Second Week of Lent
Ephesians 3:14-21
Monday
Read Ephesians 3:14-21. Paul spends the first half of his letter to the Ephesians describing God’s grace: how we were dead in our sins, how through Jesus’ death and resurrection God made us alive, how we are saved with a new purpose in life, how we are brought into God’s family, and how together with other believers we reflect God’s love and grace to the rest of the world. Paul then spends the rest of his letter sharing various ways that we can and should live in light of God’s glorious grace in our lives.
But before Paul gets to the practical application, he prays. He is so overjoyed at God’s grace, so overjoyed that there are now followers of Jesus in Ephesus, that he spends these verses at the end of chapter 3 in prayer. Specifically, he prays for the health of the church in Ephesus as they grow in God’s grace. And Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians is a prayer that we can and should pray for ourselves.
We’ll spend this second week in Lent exploring Paul’s prayer, and how we can pray this prayer for ourselves. But today, ask yourself this: what does your prayer life look like? What hinders you from having a deeper relationship with God through prayer? For some it is too many distractions in their daily lives, for others, it is not having a carved out time in their day to sit down and talk to God. Still, others struggle in prayer because they do not know what to pray, both for themselves and for others.
Take some time today to ask the Lord to strengthen your prayer life. And then, start practicing. Remember, prayer does not have to be eloquent, or well thought out. Prayer is just talking to your heavenly Father, who wants to hear from you. And just like any other relationship, the more you talk to God, the closer you will be to God. So let’s be a people of prayer!
Tuesday
Read Ephesians 3:14-21, and focus on verse 16. The first thing Paul prays is that the Ephesians would be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit. It is so important that we start here when we face any challenge in life. I don’t know about you, but when I am going through difficult times I am always tempted to rely on my own strength instead of being strengthened by God’s Holy Spirit.
But there are two problems with relying on our own strength. One, our strength is pitiful compared to God’s infinite strength. Why rely on ourselves when we have God’s strength available to us? And two, if we rely on our own strength to face life’s challenges, what happens when that strength runs out? We crumble, we fall. And then instead of pointing the finger at ourselves, we begin to wonder why God didn’t come through for us.
Take some time today to ask the Lord to strengthen you with his power through the Holy Spirit. Ask for forgiveness for the times where you have relied (or are currently relying!) on your own strength. Think of a difficult situation you are facing and imagine how the situation would be different if you truly relied on God’s strength. If you are having trouble doing this, talk to someone who has been a Christian for a long period of time, and ask them how they have seen God strengthen them in difficult times. And as you start relying on God’s strength, watch how your faith grows as well!
Wednesday
Read Ephesians 3:14-21, and focus on verse 17. After Paul prays for strength (v16), his prayer acknowledges that the Christians in Ephesus are rooted and established in love. Paul uses two metaphors (one botanical and one architectural) to show how important it is to be grounded in the love of God through Jesus. In other words, it is critical that we have a firm foundation of our faith. It is critical that we are grounded in the truth that can hold us firm, which is the Gospel, the good news that Jesus died for our sins, in our place, so that we can have a restored relationship with God.
Why are roots so important? Why is a good foundation so important? Without them, we crumble. A tree without a strong root system blows over in a storm, and a building with a bad foundation collapses in an earthquake.
Are you rooted and established in the Gospel? Are you grounded in the solid foundation of Jesus’ love for you? One way you can know the answer to that question is to ask this: what gives me the most peace in a difficult time? Is it Jesus? Is it knowing that no matter what happens, nothing can take me away from God because Jesus died for me? Or is it circumstances working out the way I want them to? It is so easy to pray, Lord, as long as such and so thing happens the way I want it to, I’ll be ok. Our prayer time turns into a desperate attempt to bargain with God. But if we are really rooted and established in Jesus’ love, we don’t need to make those deals with God.
Take some time today to ask the Lord to help you be more rooted and established in Jesus’ love. And as your foundation is strengthened, your peace will grow.
Thursday
Read Ephesians 3:14-21, and focus on verses 18-19. Paul prays that the Ephesians would know the deep love of Jesus. He prays that we would know Jesus’ love intellectually (v18: to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ), and that we would know Jesus’ love experientially (v19: to know this love that surpasses knowledge). And if we think of human relationships it makes sense that we should know Jesus’ love both intellectually and experientially. A child who only is told his parents loves him but never experiences that love will not have a close relationship with them.
Now obviously we will never be able to fully wrap our finite minds around the infinite love of Jesus. But we are still called to grow in knowing this love. Why? Because the more we know and experience Jesus’ love, the more we will be content to rest in that love. If we are truly knowing and experiencing Jesus’ love in our lives, we will be less tempted to seek that love from someone or something else.
Today, take some time to meditate on Jesus’ vast, infinite love. If someone asked you, do you know how much you are loved, what is your honest answer? Do you really know how much Jesus loves you? Do you really know that Jesus loves you unconditionally? J.D. Greear puts it this way: “There is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and nothing you have done to make God love you less.” Do you know this kind of love? And what are some ways your life might change if you really knew how much Jesus loves you? Ask the Lord today to help you know the love of Jesus.
Friday
Read Ephesians 3:14-21, and focus on verse 19. Paul has prayed that the Ephesians would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, be rooted and grounded in Jesus’ love, and that they would know and experience Jesus’ unconditional love for them. All of this leads to Paul’s final prayer: that the Ephesians would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. What an amazing prayer! Paul is not simply praying that God would fill the Ephesians with good things from him, but that God would fill the Ephesians with himself!
Now I don’t know how that will happen. How can an infinite God fit into finite human beings? It appears that Paul doesn’t even know, because in verse 20 he describes God as doing more than we can ask or imagine! But it is a beautiful picture isn’t it? It is a picture of a believer being filled with the fullness of God, with God’s grace and love overflowing in them and through them, shaping everything they say and do.
But sadly, far too many Christians never experience this fullness. We often settle for far less. Jani Ortlund puts it this way: “Are you settling for less than God has for you? Jesus didn’t die merely to save you from hell. He died so you could be filled with all the fullness of God…Ask God to awaken a greater thirst and hunger for more of Him…(and) let’s not limit God to the measure of our own smallness.”
This is a bold prayer: God fill me with your fullness. But it is a prayer that God wants us to pray and one he wants to answer. Ask the Lord today to fill you with his fullness, and then watch as the Lord does an incredible work in you and through you!
Saturday
Read Ephesians 3:14-21 one more time. Review the devotionals from this week and ask the Lord to take you deeper into this incredible prayer. Find some uninterrupted time to reflect on the glorious love of Jesus. And as you reflect, consider the words to the hymn that reflects this passage beautifully, O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Your glorious rest above!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Spread His praise from shore to shore,
How His love is never-ending,
And it changes nevermore;
How He watches o’er His loved ones,
Died to call them all His own;
How for them He’s interceding,
Watching o’er them from the throne.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Love of ev’ry love the best:
‘Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
‘Tis a haven sweet of rest.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
‘Tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
With You evermore to be.