EPHESIANS 3:14-21 - PAUL'S POWERFUL, PASSIONATE PRAYER

Ephesians 3:14-21

PAUL’S POWERFUL, PASSIONATE PRAYER

Ephesians 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Paul has been stressing the unity of believers because of their common salvation in Jesus Christ. Toward that end, he now lifts them up in prayer. The Jews at this time usually prayed standing up. However, due to the realization that he could never be worthy and thankfulness to God for saving grace, Paul knelt in humility and gratitude. This was not just a physical posture but an inward attitude. The Father invested in us, gave His only begotten Son, in order to grant us salvation. We could never earn or deserve God’s love. He chose to lavish it on us. As the Holy Spirit made us aware that He had given such a priceless gift, all we had to do was receive it. Since we could do nothing to earn God’s love, we can do nothing to make Him love us less. Grace means that God chose to save us and keep us apart from anything we could do or fail to do. This should bring all believers to their knees in humility.

Ephesians 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

Jewish and Gentile believers, living and in Heaven, have one identity – Christian. We are all in the family of Jesus. We are all corporately His bride, His body, His church, the Messianic Community. We all have one Father – God. Paul will expound on this later in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:4-6 (NASB) There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

Our ultimate focus should be the inner man, our spirit rather than our earth-suit that begins perishing from the moment we are born. Paul prays for the Ephesian believers and all who would read this letter, that the Lord will strengthen them from within. The Lord supplies His power, His strength by placing the Holy Spirit within believers; but we need to pray for each other to be “plugged in,” as it were, on a daily basis. The power grid is there, but we have to access the outlet via prayer. It is possible for a believer to move counter to the Spirit’s leading. There must be a submission and cooperation on the part of the believer to access the full power available to him or her.

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

Paul is not praying for their salvation as he is addressing those who already believe. He is praying that since Jesus dwells in them, takes up residence, moves in, they will abide in that knowledge, in that power. I would relate this to what Jesus taught that is recorded in John 15. We are to abide in Christ as He abides in us.

John 15:5 (NASB) I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Our total source of power is the Holy Spirit within us. The Love that placed Him there is vast.

Reformation Study Bible

3:18 breadth and length and height and depth. These measures of space recall the temple image of 2:21. As the “living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5) are linked in love, God’s dwelling grows and is filled with Christ Himself. God uses the love among “all the saints”—Jew and Gentile alike—to build a whole that is greater than any of its individual parts. The spatial language exalts Christ’s love for His people—a love that is inclusive, inexhaustible, and self-sacrificing.

We have seen that in our own ministry. We are more than our individual personalities or expressions added together. Christ brings us together to be something neither of us could be separately or even dream of being as a team. Christ working in us, enables us to be more than we could ever be without Him. The reality is that we are nothing without Him.

God’s love, power, and especially His grace are incomprehensible to the unregenerate (un-saved) mind. The Holy Spirit within us enables us to glimpse the extent of God’s work both in us individually and in the Messianic Community, God’s family, as a whole.

Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

How can we know something that passes knowledge? Jesus’ love cannot be known intellectually. It is exclusively revealed by the Holy Spirit working in and through us. As we receive His love, love Him in return, and share His love with others, our understanding grows along with our faith. It is a circular experience that continually comes back to the Father’s gracious love for His children, those who believe, and has no end.

Ephesians 3:20 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, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Jesus is the one doing the work. We are the instruments He uses to do the work. Jesus, is the master builder, and we (the church) are His handiwork. We are the vehicle He uses to spread the Good News, to build one another up, and to glorify God. We saw this truth in Ephesians 2:10 and Paul expresses the same idea to the church at Philippi:

Philippians 4:13 (AMP) I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]

If one receives an infusion of medicine via an IV, the medicine permeates the body via the circulatory system. Jesus infuses us with His strength in our spiritual system via the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Paul ends his prayer for these believers by asking the Lord to glorify Himself through the church throughout the ages.

Ponder this: Are we asking and expecting God to glorify Himself through us individually, through our local body of believers, and through the church worldwide?