Paul's Prayer for the Ephesians (Eph. 3:14-21)

Observations and Reflections on Ephesians 3:14-21:

  1. To know Christ’s love is to know Christ himself.

    1. God is love

    2. Jesus embodied love in his death

    3. We need a personal/relational knowledge of Jesus

      1. “Knowing” isn’t just an intellectual thing. Knowing requires personal acquaintance with the Revealer, whose nature is perfect love.

      2. To know the love of Christ is to know Christ himself, in ever widening experience, and to have His outgoing and self-denying love reproduced in oneself. It could not be otherwise, if he dwells in his people and they in him.

  2. God gives us the strength and power to grasp the love of Christ. 

    1. It is impossible to comprehend God’s glory and Christ’s love without the Spirit strengthening us with power in our inner being. 

    2. He is the one who helps us know the unknowable. 

    3. God’s capacity for giving far exceeds our capacity for asking, or even imagining!

  3. The Holy Spirit’s role

    1. The ministry of the Spirit is devoted to making the presence and the power of the risen Christ real to those whom he indwells.

  4. Our discipleship starts with this foundation of love.

    1. Revelation 2:4-5 — the Ephesians have forsaken their first love.

    2. You can’t convince someone to follow someone they don’t love.