Friday, January 19, 2007

HOW TO BE FILLED WITH GOD'S FULLNESS

…that he would grant you,
according to the riches of his glory,
that you may be strengthened with power
through his Spirit in the inward man;

that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith;
to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

may be strengthened to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

and to know Messiah's love which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19 HNV

BEGIN BY TRUSTING JESUS

Look at the first verse of this scripture passage as an introduction, as if Paul is saying, "this is how you become strengthened with the Spirit's power:" Everything that follows describes the process that leads us to walking in God's fullness. It is a progression that begins with trusting Jesus, then experiencing his love and then being immersed in it. For this to happen, we must have a mindset of submitting ourselves to God, letting Him live through us rather than our living (and doing) for God apart from submission.

BECOME IMMERSED IN HIS LOVE

Being filled with God's fullness is the result of being progressive strengthened with the Spirit’s power. As we become stronger and stronger in the Spirit and his revelation of Jesus' love, we experience that love to such a degree that we are immersed in it. We become aware that his love is above us, below us, in front of us, behind us, and on each side of us.

INVITE JESUS IN

These verses are a bit complicated but the foundational truth is that this process of strengthening and being filled with God's fullness occurs as we invite Jesus into our lives day-by-day, moment by moment. This is done by faith, not feelings. Faith rises in our hearts as we choose to trust Him one problem and one issue at a time.

Photo by fahed_awan

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful post! BECOME IMMERSED IN HIS LOVE reminds me of the time a little 7 year old boy made a comment that let me know that he totally understood this thought...to be immersed in His love. I know I must have sat there with my mouth open. I was blown away that this little mind could understand and so intelligently speak of this concept. ~out of the mouths of babes~