Have you ever noticed how relationships grow? When you first meet someone, it’s like a stranger knocking at your door. You may invite them into the foyer, but that is about as far as it goes. When a casual acquaintance knocks at the door, you may sit down in the living room, but the conversation is still a bit on the formal side. When a true friend comes to the door, they may open it and say, “Is anybody home?” When you invite them in, you are likely to sit down at the kitchen table and talk. If this friend wants milk for their coffee, they know where it is and they will get up and go to the refrigerator. If there is something else in there that looks good, they will help themselves. True friends are treated like family, and you can sense when a relationship has reached that point.
Ephesians 3 (NIV)
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
I love to read Paul’s prayers because they usually touch on things that we take to the Father. What Christ-follower wouldn’t like to have Paul pray over them the way he prayed over the churches the Lord had placed in his care? This passage contains a prayer prayed for the church at Ephesus, but it has application in the life of every believer. First of all, Paul acknowledges who he is praying for – God’s whole family. This was especially important to the Ephesians because Paul had just told them of God’s plan to bring the Gentiles into His family. There was to be no distinction, when it came to membership in the family, between Jew and Gentile. All believers were part of the family.
Paul then prayed that God would strengthen these Christians – not with physical strength, but with a power that can only be bestowed by the working of the Holy Spirit. This power permeates so deeply within the soul that it give us an inner strength to take on anything, endure anything, and persevere in the face of whatever the enemy has to throw at us. This is the power that doesn’t have to be demonstrated through some feat of strength; it is recognized in our daily living.
The next part of this passage speaks to our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our salvation is secure at the time we acknowledge our sin and ask our Savior to come into our hearts. However, when you think about it, oftentimes, this invitation is just into the foyer. We recognize who Jesus is, but we are not ready to really fellowship with Him. As we grow in Christ, we realize that we have much to learn from Him, and invite Him to come in and sit down in the living room. We want to talk, but we are not yet ready for a real commitment. Finally, one day we realize that we are missing out on the best part of being a Christian – authentic friendship with our Lord - the kind of friendship where we totally open ourselves up to Him. We sit down at the kitchen table and really share our lives with Him and He is welcome into our innermost hiding places.
The word dwell in this verse is translated from the Greek word which means to “settle down in a dwelling;” in other words, to make oneself at home. Paul is telling us that Christ desires to make Himself at home in our hearts. Think about the implications of that. If we allow Jesus to do what He wants to do, we will have His presence in our innermost beings. He will be invited to poke around in any part of our lives, because He is family.
Where is Jesus in your life? Is His name one that you recognize, but have no contact with? If so, find someone who knows Him and ask them to tell you more about Him. Is Jesus a casual acquaintance? If that is the case, spend more time with Him. He wants to be much more than an acquaintance. Our objective should be to have nothing that we can’t let our Lord and Savior see. Open up yourself to the best friend you could ever have. He is authentic – the genuine article!
I love to read Paul’s prayers because they usually touch on things that we take to the Father. What Christ-follower wouldn’t like to have Paul pray over them the way he prayed over the churches the Lord had placed in his care? This passage contains a prayer prayed for the church at Ephesus, but it has application in the life of every believer. First of all, Paul acknowledges who he is praying for – God’s whole family. This was especially important to the Ephesians because Paul had just told them of God’s plan to bring the Gentiles into His family. There was to be no distinction, when it came to membership in the family, between Jew and Gentile. All believers were part of the family.
Paul then prayed that God would strengthen these Christians – not with physical strength, but with a power that can only be bestowed by the working of the Holy Spirit. This power permeates so deeply within the soul that it give us an inner strength to take on anything, endure anything, and persevere in the face of whatever the enemy has to throw at us. This is the power that doesn’t have to be demonstrated through some feat of strength; it is recognized in our daily living.
The next part of this passage speaks to our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our salvation is secure at the time we acknowledge our sin and ask our Savior to come into our hearts. However, when you think about it, oftentimes, this invitation is just into the foyer. We recognize who Jesus is, but we are not ready to really fellowship with Him. As we grow in Christ, we realize that we have much to learn from Him, and invite Him to come in and sit down in the living room. We want to talk, but we are not yet ready for a real commitment. Finally, one day we realize that we are missing out on the best part of being a Christian – authentic friendship with our Lord - the kind of friendship where we totally open ourselves up to Him. We sit down at the kitchen table and really share our lives with Him and He is welcome into our innermost hiding places.
The word dwell in this verse is translated from the Greek word which means to “settle down in a dwelling;” in other words, to make oneself at home. Paul is telling us that Christ desires to make Himself at home in our hearts. Think about the implications of that. If we allow Jesus to do what He wants to do, we will have His presence in our innermost beings. He will be invited to poke around in any part of our lives, because He is family.
Where is Jesus in your life? Is His name one that you recognize, but have no contact with? If so, find someone who knows Him and ask them to tell you more about Him. Is Jesus a casual acquaintance? If that is the case, spend more time with Him. He wants to be much more than an acquaintance. Our objective should be to have nothing that we can’t let our Lord and Savior see. Open up yourself to the best friend you could ever have. He is authentic – the genuine article!
We serve an awesome God!!!!!
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