is precisely our problem! Our actions and attitudes are quite often based on how we feel. It’s all right to have feelings, but we must never be dominated by them. We must not act on what we feel but rather on what we think about what we feel; our feelings must be weighed and controlled by the intellect. Think a moment of Stephen’s words as he was being stoned (Acts 7:60). Humanly speaking, didn’t Stephen have cause to “feel bad?” He was falsely accused and unjustly condemned. But his words were, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge?” There was a man who was not living by feelings but by a spirit controlled intellect. This, of course, reminds us of our Savior’s words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
May we couple this with the intellect. To be dominated by His dominance not only means we THINK spiritually, but it also means we FEEL spiritually; that is, we act spiritually. How often we find ourselves “reacting” in a given circumstance. Something happens, we feel a certain way about it, and we then react accordingly. But may we submit that even if the result of our “reaction” is right, we are still wrong. Why? Because God does not want us to react; He wants us to act. God wants us to think, based upon the Word of God, then act.
Third, the will will be dominated. Consider the words of our Lord, “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (Jn. 6:38; cf. Phil. 2:7‑8). We see the same attitude many times in the life of the Apostle Paul (Acts 20:22‑24; Phil. 3:7‑10; etc.). The point in all this is that our will must be dominated. We no longer live as we desire but as He desires. So, to be dominated by His dominance means not only means we THINK spiritually and FEEL spiritually, but it also means we CHOOSE spiritually. When we are dominated by God, we will choose the right desires, the right priorities, the right values, and the right goals. This will, in fact, form the very core of discernment, a subject we will explore in depth in 4:14.
This leads to one last principle.
The Realistic Outworking
With the doctrinal foundation in place, and the practical application in mind, how then can we realistically be totally dominated by God in the intellect, emotion, and will?
First, we will be dominated by God when we read His Word. This is the key that unlocks the door of Christian growth.
But how should you go about this? Some advocate reading the Bible through in one year, which you can do by reading about three and a half chapters per day, such as two and a half in the Old Testament and one in the New. Alternately, you can move slower by reading just the New Testament in about nine months. This or a similar approach is fine, but the danger to avoid is reading mechanically just to get in the day’s reading.
An alternate approach is to select one of Paul’s Epistles per month, read one chapter a day, and thereby read it through several times. Another book that yields itself to this approach is Proverbs, which you can finish in one month by reading a chapter a day. The same is basically true of the Gospels.
Whatever approach you use, the important point is to read with understanding, not to “just get the job done.” Meditate upon what you read. Reading a single verse with understanding is infinitely better than three chapters with none. When thoughts arise, you might want to jot them down in a notebook to keep tract of lessons you learn and blessing God gives. When questions arise, jot those down as well and ask your pastor about them. While we never want to rely on commentaries (good preachers don’t), they are a valuable tool. By far the best one-volume commentary I’ve ever seen is The Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald. It’s a good investment for your reading.
Second, we will be dominated by God when we submit to the expository preaching and teaching of God’s Word as absolute Truth. We have dealt with this issue before, so this is just a reminder. If you are in a church where this is not the primary ministry, find one where it is. Scripture is very clear on this issue, for no other so-called “ministry” will bring real growth.
Third, we will be dominated by God when we obey what you read and hear. Knowledge without application is less than worthless—it’s actually destructive. As Paul told the Corinthians, “knowledge puffeth up, but [love] edifieth” (I Cor. 8:1). Facts only make us arrogant. It’s application that makes us humble.
For example, when you read, “Lie not to one another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (Col. 3:9), then obey it by never saying anything with the intent to deceive, embellish, or mislead. When you read, “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly” (Prov. 26:22) and when you read, “The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (Jas. 3:5), then obey it by never gossiping and being careful about every word you say. As Paul commands, “Let your speech be alway with grace seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Col. 4:6). When you read, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (I Cor. 1:10) and when you read, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3), then obey it by striving never to be the cause of a disunity or disharmony among God’s people. Reading a command of God without obeying it is rebellion, and if you disobey God’s Word, chastisement will come in one form or another.
Fourth, we will be dominated by God when we spend time in prayer. Mark it down, you will not consistently do the first three—read, listen, and apply—unless you pray. They are, in fact, impossible without prayer. Unless you commune with God, you won’t understand what you read, you won’t want to listen to preaching, and you won’t apply anything because you aren’t humbling yourself before God. It is through prayer that you will confess your sins (I Jn. 1:9), ask for wisdom (Jas. 1:5), and pray for others (Col. 1:9; I Thes. 5:25). Also test your prayer life against Paul’s. Do your prayers have a spiritual end? Even when you pray for physical needs, does it point ultimately to a spiritual result?
May we each be challenged to be dominated by God’s dominance, to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 3:18).
As we close our study of Paul’s prayer in this passage, perhaps a question comes to mind: “Is all this really possible?” The answer to this, of course, is, “Yes!” But it’s possible only through the grace of God. Prayer can often be a struggle, and often the reason for that struggle is because we are trying to do it in the flesh, that is, in our own strength. But the only way these great truths of prayer can be a reality to us is through God’s grace and power.
We are quickly coming to the end of the doctrinal portion of the Epistle to the Ephesians. As we do so, may we see the real climax to all Christian experience, namely Paul’s “Ascription of Praise” in the last two verses:
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
It is there we travel to next.