What does it take for a church to get
healthy?
In
his letter to the Ephesians, Paul helps us answer this question by describing
God’s amazing design of the church and the Spirit in carrying out that design.
For the next several months, we’ll be looking at what Paul has to say about the
work of the Spirit in the church. This month, we look at a prayer located in
the middle of the letter:
“that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16–19 ESV).
God
wants his church to be filled with his fullness.
In this prayer, Paul asks God to give the Ephesian believers a superabundant
awareness of and trust in the Spirit. This superabundance is also true of us.
Let us ask God to strengthen us toward a recognition of his control and care,
and our brokenness and misalignment. Let us decide to walk in the Spirit for
the Glory of God alone, being his alone.
The Spirit, who dwells in
and among us, is the one who fills, strengthening us with power, and deepening
our understanding of God’s power and love. As we
submit to the Spirit's filling, he strengthens us, giving us the capacity to do
God's work and making us fully able to comprehend God's power and love. Seeking
ability and understanding outside of God is futile, for God is the true and
only source of deep spiritual power. Let us remember and help each other
remember that God is the one who loves and strengthens. He alone is our
foundation. When we forget this and act on our own, let us repent and rest in
his constant care.
As
we travel together through this transition, let us pray for clear eyes and
voices and commit to living as a community grounded in God's love and living by
the Spirit.
