A Pauline Prayer Part 2

Provision through the Holy Spirit

The thesis of this essential is that God would lavish on His people the provision needed to exist in Christ. In our text, Paul speaks of the inner man as a reference to the human soul. Paul uses the same kind of language in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “The the outward man perishes, yet our inward man is renewed every day.” The Holy Spirit works to renew our souls to clearly behold and exemplify Christ. Paul, in Galatians 5: 16, tells the believer to walk by the Spirit, in doing so we will not gratify the flesh. He explains that the spirit and the flesh are against each other. In the flesh, we are sexually immoral, impure, sensual, idolaters, given to sorcery, at war with God, full of strife, jealous, angry, and prone to rivalry, full of dissension, divisive, envious, drunkards, and things like these. However, the Holy Spirit works to encourage the weary soul in which Christ beckons to come and find rest. The Holy Spirit works vigorously to mature, stabilize, and edify the Christian. The Holy Spirit wars against the flesh that we may have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and much more (Galatians 5:22-23).

In essence, the prayer is for Christians to live in spiritual power. The kind of power that says to pornography, “Your limited and shameful pleasure is not even on the same map as the gratification and satisfaction I have in Christ.” It is the kind of power that is able to say no the American Dream; the comfortable and cozy life with brand new iphones, inflated luxury cars, and a fat retirement spent on golfing and riding in the RV, and saying yes to the Kingdom Dream, living on half your income so that the rest can go to frontier missions. It is the kind of power that is intentional in boldly sharing Christ, even at the cost of your reputation. I think John Calvin got it right when he said, “ The prayer of Paul, that the saints be strengthened, does not mean that they may be eminent (well-known) and flourishing in the world, but that, with respect to the kingdom of God, their minds may be strong by Divine Power.” (calvin) The Holy Spirit strengthens the soul of the believer to stand and enjoy communion with Christ. The more we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, the more we are like Christ. Therefore, the logical progression would be that the more we pray for one another to be strengthened by The Holy Spirit in our inner being, the more Christ centered we would become.

Communion with Christ

The whole idea of having the Holy Spirit strengthened the soul is to make the heart ready for Christ to dwell. In verse 17, Paul prays that Christ would dwell in their heart through faith. The idea in this text is not necessarily a new regeneration of the heart. For we know from John 14:23 that whoever loves Christ and keeps his word that the Father and the Son will make their home in them. Moreover, we know that Paul is writing to all the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:1). The real petition here is that Christ would fully dwell in their hearts. It is a request that Christ would have access to the deepest and most hidden depths of the human soul. Paul is praying for every one of the elect to have a sweet and savoring communion with Christ in every walk of their life. William McDonald puts it this way, “Christ is a permanent resident in every saved person, but this is a request that He might have full access to every room and closet; that he might not be grieved by sinful words, thoughts, motives, and deeds; that he might enjoy unbroken fellowship with the believer.” (MacDonald)

John Calvin points out that there is a difference between fellowship with Christ and believing in Christ. They are not one in the same. Belief in Christ requires faith in his birth, life, death, and resurrection. Fellowship is the fruit of the faith. Therefore, Paul prays that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith; the kind of faith that is not only saving, but also savoring. The kind of faith that keeps Christ at the center of our conversations, the movies we watch, the music we listen to, the time we spend in front of the T.V., our relationship with our wives and husbands and children; the relationship we have with one another as believers.

As Christ dwells unrestrictedly, we become more rooted and grounded in love. As we are more intimately acquainted with Christ, our roots deepen and our foundations become more durable. His kindness and selflessness begin to be naturally intertwined in our motives. His brokenness and meekness slay our self-ego and pride; where we would have the same mind and the same love doing nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility counting others greater than ourselves. We would put others interest in front of our own having the mind of Christ(Philippians 2:3-5). Our love for Christ, the church, and our neighbor becomes so established that Satan has no chance to come and steel it away, the trials that invade of lives will not scorch its fervor, the lustrous temptations of the world will not choke the life out of it. Instead, we will bear fruit a hundred fold. In addition, God will use the fruit of our communion to feed His people; those who are called and those whom He is calling. This kind of praying can only happen in Christ centered prayers; prayers yearning with the affections of Christ Jesus(Phil 1:8).

Making Comprehensible the Incomprehensible

When I read this text, my mind becomes a bit discombobulated. It is hard for me to even begin to bend my mind around the immeasurable knowledge and capacity of the love of Christ. Paul, I feel, is feeling the same way. He prays for the Ephesian church to know the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love. However, in the next breathe he says it surpasses knowledge. Paul recognizes he is trying to put parameters on something that cannot have parameters. So he still prays for them to have the strength to comprehend, or literally “grasp” the incomprehensible love of Christ.

It would be unworthy of me to try to over spiritualize the four dimensions that Paul uses here. St. Augustine, who I am a big fan of, tried to incorporate some reference to the cross by saying that the breadth was to be love, height was hope, length was patience, and depth was humility. I would have to disagree with him here because I see no connection to the context of the chapter or book to imply such a notion. I would have to agree with Wood that Paul is “simply telling us that the love of Christ, exemplified in his magnanimity (generosity of spirit) to the Gentiles, is too large to be confined by any geometrical measurements. It is wide enough to reach the whole world and beyond. It is long enough to stretch from eternity to eternity. It is high enough to raise both Gentiles and Jews to heavenly places. It is deep enough to rescue people from sin’s degradation and even form the grip of Satan himself.” Such love is hard to phantom. We are limited by such finality, yet as believers, we long for the infinite beauty of Christ. Trying to grasp or hold onto such truths are so high and wonderful that I cry out with David, “I cannot attain it!” (Psalm 139) God’s love has no boundaries. It is a river that has no beginning and no ending. It is an ocean without shores. (MacDonald) It is endless. We can never fully discover it. That is the reason why the Holy Spirit must be equipping our heart to have Christ dwell through faith. Christ will reveal to us these great mysteries as we deepen our fellowship with Him. This is what it means to be filled with the fullness of God; the climax of Paul’s prayer at the end.

When we pray for one another, we need to pray that God would give us the strength and wisdom to know Him. Our prayers help one another grasp the truths of God’s word, that in turn, stoke our spiritual fire for Christ, and keeps us in communion with our Lord. Every time we meet as a body, as his bride, our hearts should submit to his lordship, recognize his sovereignty, and validate his promises. We should not cease to pray that Bristol Missionary Baptist Church would be a people filled with the Holy Spirit, sweetly savoring Christ, and striving to comprehend the incomprehensible love of God; namely a people of God’s word.