For the past eight weeks, Dr. Evans has presented a series of thought-provoking sermons, leading us into the depths of coming to know God intimately. This week, he launched a new sermon series that explores the benefits emerging from this growing, relational knowledge of God. By directing our attention to the Apostle Paul’s prayer for a discouraged group of Christians in Ephesus, Dr. Evans discussed the benefit of “spiritual power.” As we study Paul’s prayer, we find three principles that will encourage us in the midst of our own despair and help us to plug into and “and be strengthened with” the spiritual power that only God can provide (Ephesians 3:16).
1. Spiritual power comes as we recognize our identity as God’s children (Ephesians 3:14-15). Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 was offered on behalf of a group of Christians who were facing discouragement and were about to “lose heart” (3:13). In offering this prayer, Paul addressed the “Father,” and then reminded these discouraged Christians that this “Father” is the one “from whom every family in Heaven and on earth derives its name” (3:13). In other words, Paul is telling these struggling believers in the midst of their despair that they are “family”—the sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. The good news for believers is that, regardless of the nature of our struggles, we have access to a powerful Father who listens to and cares for the needs of His children. As we read in the book of Hebrews, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
2. Spiritual power comes as the believer increasingly allows Christ to dwell within---to “dwell in our hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:16-19). Paul stated that the specific purpose of his prayer for “power” was so that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (3:17). Dr. Evans noted that when we invite guests to stay with us, we often encourage them to “make themselves at home” when we really mean they should make themselves “at room.” The same is often true of our invitation to allow Christ to have Lordship over our lives. There are certain areas in which we are willing for Him to rule and direct, but there are other rooms that we will not allow Christ to enter into and “dwell” in or be “at home.” When we give Christ the access and freedom to run the property, we gain an increased understanding of the vastness of His love for us—even in the midst of the messy homes of our lives. Paul prayed that as these Christians allowed Christ to dwell within their hearts, they would come to know “the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge” (3:18-19). This increased knowledge of the love of God for us in Christ gives us an increased capacity to experience the benefit of spiritual power that comes from God as our lives become “filled up to all the fullness of God” (3:19).
3. As we experience this spiritual power, we will find that it is more than enough to supply all of our needs (Ephesians 3:20-21). Paul described the working of this spiritual power as “able to do abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (3:20). For the believer, whatever the circumstances or trials we encounter, God is “able” to meet our needs because His superlative, His “beyond” power, “works within us” (3:20). We must remember that God gives the believer this experience of His “beyond” power because it ultimately leads to His “glory” (3:21).
In closing, Dr. Evans suggested that we can identify a person who knows God by the demonstration of God’s power in the midst of a situation that would render the normal Christian powerless. When this person is tempted to “lose heart,” his or her knowledge of God imparts a spiritual power that transcends, or goes “beyond,” the trials being experienced. As we arrive at an understanding of our identity as God’s children and allow Christ to dwell in our lives as Lord, we, too, will experience this benefit of spiritual power that will supply every need.
