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

This is one of Paul’s great prayers and praise sessions in scripture. Paul often begins with a teaching that takes his mind to the amazing abundance of God available to his people and then those very thoughts drive him to little pockets of praise throughout his writings. But in these sections we can find spiritual realities that we need to grasp so let’s reflect on this section of his letter to the Ephesians.

Paul had already prayed for a number of things for the church in this letter. Here he prays for two more things: power in our inner man and the capacity to grasp the immensity of the love of Christ. He prays for the church at Ephesus but, by extension, I will apply his prayers to us. He begins by praying that God, out of his superabundant resources, will strengthen our inner being with power. Our inner being contains both our soul and our spirit which need the power or the force of God for strength. We ingest things for physical energy but there is also spiritual energy that sustains us. Moses spent 40 days on Mt. Sinai in the presence of God without food or water. Something in the spiritual realm sustained him in the physical. No doubt we have a part in that. Moses’ part was to stay focused on God and to remain in his presence. Our part is similar. To stay focused on God and to stay in his presence through time in the Word, prayer, and praise. As we do, the Father imparts increasing power to our inner being and I believe even to our physical bodies indirectly.

The second thing Paul prayed in this section was for God to impart power so that we might have faith for Jesus to dwell in our hearts. This suggests that the extent to which Christ dwells in our heart is based on our faith and our faith depends on God’s power to increase it. Of course, we always have our part in this but Romans 12 says, “think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Rom.12:3).

When we come to Christ we have faith, we have the Spirit indwelling us, and we have Jesus dwelling in our hearts through the Spirit. Each of these is given in an initial measure that can be increased and should be increased as we mature in Christ. There is always more and we should always desire more. Paul’s prayer reminds us that God is the one who ultimately enables that increase. He does so when we press in for more – again with more time in prayer, in the Word, constant repentance that continues to align us with God, more obedience, etc.

Paul’s goal for us in that prayer, however, is not power for power’s sake but rather power to comprehend the vastness of Christ’s love for us. Most humans on this planet hunger for love. They look for it in all the wrong places, medicate when they can’t find it, write endless songs about it, and make movies about man’s search for someone to love him. What we are truly looking for is God’s love because it is only the love of the Father that will not fade, will not die, will not wander, and that is given unconditionally.

To truly grasp, comprehend, or get hold of the immensity of Christ’s love for us would solve our insecurities, our search for significance, our fear of abandonment, our fear of the unknown and even our loneliness. When those needs are met we have peace and the world is looking for peace. Paul’s prayer reveals that our grasp of this love must come to us through revelation, an impartation from God, and personal experiences with Jesus. Let me encourage you to pray for those very things for yourself and others who need to find Jesus or grow in him.

It’s easy to read sections of scripture like this and assume that Paul’s wish for us “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” is simply poetic language that, in reality, is unattainable for broken humans. But, Paul follows that declaration with a reminder that God operates without limitation. Nothing is too hard for him and he can do immeasurably more than anything we could ever ask or imagine.

We often live emotionally and spiritually unsatisfied lives in this world but it is not because God is unwilling or unable to satisfy us. It is usually because we are not really hungry enough to press in or because we keep trying to find the things that satisfy through our own efforts or through sources the world offers us. When those things fail to satisfy us, we blame God for not meeting our needs. Our needs are not met because we keep picking fruit from the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil rather than seeking it from the hand of God. We keep drinking from polluted streams trickling from our culture rather that drinking from God, the very source of life and satisfaction.

We would do well to make Paul’s prayers for the church in Ephesus our own prayers for ourselves and for those we know who need more of God. Let me encourage you to read this great letter and discover what Paul had been praying for the church and then begin to pray those very prayers for yourself until God has given you the revelation you desire. That revelation, if written on your heart, will change your world.