June 25: Beyond all we ask or think

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.   (Ephesians 3:14-21 — New American Standard Version)

There is no excuse for followers of the Lord Jesus to be weak. Here Paul prays for them to be empowered by the Holy Spirit in the core of their being, which is the whole point of God’s Spirit. When we don’t have the Holy Spirit, we lack power, our spiritual core is weak, and our experience of Jesus is limited.

God never intended for human beings to live without His Spirit. When we do, a spiritual vacuum is created that sucks other things into our lives to fill the void: shopping, friends, addictions, work, pride, anger, fear, the past, religion… As long as that hole is not filled by the Spirit, whatever we use as a substitute ends up being nothing more than a band-aid — and the emptiness keeps growing. 

But when we are filled with God’s Spirit some amazing things happen. We start to understand the breadth, length, height, and depth of God’s love for us — a love beyond any human explanation or understanding. This is not a wimpy, emotional love. It’s a love that pushes us to obey, to surrender our lives, and to love the lost.

This passage ends with a phrase that is simply mind-boggling! If you asked God for the biggest thing you could think or imagine, most Christians would accuse you of being greedy and arrogant, and would probably tell you to just be thankful for whatever God decides to give you. But if this thought is compared to the last sentence of the passage above, you would see that this “Christian” advice comes straight from the mouth of the devil himself. God wants to do more than all we can think or imagine, and I can imagine some pretty big things. Yet God wants to do even more. — If you have a pulse this should make your blood boil. This verse should make you totally dissatisfied with your present life, and eager to see more than you can imagine in the near future.