Ephesians: Love

The Praise of Prayer

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 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. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

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, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)

After announcing God’s plan for them, Paul continues his letter with a prayer for power and understanding for his audience. They were a young church in a time when their faith was new and not well established. They were a mixture of people from differing and often antagonistic backgrounds. As they listened to these words read to them they would have heard their teacher asking God for power, but not the power of those in the world around them, rather the power to grasp the vastness of God’s love for them. This love was different from the loyalty to family and the quid-pro-quo nature of other relationships.

God’s deep love for creation, and for humanity is a theme that runs throughout scripture. As 1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” 1 John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

God loves me. God loves you. When we run into the many parts of today’s world that wear us down and point out our weakness, failure, and unworthiness, we to can pray for the power to grasp that we are loved and valued by the one whose opinion matters more than all others combined. God loves me!