“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”
When Paul thinks about God’s plan and the way Jesus has given us access to the Father, he just falls to his knees. Prayer and praise is the appropriate reaction when we think about the incredible love of God and the salvation he offers us. What is deepest in Paul’s heart is for the Ephesian believers to be empowered by the Spirit. Surprisingly, the reason Paul wants them to be empowered is not to do more miracles or even share the Gospel more effectively. He wants something much deeper for them: intimate knowledge of God.
When we are empowered by the Spirit and see with spiritual eyes, we start to see glimpses of the riches of God’s love. When we taste this goodness, we trust him more and more. We get stronger, just as trees grow taller and wider as their roots grow deeper. All of this is too much for our finite minds to fully understand, but even the small bits we can grasp are sweeter than anything else we can imagine.
Here’s your freedom for today: God is working harder on your life than you are. He’s working with you, but he’s also at work behind the scenes, accomplishing far more than we could ever ask or think. We don’t know what we need, but God does and he’s already doing it. My children don’t have a clue how much I do for them when they are busy playing. And frankly they don’t appreciate it (yet). But having a clean house to live in or food to eat benefits their lives whether they have asked me to care for them or not. A “thank you” is nice, but I’ll keep taking care of them even without it. Why? Because I love them. And if I as a human being can do that, how much more is God meeting needs you don’t even know you have? Praise him today for all he is doing that is far beyond your comprehension.