We are looking at this prayer in Ephesians 3 so that we can grow spiritually. The areas concerned are these:
- Strengthen by power through Holy Spirit in the inner man.
- Christ will dwell in them by faith.
- The power of God’s love to work in them, rooted and grounded.
- They can know the fullness of God..
- Then can know the power of God working in them.
Previously we looked at the first request; strengthens by power through the Holy Spirit in the inner man.
Request two is in verse 17 that Christ would rule and reign within us by faith.
I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your life will be strong in love and be built on love.
Ephesians 3:17
Another part of the Godhead is required for us to live a victorious life. Perhaps the most difficult because it is asking you to give yourself complete over to Christ. Rule and reign.
Justin Beaver explained “when it says, following Jesus, it’s actually turning away from sin… what it talks about in the Bible, there’s no faith without obedience. I had had faith about like, ‘I believe Jesus died on the cross for me, but I never really implemented it into my life.’ I never like, ‘I’m gonna be obedient.'”
Over time, as he delved into the heart of God, Justin said he began to mature in his faith. He soon came to understand God’s grace and love in a way that he’d never experienced before. And it changed his life in a profound way.
“I just really looked at the character of who Jesus really was,” he explained. “[Jesus] found me in my dirt and pulled me out. He continued: “Now the way I look at my relationship with God and with Jesus is, I’m not trying to earn God’s love by doing good things. God has already loved me for who I am, before I did anything to earn and deserve it. It’s a free gift by accepting Jesus and just giving your life to Him, and what He did is the gift. The forgiveness is the thing that we look at and say, ‘I’m going to worship you, God, because you gave me something so good.’ Justin it is no longer something in his head it is in his heart.
It is intimacy of the highest level. It is so difficult that Revelation 3:20 shows us the frustration I think of Christ to us. He is not asking for casual relationship but a permeant place in your life. Dwelling here means a permeant not a temporary dwelling. Example guest / family member?
- Christ would be at home and live in a permanent sense with the believer.
- That the believer would be aware and conscious of Christ within his heart and that Christ has taken up permeant residence within him.
- That the believer would let Christ control and guide his life on a permanent basis.
It is the presence of Christ within that motivates the believer to follow Christ within his heart always aware and conscious of Christ
You will notice that Christ is to dwell by faith. It is biblical faith, not a wish or a hope that something is true. Biblical faith always means the belief and commitment to a persons life to truth and reality; it is a belief and a commitment to a fact. Abraham offering Isaac
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. My son and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”
Biblical faith always means the belief and commitment of a persons life to truth and reality; it is a belief and a commitment to fact.