For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 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, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Paul starts this passage out by stating: “For this reason I kneel before the Father …”. So what is the reason? It is stated in the previous two verses: “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.”
‭‭(Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭13‬)‬‬

So because we can approach God in freedom and with confidence, Paul takes every advantage of this. Because he can … he does. He kneels before his King and prays for the Ephesians.

And he prays two main points in his prayer: 1) That God will, out of the immensity of his riches, give them power through the Holy Spirit to strengthen their inner beings. Why? So, Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. At times in our lives, our faith in God and our relationship with him can become strained and weak. When this happens, we tend to rely on the lesser power of our own strength. And we get into Sin Trouble. And so, Paul is calling for their strength in God through Christ to be renewed in power. What a great prayer! 2) His second main point of prayer is in succession to the first one. As they have Jesus in their hearts, that they will then maintain this relationship in the long-run. Roots take time to work their way down deep and provide great nutrients for the plant or tree. So. too, do the roots of our spiritual lives. And as these roots grow deep in relationship with Jesus, we understand and rely on his great love for us. We begin to understand how wide this love is. That it is wide enough to include people who are broken, disregarded by the world, with scars, and who are entangled in all types of sin. And we understand how long is his love. It is longer than our problems and outlasts our rebellion and selfishness. It loves long to our children’s children. And we understand the heights to which this love comes from — it is an other-worldly, heavenly type of love. It is an unconditional, sacrificial, “all around us at once”-type of love. And that we can fathom the depths of his love: deeper than the mighty rolling oceans, its reserves continue to love us — over and over and over again — and will never run out. They are endless!

So today, when you think of the good and the bad you have been through and the good and the bad you will go through in this life, one constant remains for the follower of Jesus — THE LOVE OF GOD! WOW!

I am in awe of your incredible love today, Lord Jesus! I fail you at times and you still love me. I cannot outrun, out-sin, out-last, or repel away your love for me. When everything else I have relied on fails me, your love remains faithful and true. Bless you, Father God for YOUR INCREDIBLY RICH LOVE FOR ME!