Thursday, July 13, 2006

FULLNESS OF LIFE & POWER


...you will be filled with the fullness of life & power
that comes from God

Ephs 3:19B NLB

WHEN?

This astounding scripture is from a prayer prayed by Paul in Ephesians 3:16-21 and is followed in my mind with the question, "When? When will I be filled with God's fullness and power?" It's what I'm after, to be flooded with the fullness and power of God.

THEN . . .

Paul's prayer starts like this: "May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

We are filled with God's fullness and power when we participate in and partake of his love personally. When we can say, "God loves me," not just God loves.

ROOTED & GROUNDED

The second part of verse 17 adds this to our understanding of when we will be full of God's life: "When your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love."

We need to be planted in God like a tree with deep roots. Permanently grounded, thriving and prospering in his care, not wavering or wandering. That is when we will know experientially his love consistently day by day. His love is extravagant, inexhaustible, without measure and beyond reason. He doesn't just tolerate us, he delights in us. When we are in his beloved son, the Father accepts us completely. Most of us have never known that kind of love and acceptance and so it is beyond our understanding. This is from The Message:

And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love,
you'll be able to take in with all Christians
the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love.
Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length!
Plum the depths! Rise to the heights!
Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.


TRYING ISN'T THE ANSWER

We have seen that being filled with his fullness and power is a result of walking in the continual awareness of his love. I'm encouraged that instead of saying, "Try harder," Paul prayed in verse 18 that we would have the power to understand his love (New Living Translation). Trying isn't the answer. Asking for and relying on God's power to understand, receive, and be established in his love is. I pray for myself and for you, that we will have this power and will be established progressively in the fullness of the life that comes from God.

Photo by Aditya Mopur, Flickr CC

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