Above and Beyond: Prayer for Spiritual Power- Part 2 (Ephesians 3:14-17)
14 “For this reason, I kneel before the Father
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit,
17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love,
19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power
that works in us—
21 to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:14–21(CSB)
I. Prayer for Spiritual Perspective
1. The Four Dimensions
A. Width
B. Length
“Blessed is the one
whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.”
Psalm 32:1 (ESV)
C. Depth
“He erased the certificate of debt,
with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.”
Colossians 2:14 (CSB)
21 “For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22 He did not commit sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth;
23 when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
1 Peter 2:21–25 (CSB)
D. Height
3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
1 Peter 1:3–5 (ESV)
2. Grasping Love
A. God’s Love for Us
B. Our Love for God
“We love because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19 (ESV)
29 “Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:29–31 (ESV)
LOVE WITH ALL:
HEART- (TOTAL COMMITMENT)
SOUL- (WITH ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME)
“Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!”
Psalm 103:1 (ESV)
MIND- (WITH ALL UNDERSTANDING)
STRENGTH- (TO THE EXCESS)
ABIDE
31 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31–32 (ESV)
WALK
3 “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
1 John 2:3–6 (ESV)