“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19
Paul had wonderful apostolic prayers that he prayed for others that are also for us. Paul understood that not only people around him needed prayer, but he needed prayers himself. The above verses from Ephesians help us to petition for our own needs and the needs of others.
There are some wonderful “whats” in this prayer followed by an even more wonderful “how.” That is typical of God’s Word. When He reveals a wonderful treasure to us, He doesn’t leave us hanging, but tells us where to find it and how to use it. In the verses above Paul prays that we will be strengthened 1) by the spirit 2) by being filled with the fulness of God 3) by being grounded in the overwhelming love of Christ.
If we want to experience the fulness of Christian living, 
we need to experience the fulness of Christ’s love. In the same stroke of the pen, Paul says that we can comprehend the incomprehensible. How is that possible? He tells us that the love of Christ passes all understanding but that if we are filled with Christ, we will have the knowledge of this love. This is an example of faith in God’s grace. We can’t understand Christ’s love but to understand it, we must receive it and then we will understand it.
In one of his sermons, D.L. Moody held up a glass and asked,
“How can I get the air out of this glass?” One man shouted, “Suck it out with a pump!” Moody replied, “That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass.” After numerous other suggestions Moody smiled, took out a pitcher of water, and filled the glass. “There,” he said, “all the air is now removed.”
We cannot get the sin out of our lives by sucking it out of our own accord. That would break us. The only way to remove the sin from our lives is to be filled with Christ. We can only empty ourselves by being filled. We must allow the filling of the spirit to push the pride, conceit, false ambition, selfishness and other things that are contrary to God’s law out of our lives.
I think some try to empty themselves on their own
to make room for the spirit of God. But we cannot do that. We must take in the Holy Spirit and allow Him to push those things out of our lives. When we are filled with Him there is no room left for those things of the flesh. Two different things cannot occupy the same space. If we are filled with the Spirit, there is no room left for our evil desires. The thing is, we have all the Holy Spirit, but sometimes He does not have all of us. We have all we need to push the evil from our life, but sometimes we use more energy to hang onto the old things than we use to receive the new.
Charles Spurgeon put it well, “Without the Spirit of God, we can do nothing. We are as ships without the wind, branches without sap, and like coals without fire, we are useless.” God has recreated us through the Son and His spirit. We need not be useless any longer but useful.
A park ranger at Yellowstone National Park was leading
a group of hikers to a fire lookout. The ranger was was so focused on the hike, he turned off his radio so there would not be any distractions. After a few hours the group was met by a nearly breathless lookout, who asked why he hadn’t responded to the messages on his radio. A grizzly bear had been seen stalking the group, and the authorities were trying to warn them of the danger.
Any time we tune out the Holy Spirit or ignore the warnings of the Bible we put ourselves and those around us in danger.
The key again, is as Paul says: “Be rooted in love” by “knowing Christ’s love” so we will be “filled with the fulness of God” and there will not be any room for anything else but Him. Be both emptied and filled today. Emptied of us and filled with Him. Only then will our lives be all they can be on this earth.
Have a wonderful Wednesday.
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