From the Pulpit: Experiencing God
Ephesians 3: 14-21 sums up the enormity of God’s love for us through His son Jesus. We tend to have a rather small picture or experience of God because we tend to think small. Paul was trying to get the believers in Ephesus to really get a handle on the powerful God they worshiped.
Paul prays for the Christians at Ephesus, and by extension, prays also for all Christians everywhere, including us: “I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with the fullness of God.” (vrs.15-18)
Paul prays for inner strength. Inner strength is absolutely necessary to spiritual survival because our outer strength is so fragile. Think of our relationship with God using the metaphor of a tree.
As a tree grows its roots spread deeper and wider into the soil to support the growth of the tree above ground. Our faith is like that tree.
The more we spend time in prayer and studying God’s Word, the deeper we are planting our roots. The deeper our roots, the more growth we experience in our spiritual journey, the stronger our faith becomes. This is an evolving process.
The ‘soil’ must be filled with good things, good nutrients, plenty of water, lots of loving energy. That is what God’s love for us is like. The more we absorb His thoughts, His ways, His love for us and all creation, the more we experience God.
When we fall away from that spiritual nourishment, we are not healthy emotionally and spiritually.
As the tree continues to grow, it is subjected to dry spells, storms, and wintry weather. It is during those ‘rough’ times that the roots grow deeper. Before a tree can become tall and strong, it needs to grow deep roots.
When our spiritual roots are grounded in God’s love we can stand the tests of life that are sure to come. Our love and patience will be tested as we learn to respond in a loving manner toward people around us—even those who attack us, mock us, and test our patience.
Paul knew what he was talking about, because he wrote this text while in prison. He had been beaten, mocked, and persecuted.
Paul continues: “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with the fullness of God.” (vrs. 17-18)
To know the love of Christ is to possess knowledge that surpasses all other knowledge. It is a knowledge that is rooted in the experience of God himself and his love. This knowledge requires a personal relationship with God. It requires walking with God, on God’s path and in God’s love.
It is a knowledge we gain from moments of grace when we realize that God is willing to forgive our mistakes, moments of comfort when God’s peace overcomes us, moments of rejoicing, when we realize that we have shown love to a person who has been unkind or unfair to us.
Paul’s prayer and message is intended to encourage us. The good news is that as we start praying this prayer for spiritual growth for ourselves, we will see it happen.
As a believer we do not and cannot “know” everything about God and how He loves us and His plan for our lives. We simply experience God in the moment, especially when we have no clue what will happen next.
That’s what walking in faith is really all about, surrendering our lives and will to God. When the inner mind and heart are so opened, the perspective of the believer is enlarged, and one can be caught up in, and catch a vision of the grand unfolding of God’s Spirit moving throughout all of creation.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (vrs. 20-21)
We are called to experience and appreciate the mystery of the Divine. We are called to seek exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. We are asked to grow, to allow our spiritual roots to reach deeper and deeper into the rich soil of God’s provisions.
We are asked to walk in faith that our God is bigger and more expansive that our human minds can comprehend. We are beckoned to dwell in that expanded universe that reaches beyond all depth and height and length and breath. That is the God we glorify.
Ground us in your love as Christ Jesus dwells within our hearts, forever and ever. Amen.