The Righteous Paul's Prayer for the Church" (Part II)

"The Righteous Paul's Prayer for the Church" - Part II Ephesians 3:15-19 Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. Christ came because faith came to "live in faith, not with wickedness, hatred, strife, and dishonorable things. The heart must be kept clean, for out of it flows life (Proverbs 4:23). Christ deserves a clean house, in sanctification then there is purity, since Jesus came to the earth that is full of sin and endured out of love.

I. The Lord Jesus takes up His personal residence in your life at the time of conversion (John 14:23) (Revelation 3:20).

A. But this is not the subject of this prayer.

1. It is not a matter of His dwelling in the believer, but of Him being comfortable there!

2. He is the permanent Resident in every saved person, but this is a request that He have full access to every space and place.

3. May He not be grieved (saddened) by sinful words, thoughts, motives, or actions; may He enjoy a fellowship that nothing can interrupt (suspend) your life.

4. In this way your heart becomes Christ's home, because it is the place He likes to be.

5. A clear heart announces, expresses the center of spiritual life; It controls "every aspect of behavior."

6. Even more will He "settle down" and feel totally at home in our hearts.

7. The more we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the more we will be like the Lord Jesus Himself.

8. The more we think like Him, the more He will settle down and feel totally at home in our hearts.

9. We enter the joy of His dwelling place in us "through faith."

10. This involves a constant dependence on Him, a constant surrender to Him, and a constant acknowledgment of His "accommodation" in "His home."

11. It is "through faith" that we practice "His presence."

12. The result of Christ's unfettered access is that the Christian is rooted (becoming very firm, permanent, taking root) and grounded (founding, building, meeting under the earth and becoming the foundation) "in love."

13. Love is the soil in which our life must have its roots; and it is the rock on which our faith must always rest.

14. To be rooted (to put down roots, to become very firm, permanent) and grounded (part of a building that lies beneath the earth and comes to serve as the basis for construction) in love is to be established "in love" as a way of living.

15. The life of "love" is a life of goodness, detachment, brokenness, and meekness.

16. (18) The above verses are an outline of spiritual growth: rooted and grounded and developmental that prepares the child of God.

17. May we be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the "width", "the length", "the depth" and the "height".

18. Understanding with all the saints: This is how the Lord's love is explained:

a. Width = "The world" (John 3:16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."

b. Length = Forever (1 Corinthians 13:8) Love never fails; but prophecies shall come to an end, and tongues shall cease, and knowledge shall end.

c. Depth = Unto death on the cross (Philippians 2:8) and being in the condition of a man, and death on the cross.

d. Height = Heaven (1 John 3:1-2) Behold, what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed; but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is.

19. Dimensions are generally regarded as referring to the love of Christ.

20. If that is how the love of Christ is to be expressed, then so it is.

21. F. B. Meyer puts it: There is always both a horizon (bringing together heaven and earth) in front of us as behind. And when we have been gazing into the face of Jesus for millennia, His beauty will be as lush (abundant, rich), fascinating, and unfathomable (deep, you can't find its depth, impenetrable) as when we first saw Him from the gate of Paradise. Amen.