EPHESIANS 3:14-19 – 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.

THEME OF THE DAY. STRENGTHENED BY GOD’S MIGHT. Today’s scripture is one of the most profound prayers in our Bibles. Spend time soon and read it, read it, read it, pray it, pray it, pray it, and meditate on each word. As we do, we will discover riches beyond measure. We will find the whole of the Christian life in its language and petitions. We will observe a holy reverence in the one praying. And we will be brought face to face with the greatest experience a human being will ever know – the overwhelming love of God in Christ. I would encourage all of us to adopt this prayer as our own, praying it with fervency, consistency, and passion for God to answer it, and keep answering it in our lives. To begin to see and feel the Lord answering this prayer is the only thing satisfying our souls and bringing us to settled contentment in life.

But beyond the riches of this prayer taking us into the experience of God’s love, there is a practical truth we desperately need to believe and seek daily. It is found in the opening petition asked of the Apostle Paul – “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”.

The substance in this portion of Paul’s prayer is for God the Father to strengthen His children by His Spirit in their inner beings to know the reality of Christ in them. I know that is a lengthy statement but go over it again slowly. This is too important to miss. Now, think about how often and in what situations we need God’s strength and the awareness of the Lord Jesus in our lives. The first part of that last statement is easy; we need God’s strength all the time. Let’s consider the second part; what situations do we need strengthened and live aware of Christ in us. Here are two.

First, we need God’s constant strengthening in Christ because our spiritual foes are too great for us. Left to ourselves, our three spiritual enemies will defeat us constantly. Our sinful flesh with its intense desire for sensual pleasure and passions will win every battle of temptation if we fight in our strength. The sinful world with all its sinful attractions and godlessness will wreak havoc in our walks of holiness by conditioning our mind to think worldly, not spiritually. And the devil? He scoffs at Christians who try to fight spiritual battles against him in their own strength. He makes short work of such foolish people. Yes, we need God’s strength in Christ because our spiritual battles are too powerful for us.

Next, we need God’s constant strengthening in Christ because our calling and mission is impossible. We cannot obey God without His power. And we cannot do the work of the Gospel in the strength of ourselves. The call to holy living and to be about the Great Commission are spiritual works requiring spiritual strength. Left to ourselves, our obedience to God’s commands will be self-generated morality, not Biblical Christianity; and left to ourselves, the work of the Gospel will be merely acts of social justice and benevolence, not powerful, bold, Spirit-led proclamations of the life-giving Words of Christ’s saving message.

Yes, the Ephesian prayer offered by the Apostle Paul is something to own and make personal, not only because it takes us into the heights of Christian experience, but because we need what it offers – strength for everything we need to live life for God’s glory and honor.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to see that I need Your strength not some time, but all the time.”

QUOTE: “Our weaknesses and the strength of our spiritual foes demand a constant strengthening from the Lord.”