Eph 3:17-19 | KingComments | STEP | . The great truths that Paul has been able to present till here also fill his own heart. Overwhelmed by all that he received from God, he falls on his knees before “the Father” of our Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 1 he already went into prayer to God. There he focused on “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” ( ). I already clarified the distinction between ‘the God of’ and ‘the Father of’ in the study of chapter 1:3. In chapter 1 Paul prays that the Ephesians would also learn to understand and enjoy the riches that he has described. He surely could write to them that they were blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, but he didn’t have the ability to make them capable of making those blessings their own and also to enjoy them. ‘The God of our Lord Jesus Christ’ had to make them capable for that. That’s why he lifts up his eyes to Him and asks if He will grant them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that the eyes of their heart might be enlightened’. The blessings Paul speaks about there are the possession of every believer individually . It’s wonderful to see how Paul commits himself to make them aware of these blessings and that they enjoy them. For him, it is about getting a message across and then moving on. He wants what he has passed on, to ‘arrive’ in the hearts of the believers. Although it is hard to understand some things, he is doesn’t adjust his message. Adjusting the message is quite often the tendency in professing Christianity today. The message becomes a product that is being adjusted to the desires of the ‘client’. But when Paul preaches the Word, he does that as it is given to him and simultaneously he asks his Sender, in Whose Name he preaches, if He will grant that the Word that has been preached, will also be understood. This example should be followed by every preacher. Paul was certainly aware of the needs of his ‘audience’. He knew that he could not write the contents of the letter to the Ephesians to the believers in Corinth for example. They were not ready to receive this message yet because they were carnal. That he could tell the Ephesians about the tremendous blessings – to the individual believer and to the church – doesn’t mean that they were able to understand all this on their own. It is not a matter of intellectual ability, a great intellect, but of the heart. When it is understood with the heart, it will have its effect in life. It is Paul’s desire that this happens and he prays for that, both in chapter 1 and in chapter 3. The motive for his prayer here is what he said in the previous part. The essence of that is the “unfathomable riches of Christ” ( ). This is what he means by “for this reason”. It is his desire that the believers will also understand the blessings they have received collectively , as the church, besides their personal blessings. The blessings of the church are perhaps even greater than those of the individual believers. An example may clarify this. You can throw a large number of stones in a heap; you can also build a house out of those stones. In both cases you have the same number of stones, but when a house is built of it, that stack of stones has an enormous added value. That is also the case with the church. All who know the Lord Jesus are living stones, because they have Him as their life. But they represent more. Together they are the house of God, that is the church of the living God ( ; ). The same goes for the church as a body. Every believer is a member of that body. They are not members who each live for themselves. Together they are the body of Christ. Of that body He is the Head. Paul just told about the wonderful blessings that are connected to it. Here also he is aware of his incapacity to make them capable to take the blessings into their heart and to enjoy them. For that he starts to pray. He is now praying to ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ because the following part is about the Lord Jesus, Who, as the eternal Son, is the Center of all God’s purposes. In chapter 1 he wanted the believers to be aware of all that God had done for them through Christ. Now he desires that the believers will be aware of what the Father works in them through His Spirit. . The glory of the Father is great. It reflects from all families that finally will fill the heavens and the earth. All those families are named after Him because they come forth from Him. He is the ‘Originator’ of them. He gave them all a place in His plans. These families can be families of angels and all kinds of families of people, both Jews and Gentiles. Not that all families call Him Father. That is only applicable to those who became His children by faith in the Lord Jesus. We are brought to that intimate relationship. The Lord Jesus is the Son of the Father from eternity. That’s why He also – in a way – is the Head of those various families. The church, however, is directly related to Him. All who belong to it are the family of God in a special way. That will be expressed in the most wonderful way when we soon enter the Father’s house to dwell there forever with the Father and the Son ( ). . Here Paul is asking the Father to work in accordance with His glory in the believers “through His Spirit”. They have the Spirit as a guarantee ( ). It is also only possible through the Spirit “to be strengthened with power … in the inner man”. Something must happen in the believer and not only with or for him. By “the inner man” are meant the mind and the sense of man, his considerations, everything that is not visible (cf. ). What Paul desires, is that the Spirit of the Father gets the opportunity to fill up that whole ‘area’ with His power. Wouldn’t that be wonderful if you and I would pray that for each other? And what a consequence it would have! . “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Oh, may that happen to us, yes, to each child of God. Paul desires that Christ will continuously be the predominating Center of your deepest emotions and affections. That is only possible “through faith” which means that this place is given to Him in full confidence. Through faith you focus on Him with all that is in you. Also in your life He is the Center, as He eternally was and is and will be to the Father. Then Christ is not ‘just visiting’ you, a temporary Guest, but He can ‘dwell’ there, which also means that He finds rest there. About this ‘dwelling’ the Lord makes a wonderful remark in John 14 ( ). Inseparably linked with this, is “love”, which is the true embedding of the previous. God is love. His love is the origin of all His counsels. He, who has his roots in the Divine love (“rooted”), extracts from there the juices for life; he has this love as the foundation for his life (“grounded”), and is capable of enjoying all the glories that Paul has summarized. In the following verses we will have a further look at that. Now read Ephesians 3:14-17 again. Reflection: How can it be realized that Christ dwells in your heart through faith?

‏ Ephesians 3:17-19

Second Prayer (I)

Eph 3:14. The great truths that Paul has been able to present till here also fill his own heart. Overwhelmed by all that he received from God, he falls on his knees before “the Father” of our Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 1 he already went into prayer to God. There he focused on “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:17). I already clarified the distinction between ‘the God of’ and ‘the Father of’ in the study of chapter 1:3.

In chapter 1 Paul prays that the Ephesians would also learn to understand and enjoy the riches that he has described. He surely could write to them that they were blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, but he didn’t have the ability to make them capable of making those blessings their own and also to enjoy them. ‘The God of our Lord Jesus Christ’ had to make them capable for that. That’s why he lifts up his eyes to Him and asks if He will grant them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that the eyes of their heart might be enlightened’.

The blessings Paul speaks about there are the possession of every believer individually. It’s wonderful to see how Paul commits himself to make them aware of these blessings and that they enjoy them. For him, it is about getting a message across and then moving on. He wants what he has passed on, to ‘arrive’ in the hearts of the believers.

Although it is hard to understand some things, he is doesn’t adjust his message. Adjusting the message is quite often the tendency in professing Christianity today. The message becomes a product that is being adjusted to the desires of the ‘client’. But when Paul preaches the Word, he does that as it is given to him and simultaneously he asks his Sender, in Whose Name he preaches, if He will grant that the Word that has been preached, will also be understood. This example should be followed by every preacher.

Paul was certainly aware of the needs of his ‘audience’. He knew that he could not write the contents of the letter to the Ephesians to the believers in Corinth for example. They were not ready to receive this message yet because they were carnal. That he could tell the Ephesians about the tremendous blessings – to the individual believer and to the church – doesn’t mean that they were able to understand all this on their own. It is not a matter of intellectual ability, a great intellect, but of the heart. When it is understood with the heart, it will have its effect in life. It is Paul’s desire that this happens and he prays for that, both in chapter 1 and in chapter 3.

The motive for his prayer here is what he said in the previous part. The essence of that is the “unfathomable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8). This is what he means by “for this reason”. It is his desire that the believers will also understand the blessings they have received collectively, as the church, besides their personal blessings. The blessings of the church are perhaps even greater than those of the individual believers.

An example may clarify this. You can throw a large number of stones in a heap; you can also build a house out of those stones. In both cases you have the same number of stones, but when a house is built of it, that stack of stones has an enormous added value.

That is also the case with the church. All who know the Lord Jesus are living stones, because they have Him as their life. But they represent more. Together they are the house of God, that is the church of the living God (1Tim 3:15; 1Pet 2:5). The same goes for the church as a body. Every believer is a member of that body. They are not members who each live for themselves. Together they are the body of Christ. Of that body He is the Head. Paul just told about the wonderful blessings that are connected to it.

Here also he is aware of his incapacity to make them capable to take the blessings into their heart and to enjoy them. For that he starts to pray. He is now praying to ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ because the following part is about the Lord Jesus, Who, as the eternal Son, is the Center of all God’s purposes. In chapter 1 he wanted the believers to be aware of all that God had done for them through Christ. Now he desires that the believers will be aware of what the Father works in them through His Spirit.

Eph 3:15. The glory of the Father is great. It reflects from all families that finally will fill the heavens and the earth. All those families are named after Him because they come forth from Him. He is the ‘Originator’ of them. He gave them all a place in His plans.

These families can be families of angels and all kinds of families of people, both Jews and Gentiles. Not that all families call Him Father. That is only applicable to those who became His children by faith in the Lord Jesus. We are brought to that intimate relationship. The Lord Jesus is the Son of the Father from eternity. That’s why He also – in a way – is the Head of those various families. The church, however, is directly related to Him. All who belong to it are the family of God in a special way. That will be expressed in the most wonderful way when we soon enter the Father’s house to dwell there forever with the Father and the Son (Jn 14:1-3).

Eph 3:16. Here Paul is asking the Father to work in accordance with His glory in the believers “through His Spirit”. They have the Spirit as a guarantee (Eph 1:13). It is also only possible through the Spirit “to be strengthened with power … in the inner man”. Something must happen in the believer and not only with or for him.

By “the inner man” are meant the mind and the sense of man, his considerations, everything that is not visible (cf. 1Cor 2:11). What Paul desires, is that the Spirit of the Father gets the opportunity to fill up that whole ‘area’ with His power. Wouldn’t that be wonderful if you and I would pray that for each other? And what a consequence it would have!

Eph 3:17. “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Oh, may that happen to us, yes, to each child of God. Paul desires that Christ will continuously be the predominating Center of your deepest emotions and affections. That is only possible “through faith” which means that this place is given to Him in full confidence. Through faith you focus on Him with all that is in you.

Also in your life He is the Center, as He eternally was and is and will be to the Father. Then Christ is not ‘just visiting’ you, a temporary Guest, but He can ‘dwell’ there, which also means that He finds rest there. About this ‘dwelling’ the Lord makes a wonderful remark in John 14 (Jn 14:23).

Inseparably linked with this, is “love”, which is the true embedding of the previous. God is love. His love is the origin of all His counsels. He, who has his roots in the Divine love (“rooted”), extracts from there the juices for life; he has this love as the foundation for his life (“grounded”), and is capable of enjoying all the glories that Paul has summarized. In the following verses we will have a further look at that.

Now read Ephesians 3:14-17 again.

Reflection: How can it be realized that Christ dwells in your heart through faith?

Second Prayer (II)

Eph 3:18. The word “may” indicates a desire, which is connected to what is previously said. Paul prayed in Eph 3:17 that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. He also drew the atmosphere of this dwelling by pointing at being rooted and grounded in love. When faith and love work this way, then believers can “comprehend” and “know” the things that follow.

This is an important principle for Bible study. Intelligence is not the main thing, but the fact that the Center of God’s counsels lives in our hearts. Bible study without having Christ as the Center, and without it being embedded with love, results in knowledge that makes a person puffed up with pride. That’s why this prayer is so important. Being ‘capable’ is not a question of intelligence, a certain rational capacity, but a spiritual capacity to comprehend the following things. These things have to do with all the counsels of God that especially have been brought forward in chapter 1.

In this second prayer Paul connects those counsels in a very special way with Christ Who is the Center of them. If you want to understand this, you cannot act on your own. You will need “all the saints”. That is also logical. The manifoldness of all those counsels and the boundlessness of Christ’s love are only to be known by pondering over together and sharing these things with each other. In order to have a most complete picture of God’s counsels and of the love of Christ, each saint is necessary. How could you or I, limited creatures as we are, be able to understand such glory?

The glory of God’s counsels and of Christ as the Center of it, have an incalculable outreach:

1. Try to think about the “breadth” of it. That includes all the saints from the day of Pentecost until the rapture of the church.

2. Then the “length” of it – that is from eternity to eternity.

3. Just look up, in the “height”. There you see Christ, above all principalities and powers, and His church united with Him.

4. Just look down, in the “depth”. In those depths you were lying, lost in your sins. But Christ went deeper, picked you up and placed you and me and all who belong to the church in the height, in the Father’s house, to the heart of the Father.

Eph 3:19. Christ did that all, driven by a perfect love for His Father, for the church and for each member of the church separately (cf. Exo 21:5). Above all, His love shines in His work on the cross.

It is a profound desire of Paul that we learn to know this love better and better. At the same time he says that it is actually impossible to know that love. How could that eternal, Divine love be fully encompassed by the heart of a man? Is that discouraging? No, it is challenging! Who would not want to penetrate into a love that can never be fully fathomed?

I will clarify this by the following and often used example. A child stands at the ocean with his small bucket. He scoops water in it and says: ‘Hey look, I have the ocean in my bucket.’ This will be the desire of every heart that knows Him, in Whom that perfect love of God has become visible, to be filled with that love completely.

The result is that “you may be filled up to all the fullness of God”. As it is said, it is not possible for a creature to be filled with the whole fullness of God. If we, however, stretch ourselves to know the love of Christ more and more, we will grow more and more in that direction. Then we are back at the beginning. After all, it all began with all the fullness of God, right? Through Christ we have all received of that fullness, and grace upon grace (Jn 1:16). In Christ that fullness appeared on earth: “For it was the [Father’s] good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Col 1:19).

To ‘be filled with all the fullness of God’ – that is the ultimate goal of Paul’s prayer – therefore means that we are fully focused on Christ, and that our hearts and lives are full of Him. You can sense that there is no lower goal. At the same time you might also sense how hard it is to realize that in the world we live. There are so many things around you that want your attention and of which you sometimes have to give attention to.

Eph 3:20. That’s why the content of this verse is such a great encouragement. In any case it is a wonderful verse. You can apply it to every practical situation, but the main purpose is that you understand the context in which this verse is used. Then you get the true meaning that is above the application to our daily needs. You will desire that the content of this prayer will become true in your life.

It will be clear that it is all about that and not about something that only happens in heaven. There we don’t need prayers anymore. No, on earth this prayer is truly necessary. On earth you are aware of your shortcomings and you doubt sometimes if you will succeed. In this way your eyes are being focused on Him Who is able to realize it in your life. Then you will pray for that. Again you look up, to Him Who is capable of answering your prayer.

Sometimes you don’t even pray and you only think how wonderful it would be if your life would be filled with Christ and His love. Then you look up again. Then you see Him, Who knows your thinking and Who is able to fulfill your desires.

It is already amazing to look up to Him Who knows your praying and thinking and replies to it, but it goes much further. He “is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think”. Everything is exceedingly abundant and goes beyond whatever a man can pray or think. That suits completely to the way in which God is presented in this letter, namely as the Source of all blessing. God doesn’t give sparsely. When He gives of His fullness, there is no limit. In praying for and thinking about God’s counsels, you sink in it.

When Paul arrives at this point, he no longer addresses the believers alone. He involves himself in it and says “we”. He also senses that he is dependent on “the power that works within us” for the realization of that. By that he points back to the beginning of his prayer, Eph 3:16. The Spirit of the Father can work that the things you pray for and about which you think, can be fully effective in your life.

Eph 3:21. This glory of God has been fully unfolded by Paul. That glory has become visible in God’s counsel in respect to the church, while Christ is the Center of it. Overseeing all this, only one thing is left and that is to praise the Father of glory and say to Him that He is worthy to receive all glory.

What is visible to only a few and is shown by just a few today will be seen through all eternity. All generations of all ages will worship and adore that glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.

Paul closes this praise, this special prayer with a suitable “amen”. He confirms the content by that: so it is.

Now read Ephesians 3:18-21 again.

Reflection: Pray that you may learn to know the love of Christ as it is presented in this prayer.