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Good morning once again. Yeah, there's a time where we meditate upon God's Word and let's pray and ask the Lord for His grace. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning that you have given us as a church to come together. Lord, and as we gather around your word, as we look into your word, we pray, God, that you would allow the spirit of God to work in our hearts, open our eyes of our understanding, that we might grasp these truths from your word.
And Lord, may biblical convictions be formed in us, Lord, we may act upon these biblical convictions. May we live by these biblical convictions. May we not be mere hearers of your word, but Lord, be doers of your word. May we be a community of God's people, O Father, shaped by your word, O Father.
We pray that you bless this time. We pray for the ministry of your spirit. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's turn our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3, and we will read from verses 14 till 21. And I'm reading from the NASB version. Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 to 21.
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.”
Amen. One thing that we can notice, observe in this epistle especially, is that Paul interludes very often with prayers. He often prays or reports how he prays for God's people. Them, right? If you want to have sneak into the prayers of Paul or his prayers for God's people, we see that we learn, we can learn from this epistle that this is how Paul prayed for God's people. And in one of our sessions in, from Ephesians, especially from chapter 1, we have learned also there how Paul prayed for the church.
And we have seen that how important is prayers for our spiritual vitality. And how should we pray, right? Right? And since we heard that the first sermon on prayer from Ephesians 1, I want to ask you this question. Has our prayer life changed?
How is your prayer life? Is it shaped by God's word? Or you pray whatever you want? How are you like? We must understand that praying according to God's word is very important. Praying the truths of the scripture, turning them into prayers is very important.
How does your prayer life look like? Your prayer list look like. We are definitely short-sighted if our prayer list doesn't look like Paul's. And this is how we need to pray. Our hearts should be captivated by these realities in Christ Jesus. Now this epistle is rich, rich both theologically and also with practical wisdom. And Paul has dealt with our Christian privileges, rich blessings and inheritance in Christ Jesus. And in this portion of Ephesians he is still dealing with our Christian privileges.
about prayer. And this epistle shows the importance of both doctrine and prayer. Doctrine alone is not sufficient. Doctrine should be applied to our lives by the power of God's Spirit. And the Spirit energizes us to live in the light of the doctrine. And that's where we need prayer.
Any church that intends to grow needs the Spirit anointed preaching and Spirit inspired praying. So let me clarify when I say Spirit inspired praying, it doesn't mean that God, the Spirit of God gives you new inspirations to pray in new ways. No, what I mean is God has already inspired His word and our prayers should be regulated, directed by this God inspired word. It's very important.
It's important that we pray for our daily needs. It's important that we pray for other people's needs. If someone is suffering, someone is sick, we need to pray for all these things. That's important, there's place for that. But that itself is not sufficient. If you think that you have prayed for those things and you, you think that you have prayed that day, no, you haven't prayed. We haven't prayed according to God's word.
Right? This kind of praying is really important. And Paul expounds the glories of the gospel from God's electing love, Christ's redeeming blood, and the Spirit's sealing and sanctifying work in this epistle. Just a briefing about this epistle, Paul proclaims purpose to unite everything under Christ Jesus, under the headship of Christ Jesus. He clarifies those elements in chapter 1. And in chapter 2, Paul reminds us that by Christ's death and resurrection, we who were once dead in our trespasses, who walked in the course of this world, who are the recipients of God's wrath are saved by Christ's death and resurrection.
We are reconciled with God and with one another. Right? In the same chapter of chapter 2, Paul reminds us that because of God's work and blessings, blessings, we are now one in Christ and are being built up into one holy temple, both Jews and Gentiles. There are no divisions in the body of Christ. There is no Jew, there is no Gentile, there is no white, there is no black, there is no rich, poor, uneducated or educated. There is no Tamil, there is no Malayali, there is no Telugu, there is no Telangana, nothing. All those barriers are cross, and we better not bring them up again in the body of Christ. Right? So there God is
we need to get this vision from the Scripture, and the vision is this: God is building one new humanity in, under the headship of Christ Jesus, and that is one holy temple, that's going to be the dwelling place of God. You realize that?
And the truth of God's purpose is to bring all people into his kingdom, making into one new man. In chapter 3, Paul proclaims the revealed mystery of the gospel of Christ. Because of this, the church can be filled with the fullness of God.
And in the first 13 verses Paul explains his mission to proclaim the mystery of the gospel and how the church displays that wisdom to the authorities and rulers in the heavenly places. And Paul says here, and for this reason, for this reason, Paul says he bows his knees. He's praying that the truth that he had expounded would become a reality in these lives of believers.
He prays that the people of God would grasp the glories, these glories of God in Christ Jesus. If you look at verse 1, Paul mentions that he was in prison. Right? And these people heard about their leader, Paul, who was in prison, and they were disheartened, they lost the courage to live purposefully. So in the first 13 verses he writes to them about the mystery of the gospel and how God displayed his wisdom through the church, and he reminds them that it is a unique privilege to be a part of the church. And how many well-meaning Christians do not realize this great purpose.
How many well-meaning Christians live purposeless Christian lives here. And in the misery of his imprisonment, he deems this act of prayer on behalf of others, that is God's people, as important. He labored among them for three years, now he's gone. But he knew that he should pray for them, otherwise all his labor would be in vain. So he prays, he prays.
So there is an inevitable connection between the prayers of God's people and the work of God's Spirit in the life of the church. There is an inevitable connection to do what he means to do through his word. Do we, do we have this kind of a vision, burden? Do you want God to work in our lives? We want God's people to live in the light of God's truth. Then what must we do? Not only simply proclaim, but also pray accordingly. Paul begins this section in verse 14 with a report of his prayer and ends with a doxology. Paul's prayer can be divided into three parts. Verses 14 to 17, the first part of verse 17, its first section, where Paul prays that we would be strengthened by God's power. Prayer is from the second part of verse 17 till the first part of verse
19. He prays to understand Christ's love, and thirdly, the second portion of verse 19, that we will be filled with God's fullness. If you remember Paul's previous prayer in chapter 1, we see there, Paul prays that we all would have the spirit of wisdom and revelation into the knowledge of him. That means we would know God better.
Right? And we have seen that it’s important for us that we pray that way. That daily, that we would come before him and before his word and ask him that we would know him better. Right? And here we see that Paul prays that we would be strengthened by God’s power. The first prayer we see here is that, pray to be strengthened by God’s power. We see that and we have very often observed that prayerlessness is quite a problem among God’s people. Prayerlessness is prevalent among God’s people. And praying according to the word is even more scarce.
Right? And what do you think, and why do you think that such a situation exists in the churches? And this may be because most prayer lists resemble a shopping list. Right? Which can become monotonous over time. And maybe that’s the reason for prayerlessness. And how long can we be interested about a shopping list? Right? How long can we be interested, “Lord, give me this, give me this, give me this, give me this”? You know, we’ll be easily tired by such prayer lists.
Or there may be such deep apathy among us, His people, unconcerned about God’s purposes. So lost in our own trials of life, difficulties of life, concerns of life, that we have become so unconcerned about the purposes of God. And perhaps, or we may, we are ignorant of what prayer is, what we need to pray about, and what God can do through the prayers of his people.
And some may even mistakenly believe that they are self sufficient. And don’t need God’s guidance. And Paul says here that, in verse 14, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father.” And what reason do we see here? Verse 1, chapter 3, verse 1 starts in the same way. We have seen in the last session, “For this reason.”
to 12 we see a digression where Paul emphasizes the reason for his suffering, that is the proclamation of the mystery and how important that we understand and realize that mystery of the gospel. And he gives the reason for his digression in verse 13 and resumes the intent of verse 1 in verse 14 here. And he gives the reason, the reason that he mentioned, for this reason. That reason is mentioned in chapter 2, especially in verses 19 till 22.
And the reason here is the new phase in God’s redemptive plan in which the Gentiles are being built together with believing Jews into a new eschatological temple. Which is going to be the dwelling place of God. Right? Building that. God is accomplishing that and God will accomplish that.
And Paul says for this reason, for that reason. And how do we know, how do we grow into that one holy temple in the Lord? And how are we built together into a dwelling place of God? And Paul says for this reason. Paul kneels before the Father. He says, “I bow my knees.”
This is an idiomatic expression for prayer. It is a physical posture, but it is a reflection of our heart. And you and I are accessing the throne of the Father every time we pray. There is such, there should be such reverence whenever we utter prayers to our God, because we are approaching a holy God. The disposition of our heart should be always be filled with reverence and respect. Right? It’s an expression which reflects the inner disposition. And Paul’s point here, especially in verse 15, is that one new family, which already is spoken in chapter 2, it constituted in Christ from every nation.
That is Jews and Gentiles on earth and in heaven, all derive their name from the Father. All of us are adopted into one family. Whoever you are, we are all adopted into one family. The person whom you used to despise, maybe because of their education, maybe because of their color, maybe because of their behavior, no, that person if he or she is saved by the grace of God is also adopted into the same family.
Right? All derive their name from this Father. And there is but one family which ought to be reckoned both in heaven and on the earth. We all should humbly kneel before the Father acknowledging the supremacy, His supremacy of His will and in His presence we plead for His will to be done.
We easily forget how stunning it is to call the Supreme Being, the Creator and the governor of the everything as our Father. We lost that sense of awe in our prayers. We easily utter Father. We easily utter Lord Jesus, right? But it’s such a solemn thing to address the God of all things as our Father.
It’s an awesome expression every time we come to the throne of grace. And we should not lose that sight, lose that awesomeness. We should always be captivated by that awesomeness of that expression that God is our Father. And our source of existence is a Father who loves us so passionately and desires our spiritual vitality that we be His family.
He saved us not to be slaves, He saved us to be His family and co-heirs with Christ Jesus. And for that reason, He wants us to grow. He wants us to be strong. He wants us to be united. He wants us to let go of our sins, our selfishness. He wants us all to be established Christians and experience His grace, His love and power and mature and He wants us to see in the likeness of Christ Jesus that is the greatest goal of the Father. That we be conformed into His likeness. That is the greatest goal and we should not lose the sight of that goal which God has for us that we become like a son and God is working towards it and how often do we thwart his plans, try to thwart his plans that purpose by living a selfish life by merely pursuing
a selfish carnal interest by trading sinful selfish pursuits for God’s great big purpose how often do we trade how often do we compromise for the trifles for the trivial things. And do we really come before the Father. With this vision in our mind.
And cry to him. And what is the prayer of Paul. For these believers. Verse 16 and 17. He says that he would grant you. Even this is the need for the church today. Today, we must pray that we be strengthened with power through His Word, through His Spirit. it and Paul and Paul’s request here is based on God’s glorious riches and we know that the riches of God are inexhaustible he’s always going to be rich and glorious he will never run out of resources to bless us according to his plan and his purposes.
Not according to our plans and our purposes. But according to his plans and his purposes. He is never going to run out of his resources. And we see here that the object of this request. Is that we are strengthened with power. Through his Spirit. In the inner man.
In our inner being. That we be strengthened through the working of the Spirit that means that the Spirit of God would mightily work in us that means we as believers should be very conscious and would be seeking earnestly the working of the Spirit it’s not automatic yes the Spirit of God works in us because we are believers but there is a sense of responsibility on our side to give him the control to allow him to accomplish his planned purpose and that’s the reason our maturity is slow unless or until full control over our lives allow him to work seek
him to work in us we wouldn’t be maturing consistently right it’s important that we allow him to work and we pray for this we cry out to God for greater and greater operation of the Spirit in us we need to cry out this is not for some charismatics let me tell you this is not for some Pentecostals this is for all of God’s people you are saved by God’s grace you belong to Christ we need to seek the operation of the Spirit God we need to pray we need to cry out according to his word and when do we usually pray when do
we usually pray when we are suffering when you have trials right where anything when everything is normal, everything is going smoothly, do we pray? It’s necessary to pray when we are suffering and we have trials, but do we pray only when we are suffering?
What motivates us to bow our knees before the Father? Our physical or spiritual need? That shows our orientation. We are just concerned. Are we just concerned about our physical ease? And when everything is fine, we no longer pray? We neglect prayer meetings? No, this is right, Paul is writing to the church. He’s not primarily talking about your personal prayer time. Yes, we need to pray personally, but this is about the corporate prayer life. How is our corporate prayer life? How excited are you for the corporate prayers?
What excuses do we have for corporate prayers? How are we prioritizing our corporate prayers? And Paul, this is important. This is important. It's not just uttering a few words of prayer now and then. It's praying intentionally, mindfully, theologically. You know, to pray like this our theology should be right. That means that we need to be acquainted with God's word properly, right? We need to understand God's word properly. That means that we need to dig word deeper, we need to get the meaning right heads, so that we can pray accordingly. And as a church it is essential to prioritize praying for our spiritual well-being. And without the strengthening work of the Spirit of God we will be spiritually destitute. And when we are weak we may know we
may take God's grace for granted, or fail consistently, become easily discouraged, disappointed, and lose our desire for God, His glory, and for His gospel. And the key to strengthening our inner man is seeking the Spirit's powerful operation according to the revealed word. It is essential to remember that actual, the real lasting change in our affections, desires and behaviors only come through the Spirit's operation, His powerful operation in our lives.
Our inclinations, our struggles with the flesh wouldn't go easily. It's only as we walk in the Spirit, we will not desire after the flesh. And to be spiritually vigorous, we must continually seek the operation of God's power in our lives. And this is the need that we all have.
And they should be prevailing in the presence of the Lord based on these requests. We should not rest until we see the word at work in our lives. And what is the result of the Spirit's operation in our lives? Verse 17 is a result of the request, and this request would be granted according to the glorious riches of the Father. And the result is this, that Christ — look at verse 17 — Christ will dwell in our hearts. You may ask, is not Christ already with us, in us, as believers? Yes. But the word dwell here doesn't mean to arrive freshly.
Right? It doesn't come and go. It doesn't mean to arrive freshly. It means he would make himself home in our hearts. Right? He would be the center of our affections and desires. Christ indwells every true believer, but he may not be at home in your life if there is weak faith and habitual sin.
Does Christ dwell in your heart? Do we easily give in to sin? Feel home with sinful habits, sinful thoughts, sinful imaginations, sinful fantasies, whatever. Do we feel home with them? And if we are like that, Christ is not home with us. He is grieved. The Spirit is consistently, constantly grieved in us.
And the prayer that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith is parallel to the prayer that may that we may be inwardly strengthened by the Spirit of God. And as we are strengthened by the Spirit, Christ dwells in us. As we yield to the control of the Spirit, Christ is home with us.
Christ continues to dwell in the hearts of His people to supply strength to our inner man. As the Spirit strengthens us, as Christ dwells in our heart, God's purposes will be clear in our minds. Our actions, our motives would be driven by Christ's purposes.
We would be working with him, along with him, towards that purpose. Do you think that unity in a church is easy? Just give room to yourself, an inch to yourself, that unity can be destroyed. Just be reluctant to deny yourself, unity is destroyed.
And why do we have to deny ourself? Because we understand the purpose of God. And we submit to it. We humble ourselves. We deny ourselves. We forgive each other. We let go of the sins of others. We want to please God, not ourselves.
We don't want to push our selfish agendas, us, but we want to work together for the mission of Christ. We want the church to be beautiful and that wisdom of God to be displayed through the church in the heavenly places. We are one with him in the purpose.
Otherwise, brothers and sisters, we can easily destroy the unity. In order to effectively resist the influence of the evil one, to avoid sin, strive towards Christ likeness and lead purposeful gospel centered Christian lives, it requires the powerful operation of the Spirit in our lives. He should consistently destroy the works of the flesh in us. Those works of the flesh are so strong, so powerful, we cannot tackle them. We want to submit to them. We are easily prone to live by them. We want to be selfish. We want name. We want fame.
We want everything to do for ourselves. We want comfort. We want ease. We cannot fulfill. We cannot sacrifice. We cannot suffer for the sake of the gospel. A simple threat can cause us to take hundred steps back. We cannot suffer for the gospel or anything unless the Spirit of God powerfully operates in us and continues to destroy the works of the flesh in us. We cannot live God glorifying, Christ-centered, gospel saturated lives. It's impossible to please God. It's impossible to be part of God's work.
That's the first prayer. The second point is from the second part of verse 17 until the first part of verse 19. There is a prayer to understand Christ's love, “and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.”
The words rooted and grounded here. The word rooted suggests a tree with roots, and grounded suggests a building with a foundation. In both of these examples there is stability and solid support, and one of the prayer points is this, that we would be stable, grounded, rooted, and founded in that love.
Find our security in that love. The God of the heavens and the earth has set his heart upon us. And all of us find our security there. In Ephesians, love is a soil in which believers are to be rooted and to grow. It is the foundation on which we are built.
And redemption from sin and guilt and salvation from the divine wrath is by faith alone, but the genuine Christian faith is never alone. It necessarily issues in love towards our God and one another. So it's important that we pray that we are rooted and grounded in love.
It's important that we find our security in that love. That God loves depraved people like us, lost people like us, and he has set his heart on us for greater purpose. And he is not going to abandon us in whatever situation, in whatever life circumstances that we are living in. He is loving us. And Paul says in verse 18 here that, the word able here, that we may be able. The word able here in this verse is the same word that is used for strength in verse 16, right? That means that we have, would have that capability, ability,
strength. Paul prays that the Christians would have strength, ability to comprehend. We need ability to comprehend. It's not easy for us to comprehend this purpose. Us, we cannot, matter of the strength, put our minds together and try to comprehend these truths. It's impossible for us to grasp these truths. We need that ability to grasp these truths. This is important, to understand this, you know, we, that we might have strength and ability to comprehend verse 18 and know
what the love that Christ has for his people. As we are supernaturally grounded in this love, we will be able, fully capable of comprehending the love of Christ. He says that along with all the saints. All the saints. In verse 18 the four dimensions are given because this love is supernaturally comprehended. God's love is so amazing that it surpasses our ability to comprehend it fully, and that's the reason we need the operation of the Spirit of God, that we might understand the depths, the heights, the breadth of this great love so that we are secured in this love.
And there should be the operation of the Spirit of God within us consistently. And God’s love is so awesome and deep that we need the spiritual strength to comprehend it. The Spirit should energize us to consistently comprehend that we are secure in this, and as God’s children we are expected to pursue these things together. You see, there he says that along with all saints we need to do it together, along with both Jews and Gentiles, with all of God’s people. Abandoning our whatever egos or whatever, we come together and pray together for these things, that we would seek these things together as a body so that we would be strengthened. The presence of the classification of Christianity shows that the believers haven’t comprehended such love. The presence of this mentality among many believers, I
wouldn’t associate with that person. I’m not comfortable with him, with her. He’s not my type. That kind of a presence, there’s still that presence. That means that we are not comprehending Christ’s love. What Christ has accomplished through on the cross for us. We’re not comprehending that.
The presence of the classification of Christianity is an abomination to God. It’s working against the very purposes of God. As the Spirit of God freely operates in us, He gives us the ability to come together to pursue such love, understand that love of Christ for us. And from that love, that love of Christ will become the wellspring from which our love for one another would flow. Where we would freely forgive others.
Deny ourselves. We have seen that God is rich in love. We are going to chapter 2 verse 4. And he bestows on his people the untraceable riches in Christ, out of the riches of his glory. What exactly is Paul praying when he mentions the four dimensions?
The reference to breadth, length, height and depth only references God’s limitless love and power. It refers to the boundless inscrutable character of Christ’s love. That love of Christ reaches all kinds of people in all situations under all circumstances. It covers all kinds of sin. No sin can be healed by Christ. There is no sin which cannot be untouched by the love of Christ.
In the eyes of man that can be the most heinous crime. But Christ’s love can even forgive such a crime. Christ’s love accepts all kinds of people. From all kinds of background. Even from criminal background. And make him into a saint. Build us together into one body. That is Christ’s love. We must understand that dimension of Christ’s love. And when we are grasped, gripped by that kind of love which touches all kinds of people from backgrounds, our hearts begin to change towards people who commit sins against us.
There will be no reason for us to not forgive that brother or sister. There will be no more excuses for us not to forgive and accept because of the offenses of people, because now we are acting from the foundation, from the soil of Christ’s love. Is it possible for us to love such and such a person, such an offense? Yes, it’s impossible for us to do that. But if you’re grounded and rooted in that love, it’s very much possible. And that’s the reason we must pray. We must seek that love in earnest prayer, that we must allow the Spirit’s operation in us. It’s utterly impossible for us to show that love consistently. How long should I forgive, or often
should I forgive? That is possible only and when we are rooted and grounded in Christ’s love. And that’s important. That’s the reason it’s important that we pray for these things. It refers to the inscrutable character of Christ’s love. Christ’s love surpasses. It surpasses our ability to comprehend it fully.
Yet Paul prays for his readers to come to an increasingly more significant understanding of this love. So we must pray. We must pray. We must kneel together. It is a corporate pursuit. And according to verse 18, we kneel before the Father that he would grant us insight into the depths of Christ’s love. Such comprehension and being captivated by Christ’s love are essential for us to be built up as God’s holy temple where God dwells.
We should be a community shaped by love. Otherwise, brothers and sisters, it’s impossible for us to stay united. Every single word that we utter with other person can be a problematic word. We can find mistakes. We can be cynical. We can dig deeper and find a lot of mistakes.
It’s impossible for us unless we are grounded and rooted in the love. Point number three. Paul prays that we be filled with God’s fullness. Chapter 19, sorry, verse 19, second part. “That you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” And this is the final request of Paul on behalf of the Ephesian believers. And this request serves as the climactic purpose of all the requests. Us why we should, you know, earnestly seek the operation of the Spirit of God in us, why we should seek that we be united, why we should seek that we would be grounded and be rooted in Christ’s love, so that we would manifest love even in the presence of the offense of
other brothers and sisters. Why? The climactic purpose is this, that we may be filled up with all the fullness of God. What does it mean to be filled up with all the fullness of God? Paul is not asking his readers to be filled with the divine fullness.
There’s a difference. We need to observe here. Paul is not asking that we be filled with the divine fullness, but to all his fullness as a goal. We would say filled to the brim, right? As a very rough equivalent to in the English language.
Filled to the brim is different than all the fullness. It’s not saying that we should be filled with all of God. All that God is. Paul is not talking about that. But nevertheless he’s saying that we should be filled to the brim, that we be full of God, his characteristics, his life, that he would feel home, that he dwells in us. What exactly is Paul praying that the Ephesians will receive?
Now as I mentioned earlier, the reason for Paul bowing his knees is connected to the end of chapter 2. The reason is that the Gentile believers have been now merged with believing Jews into a new holy temple in the Lord, part of a new dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Therefore Paul prays to God the Father that they will be strengthened by the Spirit, verse 16, and that Christ would take up his dwelling with the church.
Moving to God’s fullness, God would fill his new creation temple, the new covenant church, with his glorious presence through the Spirit. It, eventually the church will be filled with God’s glory in full measure. We are filled to the brim. Early on in Ezekiel’s visions we had, we see, we learned there that the Lord’s glory was departing from the Solomon’s temple, which had been profaned with idolatry before its desolation. We see that in Ezekiel chapter 8 and 10 and in those chapters. But then he saw, as he described, a glorious new creation temple.
Ezekiel chapter 43 verse 5. Ezekiel says, “And I fell on my face as the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court. And behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”
And if you go to the final book of Revelation in chapter 21. Verse 22 and 23, he says that, “I saw no temple in it. For the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it. For the glory of God has illumined it. And its lamp is the Lamb.”
We are filled, we are to be filled up to the fullness of God, with the fullness of God. And this request flows to the doxology in verses 20 to 21. It says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
Now Paul extols God as a powerful one who can accomplish more than his people could imagine. God is not only powerful, but he’s also willing enough to do more than all that we ask or think. Verse 20, he can do even more. And he adds that God can do far more abundantly beyond that we imagine or ask.
You know, the point is that whether we comprehend these truths fully or not, whether we are able to grasp them in our minds, imagine those things in our minds, right? It's impossible for us to grasp these spiritual realities fully but God is able to do far more abundantly more than we could imagine.
The point is that we need to be committed to God's purpose and trust in his purposes. Trust him to do what he wants to do. Right? And do our part. God can work far more abundantly. Will he? Will he work? God works according to the power at work, which is at work within us. And that power according to the same power which he saved us and with the same power with which he is now building his church and with the same power he will fill his church with his fullness so that the last part of the doxology is this: to him be the glory in the
church and the Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. And in the new temple, which comprises both Jews and Gentiles, resides the rich glory of God through Christ Jesus. Paul expresses the idea of God's dwelling with his people as he inaugurated a new temple building in chapter 2, verses 21 and 22.
So what's the point here? Like Paul, we must be captivated by God's glory and purpose. And pray that according to God's might, we may be strengthened in the inner man by God's power so that Christ may dwell in our hearts. Pray that we must understand that Christ's love, the greatness, the depth, the height of Christ's love.
Christ's love sees no racial barriers. Knows no racial barriers. It touches all kinds of people with all kinds of weaknesses. Right? It reaches to anyone who is in the lowest estate. We must pray that we must understand that Christ loves. So that we come to an increasingly more significant understanding of this love. And act upon that love. We must pray that we be filled with the fullness of God. So that God would be glorified in and through the church.
And as redeemed people of God, we must not merely view ourselves as individuals, but also as corporate body, as people of God, from different tribes and tongues. We are built up into one holy temple in the Lord. And we must corporately strive for this unity and conformity to God's will. God has broken every division and has fully dealt on the cross with sin that divides and corrupts us and the church. God has dealt with all sin in the person and in the work of Christ Jesus on the cross. He suffered in our place for our sins. The righteous one suffered for the
unrighteous, so that by His redemptive finished work on the cross our sins are cleansed, His righteousness imputed into our lives. We are made part of God's family. We are now part of the body of Christ. And God is building His church. His church will be filled with the fullness of God. And Paul is praying that the truth that he expounds would become a reality in these lives of believers.
And we must pray according to the word of God. We must pray for and earnestly seek the powerful operation of God's Spirit in our lives, and without which we cannot live according to God's purposes. Preaching of God's Word and doctrines will clarify, will give us understanding of the mind and the purposes of God. But prayer allows us to live according to those purposes.
Prayer unleashes the power of God to bring that plan of God to fruit. That's the reason it's important that we pray such prayers and the spirit of God should have that liberty in our lives, in the life of the church to make these truths a reality. That means that we should cry out to him as a people of God. Otherwise, it won't be a blessing. It is not very useful to preach if we're not committing ourselves to pray for the same.
It is the responsibility of God's people to pray the word into our lives so that we would begin to live according to his will and his purposes in the power of God's spirit. That's the reason corporate prayers are important. And our corporate prayers should be designed by and driven by the word of God.
of God, a monologue should translate into a dialogue with God. We should cry out for God saying, “Oh God, write these truths upon our hearts. May the biblical convictions be formed in our hearts that these convictions would drive our thoughts, our minds, our actions, our motives.”
Otherwise it becomes a mere intellectual pursuit. But we must understand that God wants change. Change in the innermost being. The change that affects our hearts, emotions and actions. The real change is not superficial. The Spirit of God drives the truth into our hearts and brings real change.
We should hear and cry to the one who can change us according to the word. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this time. Thank you, God, for your word. Oh Lord, we realize, Lord, why we often fail. Why it’s impossible for us to live according to your word.
Why a church life is messy. Father, let these truths sink deep into our hearts. Let the Spirit of God work powerfully in our souls. That we would live according to your word. Let the Spirit of God powerfully operate in our lives. Making these truths reality in our lives.
So that we would live according to these truths. Lord, we pray that you would build us up, Lord, for your glory. In Jesus Christ name we pray, amen.