Proclamation:
“I
pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through
His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith. And I pray that you, being rooted
and established in love, may have power, together with all The Lord’s holy people,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know
this love that surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled to the measure of
all the fullness of God.” Ephesians
3:16-19 (NIV)
Explanation:
These
words were written by the Apostle Paul under the influence of The Holy Spirit
of God. Paul wanted the Gentiles in
Ephesus to know that he was called of God to preach the gospel to them.
(Ephesians 3:1-9) After he explained his
purpose for writing to them, he prayed for them. (Ephesians 3:14-19) He ended the chapter with a doxology and a
benediction. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Application:
In
Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian believers we should be mindful of four
requests. First, he wanted God to
strengthen them spiritually. Second, he
wanted Christ to dwell in their hearts.
Third, he wanted them to know the vastness of the love of God. Fourth, he wanted them to be filled with all the
fullness of God. This petition is a
prayer that we could pray today for all of our Christian brothers and sisters,
and for ourselves. We could all benefit
from being strengthened spiritually, having Christ in control of our heart,
having a better understanding of the love of God, and having our entire being
filled and consumed with the love and grace of God.
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