Tags

, , , ,

Ephesians 3:16

Ephesians 3:16

My heavenly Father is VERY rich. His riches exceed anything I can imagine. They are glorious.

Through the power of His Spirit, He can strengthen my inner being. Jesus, the Master, can dwell in my heart. I must have faith to make it happen.

God’s goal for us is that we believe and have faith. God is rich and powerful. He can and will strengthen us. It gives Him pleasure to do so.

May I have faith and be strengthened in my inner being.

May His Spirit strengthen me.

I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Eph 3:16–17). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

The presence of the Holy Spirit in our life is evidence of salvation. The power of the Spirit is enablement for discipleship  living, and it is this power that Paul desires for his readers. “You shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you” (Acts 1:8, literal translation).

Jesus performed His ministry on earth in the power of the Spirit. This is the only resource we have for following Jesus  today. As you read the Book of Acts, you see the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, for there are some fifty-nine references to the Spirit in the book. That is  one fourth of the total references found in the New Testament.

Someone has said, “If God took the Holy Spirit out of this world, most of what we Christians are doing would go right on—and nobody would know the difference!” Sad, but true.

The power of the Spirit is given to us “according to the riches of His glory” (Eph. 3:16). The Messiah  returned to glory and sent the Spirit from heaven to indwell and empower His people. It is not necessary for us to “work something up.”

The power has to be sent down. How marvelous that God does not give the Spirit’s power to us “out of His riches” but “according to”—which is a far greater thing. If I am a billionaire and I give you ten dollars, I have given you out of my riches; but if I give you a million dollars, I have given to you according to my riches. The first is a portion; the second is a proportion.

This power is available for “the inner man.” This means the spiritual part of man where God dwells and works. The inner man of the lost sinner is dead. It becomes alive when Jesus is invited in. The inner man can see, hear, taste, and feel. He must be “exercised” (1 Tim. 4:7–8). He also must be cleansed (Ps. 51:7) and fed (Matt. 4:4). The outer man is perishing, but the inner man can be renewed spiritually in spite of outward physical decay. It is this inner power that makes him succeed.

What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit empower the inner man? It means that our spiritual faculties are controlled by God, and we are exercising them and growing in the Word. It is only when we yield to the Spirit and let Him control the inner man that we succeed in living to the glory of God. This means feeding the inner man the Word of God, praying and worshiping, keeping clean, and exercising the senses by loving obedience.

God is in a good mood and shares all His riches with us. Now that is some very good news.

 

Advertisement