Ephesians 3:16-19 (NKJV) 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height– 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Yesterday we looked at keys from Ephesians 3:14-15 to releasing the fullness of God. We see in this Pauline prayer that it is possible to see a manifestation of God’s fullness if all saints will come together. The first key to doing that is that we must all realize we take our identity from the “name of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christians most often take their identity from their affiliations. These affiliations may be denominational, doctrinal or affiliation with a particular teaching or stream of ministry. Although it is not necessarily wrong to hold such affiliations, we must never allow them to become more important than our affiliation with the family of God. That is what the idea of the “name” represents in this scripture. When our first and most important affiliation is with the family of God, differences can either be worked out or become part of the diversity of the “fullness of God.”
I want to look at some more keys in Paul’s prayer. In verse 16 we see that Paul prays that we would be strengthened in our “inner man.” This strength will be according to the riches of his glory. The Glory of God is the power and presence of God in manifestation. If there is one thing we need today, it is a manifestation of the power and presence of God. This kind of manifestation certainly qualifies as the “fullness of God.”
If we are going to see the Glory of God we must recognize that it comes through the “inner man.” It is easy for us to look at outward things and think that those things are our strengths. It is also very easy to look at where we may be lacking outwardly and think that it is impossible for us to expect something as powerful as the fullness of God. However, the outward is not where we draw strength. The strength of the body of Christ is in the inner man.
It can seem that more money, better organization, more people or other natural strengths are what is important. None of those things are bad. They do not have to be a hindrance but sometimes they are just that. When we lean on those things instead of drawing from the inner man, the spirit, they produce a false sense of success and security. Over the years we have seen many drawn into this trap. We have observed powerful men and women of God fall because they thought their outward success made them invulnerable to attack.
Particularly in developed nations, I believe there is another trap set by the devil. We have so many resources and so much technical ability that it is possible to build a successful church or ministry using those kinds of tools. The cost for accessing technology has plummeted in the last number of years. I am a musician. Just fifteen or twenty years ago it would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce a quality audio recording. Today for a few thousand dollars, equipment is available that is being used by the biggest studios. The same is true for video and communications.
I believe we should use these wonderful tools. I do not think we can afford to depend on them. When we have success built on natural or outward things, we can neglect the one thing that the church has that the world can never match. We have the power of the inner man filled with the Holy Spirit. That is where we will see the glory of God and that is where the fullness of God resides.
The next key is related. Not only will we access the glory of God through the inner man, but it is in the inner man that the love of God resides. Paul says we must be “rooted and grounded” in love. What do roots provide for a plant? They provide nourishment or life and stability. Our life is nourished by the love of God. Our stability is drawn from a life dominated by the love of God. When the love of God is the source of our motivation we will see the fullness of God.
He also says that we should be grounded in the same love of God. This is term that can mean foundation. When we are grounded in love that means love is the foundation or the governing principle in our life. It has another meaning that Paul would not have known but the Holy Spirit did. Grounding is an electrical term.
We ground electricity to allow the power to flow and flow safely. An improperly grounded electrical line may not work at all. If it does work it can be dangerous. People are more likely to be shocked by ungrounded or improperly grounded electricity. When we are grounded in the love of God, the power of God is free to flow and flow safely. The truth is that God will not release his power through those who are not grounded in his love. If we want to see the fullness of God we must be rooted and grounded in the love of God.
Finally, he says that all of this leads to the most important key to seeing the fullness of God. All of these things enable us to come to a place where we know him and the fullness of his love. The most important key to releasing the glory of God in the earth is that his people must know him.
We may know about him. We may know a great deal of his Word. I believe that is vital to any success in the things of God. We may know religion, doctrine or tradition. Christianity, especially denominational Christianity, is full of very educated priests and ministers that know the bible and theology. However, because they do not know him their knowledge does them no good. They read the bible and come to conclusions that are completely against what the truth it contains. They do what Jesus accused the Pharisees and Sadducees of dong.
Matthew 22:29 (NKJV) 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.
When we know his love for us we can begin to know him. When we “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” we will be filled with the “fullness of God.” This seems to be a contradictory statement. On the one hand we must know this love and on the other we cannot know it. Further study reveals that Paul is saying we must know this love experientially because intellectual knowledge alone is not enough.
Knowing God’s love for me is knowing him because God is love (1 John 4:8.) To allow his love for others to be the source of my life and motivation causes me to know him even more deeply. To be rooted and grounded in the love of God is to be rooted and grounded in Him. I will flow with “all saints” and together we will lay down our lives to see the God of love that we know revealed to others. With those dynamics working in our local church we will see the fullness of God and the supernatural power of God will be revealed to the world around us.
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