Ephesians 3:16
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit…
Do you know what it’s like to be strengthened in your inner being? I think I do. I think I have known it sometimes.
During those times, I feel able to fully be the person God has made me to be (or at least more fully than at other times). I feel confident that as a Christian God has given me a life worth sharing, and I feel confident that I can completely give myself away, because my fullest self is in God. I feel prepared, shored-up inside to burn brightly for God in the world no matter what heat that might entail.
I think it’s important to notice in this text that it is not mere chance that brings a day like this along. We don’t simply wake up on the right side of the spiritual bed one morning and the wrong side the next. Rather, it is with the power that comes “through his Spirit” that we are given this confidence and indeed this super-human ability.
It’s Paul’s prayer for us that we receive this strength and confidence “according to the riches of his glory.” Take a second and think about what this might mean. Not only does God give us a drop in the bucket from his inexhaustible riches; but Paul’s prayer is that God’s disciples receive this strength “according to” those riches. It suggests a proportional relationship. We might say, “As rich as God’s glory is: endless, majestic, perfect; may you receive that kind of endless, majestic and perfect strength from God’s Spirit, so that you may live a confident life in Christ.”
Amen. May it be so for all of us.
Do you know what it’s like to be strengthened in your inner being? I think I do. I think I have known it sometimes.
During those times, I feel able to fully be the person God has made me to be (or at least more fully than at other times). I feel confident that as a Christian God has given me a life worth sharing, and I feel confident that I can completely give myself away, because my fullest self is in God. I feel prepared, shored-up inside to burn brightly for God in the world no matter what heat that might entail.
I think it’s important to notice in this text that it is not mere chance that brings a day like this along. We don’t simply wake up on the right side of the spiritual bed one morning and the wrong side the next. Rather, it is with the power that comes “through his Spirit” that we are given this confidence and indeed this super-human ability.
It’s Paul’s prayer for us that we receive this strength and confidence “according to the riches of his glory.” Take a second and think about what this might mean. Not only does God give us a drop in the bucket from his inexhaustible riches; but Paul’s prayer is that God’s disciples receive this strength “according to” those riches. It suggests a proportional relationship. We might say, “As rich as God’s glory is: endless, majestic, perfect; may you receive that kind of endless, majestic and perfect strength from God’s Spirit, so that you may live a confident life in Christ.”
Amen. May it be so for all of us.
posted by Rev. Michael Jordan at 12:00 PM
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