“That he (God) would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might
by his Spirit in the inner man. That
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in
love” Eph 3:16-17
Paul’s
prayer was for the Ephesians’ to be strengthened internally in the love of God. He encouraged them to be grounded and rooted
in God’s love in order to bear much fruit in the Spirit. The establishment of God’s love in man’s heart
strengthens their ability to love not only those who love them, that even
sinners can do…Lk 6:32 “…for sinners also
love those that love them”, but the unlovable as well, including their
enemies. Then one knows they are
becoming grounded and established in God’s love. This love requires the continual renewing the
Spirit of the inner man. If the inner
man becomes spiritually starved, malnourished, lethargic, self-absorbed it will
show in the outer man becoming disinterested in others misfortunes. We all need the inner-strength of God’s love,
because He calls us to love the “whole family (vs 15), not part of. That amount of fullness of love will require
a lot more strength than we can provide on our own, we need the “breadth, and length, and depth, and height”
(vs 18) God’s love offers to do so!
HSAY…Todd
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