A Prayer For You

Read Ephesians 3:1-21

“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 saints, 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 Now
to him who is able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is
at work within us, to him be
glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus throughout
all generations, for
ever and ever!
Amen.
(Ephesians 3:16-21)

Thoughts… The problem many believers have is a disconnect between the head and the heart. That’s why Paul prays this eloquent and moving prayer for the release of divine power that will move us beyond an experience of intellectual Christianity to an experience of Jesus in our hearts.

Perhaps that’s the thing you need most today—to experience the marriage of Biblical knowledge to passionate love for Jesus Christ, a supernatural connection between your head and your heart.

That’s Paul’s prayer for you. It’s not that you will have more self-discipline, not that you will think more positively, not that you will have a better attitude. He’s not asking for physical, intellectual or emotional power. He is praying that you will receive spiritual power—the power of the Holy Spirit to get done in your Christian life what needs to be done, namely, a deeper faith that allows Jesus to settle in and feel at home in your heart—to take up residence there.

That’s a great prayer! And when that prayer gets answered, you will experience an altogether deeper dimension of love where you are “rooted and established in love…” and you “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…a love that surpasses knowledge…” and you are filled with “the measure of all the fullness of God” (Verses 17-19)

Now that’s a pretty tall order, obviously, and you may be wondering how this will happen, if, truthfully, it can happen at all this side of heaven. Here’s the good news: Verses 20-21 tells us that it is God himself who will make this happen:

“To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…”

Paul is saying that if you simply and humbly open your heart, ask for and align yourself with a release of God’s transforming power, then you will get an experience of God beyond your most sincere requests and wildest dreams.

Do you need that kind of experience today? The love of God that goes way beyond an intellectual understanding and consumes your whole being, mind, body and spirit?

That is certainly within the realm of possibilities today, because God wants it for you. So why not ask for it?

Prayer… Father, as Teresa of Avila so honestly prayed, so I pray, “Oh God, I don’t love you, I don’t even want to love you, but I want to want to love you.” Create in my heart a burning desire to love you more than life itself. And lead me to an experience of divine love that surpasses knowledge and fills me with your fullness. And Lord, do it today.

One More Thing… “Our prayers lay the track down which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.” —Watchman Nee