For this cause I bow my knees unto the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…that He would grant you, according to the
riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner
man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love…that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Ephesians
3:14, 16-17, 19
The great
privilege that separated Israel from other nations was this: they had God
dwelling in their midst; His home was in “the Holiest of All” (Hebrews
9:3).
The New
Testament is the dispensation of the indwelling God in the hearts of His
people. Christ said, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My
Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with
him” (John 14:23). This is what Paul referred to as “the riches of
the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory” (Colossians 1:27). How few experience this! Let us study Paul’s
teaching on the way to experience this crowning blessing of the Christian life.
1. “I bow my knees to the Father.” The blessing must come from the
Father. It is to be found in much prayer.
2. “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory”—something
very special and divine—“to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in
the inner man.” God gives us the strength to be separate from sin and the
world, to yield to Christ as Lord and Master, and to live the life of love for
Christ and keeping His commandments to which the promise has been given: “We
will come unto Him, and make Our abode with Him” (John 14:23).
3. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Christ longs
for hearts to dwell in. As a believer sees this by faith, bows his knee, and
asks God for this great blessing, he receives grace to believe that the prayer
is answered. And through that faith, he accepts the wonderful gift—Christ dwelling
in the heart by faith.
4. “That you, being rooted and grounded in love…may be filled with all the
fullness of God,” as far as it is possible for man to experience it.
Feed on
the words the Holy Spirit has given here, and hold fast to the assurance that
God will do “abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).
