Strengthened with Power
Ephesians 3:14–21 – Teach Us to Pray, Part 3
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 16th, 2026 (am)
Forty days after Jesus resurrection and just before He ascended back to the Father, He said to His disciples: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you… (Act.1:8). The Gift of the Holy Spirit was a major theme in His upper-room instruction of His disciples at the last supper (Joh.14-16) on the night when He was betrayed (cf. 1Co.11:23). Now the coming of the Spirit was at hand, such that [Jesus] ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for [this] promise of the Father (Act.1:4) to be fulfilled. And when it was, great power would come upon [them], enabling them to be [His] witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Act.1:8).
Paul later spoke of this power to the Ephesians, identifying it as [God’s] great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him and his right hand in the heavenly places (Eph.1:19-20). This is granted to believers by the Spirit! Then Paul prayed that God may give [them] the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of [Jesus] and enlighten the eyes of [their] hearts in order for them to know… the immeasurable greatness of [this] power (Eph.1:17-19)—to understand it, even to experience it. But that required wisdom and revelation from God!
Now Paul has come to the end of the teaching part of his letter and he’s pausing a second time to pray for these Ephesians. Each time it’s as though he’s saying: There’s no way you’re going to grasp and believe what I’m saying if I don’t stop for a moment and ask God to help you. So, he prays again. And this time we get a fresh point of reference for the greatness of this power, and also a better idea of what it enables in us. Let’s answer two questions from this prayer.
What Is Paul Praying for the Ephesians?
As we get started, we’re reminded again (14-15) Who we’re praying to—Who’s listening and answering—and who we are—we’re His! The heart of Paul’s prayer then starts in vv.16-17; esv reads like it’s starting in the middle of a sentence, but tniv expresses the thought well. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…. Paul is praying that the Father will [strengthen us] with power through the work of his Spirit such that our faith in Christ will be strengthened—such that we’ll think and speak and live by faith in Him, such that we’ll be more fully transformed into His likeness, more fully aligned with Him in [our] inner being—toward walking in a manner worthy of [our] calling (4:1).
Note two things here. First, this isn’t a two-step process. We’re not first strengthened with power so that at some future time Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith. The Spirit’s strengthening activity is the same as that of Christ’s indwelling presence (O’Brien 258). It’s precisely our faith in Christ that’s being strengthened in [our] inner being through his Spirit. Second, it’s according to the riches of [God’s] glory that we’re being strengthened with power through his Spirit! Let that sink in! Are you aware of any limitation to the riches of [God’s] glory? If our faith is being strengthened with power [by God’s] Spirit according to the riches of his glory, might it make a difference in how we live, and pray? Our inner being is the place where we’re strengthened by His Spirit. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: 2Co4:16 … our outer self is wasting away, but our inner self is being renewed day by day. That’s where we’re strengthened with the [Spirit’s] power to trust Jesus, then to live in that trust, to pray in that trust.
Next Paul prayed 17 … that [we], being rooted and grounded in [Christ’s] love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of that love. What he’s saying is that, through the strengthening of [our] inner [being] by God’s Spirit and Christ’s indwelling [presence], [we] are to be established in love so that [we] will begin to comprehend the greatness of the love of Christ (O’Brien 260). We were 2:1 … dead in trespasses and sins…. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 … made us alive together with Christ. He saved us by His grace. He loved us so much that He saved us! (cf. Joh.3:16) Now we’re rooted in [Christ’s] love, drawing life from Him like a tree draws nutrients from soil (cf. Psa.1) or a branch from a vine (cf. Joh.15). We’re also grounded in His love like a building set on a sure foundation. So, our life and strength are established, ensured by [Christ’s] love which is showered upon us in [God’s] saving grace! So, as we begin to see the indescribable immensity of His saving grace toward us, we begin to grasp the vast dimensions of [Jesus’] love! Paul is praying that the [strengthening] of our inner being will not only show up in the quality of our faith in Christ, but also in our grasp of His unbounded love!
His love is magnified in vivid ways! We truly need to grasp the vast dimensions of it, 19 and more, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…—to know His [unknowable] love—the paradox of our Savior’s love. Note first that this is not a call for us to love Jesus more. It’s a call to drink in His love for us! (O’Brien 264). And this love we’re called to know, surpasses knowledge! So, what does surpasses knowledge mean? Either Jesus’ love can’t be known completely. No matter how much you know of it, there will always be more to know, to comprehend. There’s no way to grasp it all. Or Jesus’ love can’t be known cognitively. There’s no way to comprehend its true essence. So, until you experience it to the point where you realize it defies description, you can be confident you’ve not really understood its uniqueness. You’re likely being hindered by the limitations of human love. But even if you do start to grasp its indescribable nature, you’ll then begin to see that you can never really know it in all its fullness! So, really, this either/or merges into one. Even if we’re capable of experiencing [Christ’s] love to the point where we recognize cognitively that it’s indescribable, there is also then no doubt that we can never really know it completely!
So, here it is: Paul is praying that we’ll come to a clear enough [comprehension] of [Christ’s] love that we’re awestruck by it! And we’re so awestruck that our response to it will flow forth into a confession that, without question, it surpasses knowledge!
Are you hungry for this paradoxical knowledge at GCD?
Now, with this in mind, we need to pause for a moment to reflect on what it means that something is so vast that it’s [unknowable]; it surpasses knowledge; it’s an actual infinite. Think about it. Have you ever stood on the beach on a clear night underneath a canopy of stars, those twinkling points merging into a sheet of light? The sand stretches out of sight to your right and to your left as the incessant rolling of the ocean roars in all its untamable immensity. Yet, the exact number of water droplets in all the world’s oceans can be numbered, their total volume measured! The same is true for the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches, and for all the stars in the heavens. They can all be counted! It’s pretty simple math, just unusually large numbers! All of this is measurable. It’s knowable. But 19 … the love of Christ…, for us, surpasses knowledge! And as we begin to grasp that—to know the unknowable—in that knowing 19 … [we’re being] filled with all the fullness of God!
This seems impossible, doesn’t it—that we could be so strengthened in faith that Christ could actually feel at home in our hearts? And we could know His love to the extent that we realize it truly is unknowable—we actually experience it in all its indescribable fullness? Doesn’t that seem impossible to you, like it’s hyperbole—stirring, even motivating, but not really attainable? I believe that’s why Paul finished his prayer, and indeed this opening half of his letter, with one of my favorite doxologies in all of Scripture: 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Again, I like the tniv: 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Recognizing that God can do more than we can even imagine, not to mention ask (more that we can dream up or fantasize about!) according to the power of His Spirit Who is at work within us, strengthening us in our inner being—this is absolutely necessary in order for us to have any sense of hope that Paul’s prayer here can actually be realized in our needy human lives!
How Should This Be Shaping Our Prayers?
Let’s address this question by posing three additional ones.
1. Do you see any contrast between the way Paul prayed here and the way we generally pray? Yes, that is immediately clear. He’s taken up with far grander themes than just the present needs of this church. Granted, he’s praying for them to grasp the great mystery of the gospel (2-13). But even so, it’s hard to imagine that there’d be any present needs among these people that would come in ahead of their desire to see Paul’s prayer realized among them. It seems like they’d be saying: Yes, Lord, answer Paul’s prayer! That’s what we want to see from You!
2. Do you believe that if we began to follow the example Paul set here, it might strengthen our appetite for prayer? If we let the grand themes of God’s nature and purpose invade our prayers such that our deepest longings for our brothers and sisters in need are for them to know, e.g., the powerful working of God through his Spirit in their inner being and the greatness of His love for them as He does this work. Then, if we were to see Him begin answering these prayers, I can’t imagine that we wouldn’t find a great deepening of our hunger and thirst to fellowship together with our Father in prayer. Agreed? It almost wouldn’t matter what happened with physical needs!
3. So, if we began to pray this way, might we be more likely to recognize God’s answers as He gives them? Absolutely. It’s hard to hide it when one’s inner being has been strengthened in faith according to the riches of [God’s] glory! His glory just tends to shine through even if that one hasn’t been healed from his infirmity. It’s hard to hide it when one’s attention has been turned away from her persistent struggle and fully preoccupied with the indescribable wonder of God’s love for her in Christ! His love just seems to shine through her eyes and smile undimmed.
Conclusion
This is the power of God on display in us. When Jesus makes His dwelling in us (17), He begins to renovate His new home just like we do ours. We make it our own—floorplan, colors, furnishings—until we feel fully at home there (Carson 2014 163-4). That’s what Jesus does in our hearts. Over time, you just can’t hide the results! GCD, don’t you long to engage with our God like this—to pray like this, and to be answered!
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Resources
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Bruce, F. F., Gordon D. Fee, & Ned B. Stonehouse., gen. eds. 1984. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, by F. F. Bruce. Ephesians, 227-442. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
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. 2014. Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Second Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
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Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. 2003, third printing. Ephesians, eight volumes. Grand Rapids: Baker.
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Osborne, Grant R. 2017. Osborne New Testament Commentaries. Ephesians: Verse by Verse. Bellingham, WA: Lexham.
Sproul. R. C. 1994. The Purpose of God: An Exposition of Ephesians. Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus.
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NEXT SUNDAY: Teach Us to Pray, Part 4, Filled wth the Knowledge of His Will, Colossians 1:9–14