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.
I love this prayer
Paul said for his Christian friends in Ephesus.
What truly is rich
and glorious? It is easy to get caught up in a fear about what we have and must
constantly repair or what we don’t have and long for. I often think, “If I only
had a bit more money, I could fix my house up or travel more often, etc. Do these material things bring me strength?
No! I derive strength from my Lord and
Savior. When Christ dwells in my heart
through faith, His Spirit entrusts me with a power I do not possess on my
own. When I am rooted and established in
Christ’s love, I wonder at the sacrifice Christ paid for me. I recently went to
a writers’ conference and took a class on power speaking. While standing in a
circle, the instructor asked us to reach with our arms and place our hands
toward the center of the circle with eyes closed. We were to stay this way
until we heard something from God. I am
of Lutheran heritage. We are quite
reserved and value solitude in prayer with God.
Although this made me a bit uncomfortable, I played along. Sure enough, God started to send adjectives
my way! The first word that came to mind
was actually a noun – health. When I am
nervous and anxious, my health suffers and I sleep poorly and get
indigestion. The second word that popped
into my head was “scattered.” When I’m
anxious, I’m scattered. My mind flits to
all corners thinking, “I need to do this and then complete that….and then
another thing until the anxiety increases exponentially. The last word that
stuck with me and would not leave my mind was “grounded.” I realized that when I am established in
Christ’s love and rooted and grounded in Him, I don’t fuss and fume and become
scattered. My strength becomes centered
in my Savior and He gives me peace and focus. His love surpasses all knowledge! I pray that you “may be filled to the measure
of all the fullness of God!
