Power is Essential

• I can use this lamp for 3 to 8 hours just using batteries.
• It will eventually run out of charge and I will have to plug it back in to a power source.
• In much the same way, our quiet time with the Lord ‘fills’ us for the work He has called us to.
• If I am not being ‘re-filled’ daily, I will be useless.

Experience Power and Love in the Spirit

Ephesians 3:14-21, Ephesians 3:7-8A

7 Whereof [the Gospel] I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given…

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

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

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;

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;

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

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.

A Cause for Prayer

• Ephesians 3:14-15
• In verses 2-6, Paul described his responsibility for teaching the grace of God.
• In verses 7-12, Paul described his opportunity to serve God through the grace given to him through the Holy Spirit.
• In verses 14-21, Paul shares his prayer for the believers in Ephesus.
  • Verses 14-19 in the Greek are one of eight of Paul’s ‘long’ sentences.

A Prayer for Power

• Ephesians 3:16
  • ‘to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being’
  • If you seek to obey the Word apart from the power of the Spirit, your spiritual life will be lifeless, dull and inconsistent.
  • If you want to walk in the Spirit of God, get on your knees and open your Bible.
• Ephesians 3:17a
  • ‘Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith’
  • This does not refer to the indwelling at the moment of salvation; instead it refers to Christ’s desire to ‘be at home’ in our hearts.
  • In other words, He wants to be the center of our lives—the dominating factor in our attitudes and conduct.

A Power To Understand His Love

• Ephesians 3:17b-19
• ‘being rooted [like a plant] and grounded [like a building cornerstone] in love’
• The purpose of the prayer is that they ‘may be able to comprehend…and know the love of Christ…’
• Verse 18 describes the immensity of God’s love, not the measurement of it.

The LOVE of God

Written by Frederick M. Lehman, 1917

Understand His Love

• God’s love is incomprehensible without the power of the Holy Spirit enabling the believer to understand its immensity!
• He prays that we will know (experientially) the love of Christ. This goes way beyond mere knowledge about Him. (19a)
• He prays that we will experience the power of the Spirit’s control in our life.(19b)

A Power that is Beyond Us

• Ephesians 3:20-21
• Power Beyond Us
• Ephesians 3:20
• He ‘is able’ by ‘the power that worketh in us’; we are not able, but He is!
• He works IN us and THROUGH us to do ‘exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.’
• Ephesians 3:21
• He works IN us and THROUGH us to bring glory to the church!