Burning Bush Blogs
Equipping Men with Biblical Knowledge and Leadership Skills
Category: Group Study
Thread: How to Pray for Other Believers
Post Topic: Praying for Believers to Comprehend the Depth of Christ’s Love
Post in Thread: #4
Previous: Praying for enlightenment of believers’ hearts
Scripture: Ephesians 3:16-19
Key Verses:
Ephesians 3:16-19 (ESV)
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Series Note
Have you ever wondered how to better pray for brothers and sisters in Christ? Of course, we can pray for their immediate needs – health concerns, employment issues, relationships, etc. But how do we go deeper? How do we pray for their spiritual needs; their spiritual growth?
Paul gives us four examples of prayers for spiritual growth of specific believers in his letters to the churches at Colossae, Philippi, and Ephesus. This series studies how Paul structures those prayers and how we can apply this structure to our own prayers.
If we dig a little, we notice a pattern in the prayers –
- What Paul prays for these believers
- How he expects God to answer
- Why God’s answer will profoundly impact these beloved partners in Christ
Observations
Context
The Apostle Paul wrote Ephesians from prison in Rome.
Genre
Ephesians is an epistle—a missionary letter to Paul’s most faithful supporters.
Group activity
Study the passage together and list the things Paul prays for the Ephesians. Inspect the list together. What one item on the list is Paul’s most impassioned hope for believers?
What Paul prays for the Ephesians:
The Foundation
Paul’s earnest desire for the Ephesians is that they know the depths of God’s love (verses 18 and 19). Everything in this prayer builds to that (and we’ll build to that also). But first, in verses 16 and 17, Paul lays a foundation to make this understanding possible:
- He asks that the believers be supernaturally empowered at their core – given power in their inner beings. (v16)
- This supernatural power is the very presence of Christ indwelling our hearts. (v17)
The Result
- Together, the saints will comprehend the incredible depth and breadth of Christ’s love. (v18)
- Believers will experience the love of Christ that surpasses any knowledge we can explain or obtain on our own. (v19)
Discussion
Verse 18 asks for comprehension of the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love. What kind of word picture does that paint in your mind? Why is this so important to Paul?
How Paul expects God to answer:
A life-long process
This comprehension is never fully complete for us as finite human beings. Verse 19 says that Christ’s love surpasses human knowledge. But we are able to achieve a deeper understanding of this love, or Paul wouldn’t ask for it.
How then? It is a process: First, the foundation (empowerment of our inner beings) is delivered supernaturally by the Holy Spirit (v16). That foundation, then, roots us and grounds us in love (v17). Being rooted and grounded in love is what enables us to expand our limited comprehension of the infinite love of Christ (v18-19).
Discussion
- What does it mean to be rooted and grounded in love? Does it make sense that this enables us to better appreciate Christ’s love for us?
- Will the Holy Spirit empower believers without asking God for this gift?
Why God’s answer will profoundly impact these beloved partners in Christ
Paul summarizes in verse 19:
- Knowing the unknowable – To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
- Filled to the brim – Filled with all the fullness of God
Discussion
- How can we know something that surpasses knowledge?
- How do you imagine it must be to be filled with the fullness of God? Describe the time/place where you’ve been the closest to experiencing that fullness.
Interpretation
Takeaways
Before we can hope to grasp the immensity of the love of Christ, we must be rooted and grounded in love ourselves (v17). Earlier in this series, we studied how Paul prayed for believers to be abounding in love. Overflowing with love. Overflowing is similar to being rooted in love, but different. Trees with deep roots are best suited to withstand the storms of life. If our love has deep roots, it will survive the inevitable storms that batter against us. Let’s ask God to make love the core of our inner being.
Once we have that grounding, that rooting, we can begin to supernaturally experience the love of Christ that surpasses human knowledge. The more we are filled with this supernatural knowledge of Christ’s love, the more we can experience the fullness of God.
Discussion
- We’ll look at the concept of “fullness of God” more in Correlation, but before we get there, how would you describe it? Is it just a happy, joyful feeling? Is it knowledge? Is it certain characteristics of God? All characteristics of God?
- The infinite love of Christ, and the fullness of God — are these best experienced individually or corporately? Hint – reread verse 18.
Correlation
What is meant by The Fullness of God?
God’s fullness in Jesus
As we study the concept of God’s fullness in various Scriptures, the first thing we notice is that his fullness was made manifest, or made real, in the person of Jesus Christ:
- Colossians 1:19 – For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him…
- John 1:16-17 – Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
- Colossians 2:9 – For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…
In John 14:8 at the Last Supper, Philip asks Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus responds in John 14:9-11 that if you have seen Jesus, the Son, you have also seen the Father. If, like Philip, we want to understand the character of God, the fullness of God, we should focus our eyes on Jesus.
So how do we experience this fullness?
In verse 17, Paul prays “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” If Christ embodies the fullness of God, then this is how we can experience that fullness. Christ dwelling in our hearts. More evidence that Christ is the key:
- Colossians 2:10 – and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
What is this fullness? How will it affect believers?
I like how GotQuestions.org defines it: “The fullness of God is the totality of everything God is—His attributes, His character, His perfection, His holiness, His power, His love, et cetera. The fullness of God is His complete nature; it is who He is.”
Believers who experience this fullness will see many benefits in their lives:
- Transformed mind: Romans 12:2a – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
- Transformed lives: 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
- Overcoming emptiness: John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Discussion
- How can we avoid interpreting this phrase as mysticism (being absorbed into God) or pantheism (God being absorbed into us)?
- As God fills us with the love of Christ, how does this affect our:
- Minds?
- Emotions?
- Contentment levels?
Bonus Correlation
I love how this chapter that we are studying ends. After Paul finishes his prayer, he says the following in Ephesians 3:20-21: 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
How often do we put limits on God? If he can supernaturally allow us to comprehend the boundless love of Christ, to know that which surpasses knowledge, in what other ways is he far more powerful than we could ever think or ask?
Application
Generic Applications
Pray for abounding love, full of insight and knowledge
Sample Prayer (customize it for yourself or your group):Our Father, allow Christ to firmly dwell in the heart of “name,” so that their lives are firmly rooted in love, like a towering vibrant tree. Through this deep love, may they gain deeper understanding of the infinite love of Christ that none of us could understand on our own. As this love takes hold of their lives, may they be transformed with other believers by the power of the fullness of God.
- Let’s resolve to grow together in Christ’s love and the fullness of God. Let’s agree to pray for Christ to dwell in our hearts, giving us a knowledge of Christ’s infinite love that we could never comprehend on our own. Let’s agree to pray Paul’s prayer or our adaptation of his prayer for one other person in the group at least once a week.
Personalize it
As we come to the end of the study of Paul’s four prayers for believers, honestly ask yourself how you are feeling about these prayers. Are you having a hard time believing they will make a difference? This might be a normal human reaction for some of us. I admit that the concept of praying to affect the will of an infinite God has often been a challenge for the author of this blog.
Let me encourage you with Jesus’s own words, in Luke 11:11-13:
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
In this passage, including some of the prior verses in the chapter, Jesus is encouraging prayer. He closes by proclaiming how our Father will give the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who ask. As you think back to the How in so many of these prayers, it seems that the Holy Spirit is always involved. And here Jesus tells us that God is EAGER to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit if we ask!
So let’s ask.
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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