Prayer to Know the Love of God in Christ
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason [all the above], I bow my knees before the Father, 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 3:15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. NKJV
Just imagine you came to Troas to listen to the Apostle Paul speak, and in the middle of his sermon he would stops and offers this prayer on his knees.
When we pray this prayer, our voices join the myriads of other individuals, in the past and present, in our worship to the Father. It is a prayer that we can know the love of Christ and God from deep in our souls, stamped in such a way that it is as real as our personal names.
Every Family…On Earth and Heaven
This is the Father’s extensive authority: Everyone in the entire cosmos is named after the Father God, who created, their planet, and their galaxies, and gave them life, ordaining and sustaining all existence from within Himself and “through” His Son (See Col 1:15-19).
Just imagine the power in God, who holds “eternal life” (John 3:16) and promises to give it to millions, from his inexhaustible internal reserves. God does not just hold out to us a promise of life eternal, but a greater privilege of sharing the nature of God’s love from inside us. Perhaps this is the beginning of eternal life. As Jesus told the woman at the Jacob’s Well, “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).
Ephesians 3:16 I pray that out of his [Father’s] glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His [Father’s] Spirit in your inner being, NIV
3:16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His [Father’s] glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man NKJV
The Father’s Glorious Riches, The Riches of His [Father’s] glory
Which is the "riches of His grace” (1:7), points to the boundlessness of divine wealth in the currency of grace and love. If we could open the vaults of heaven to see the stored gold and silver, what would we see? God’s vast, unmeasured, unweighable, uncountable currency of grace. God spends His currency in overflowing grace, rich benefits to the undeserving. He is entitled “the God of all grace” (1 Pet 5:10).
We Will Be Strengthen
The Greek word means, “to become strong or to grow stronger.” Meaning we move from weak to “strong in the Lord” (Eph 6:10). This is growing strong over time. As a boy, Jesus “continued to grow and become strong” (Lk 2:40).
This is done by the Holy Spirit from the inside, our inner being. From this location we are given an understanding of the love of Christ and the love of God. Over time it grows so that one can say with delight, “I love you, Lord.”
God’s Spirit’s Power Fortifies the Inner Person
Our fortification is not human-sourced, coming from books or education. It is directly sent by the Father, called “God’s Spirit” (1 Cor 3:16). This is the most essential ingredient to grow strong, or it would be impossible to know the Love of Christ and the Love of God. The Spirit is like the plant food called Miracle-Gro used to train up a large plant of love, sustained by love from the Spirit.
This power comes to us from outside our environment, to govern from the inside. Since the Spirit comes from the Father, it can be said that “in him [Christ] you too are being built together to become a dwelling [place] in which God lives by his [Holy] Spirit” (Eph 2:22). Such a home must be decorated with love. Jesus said, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:23). In Christ, in love, all of us will be sensitive to what Jesus has taught us in the four Gospels and in the writing his Apostles.
Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell [abide, live] in [inside] your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, NIV
3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through [by means of] faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love NKJV
Christ may Dwell
This means to settle in as living in a home, to be established and abide inside us. Christ takes up His permanent “home” (John 14:23) through the “power through His [God’s] Spirit in your inner being” (3:16). Jesus said of the Helper, “he lives [abides] with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). Through the Spirit, Christ dwells in us.
In Romans there are three names given to the Holy Spirit, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives [dwells, abides] in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom 8:9). Here Paul teaches us that through the Holy Spirit called the Spirit of Christ, because the He represents Christ Jesus, is to dwell in us. Jesus taught us about the mission of the Spirit was to “testify about me” (John 15:26) and “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). If we pray for more of the Holy Spirit, focus on Christ, who is taught and proclaimed in the New Testament.
Christ may Dwell in us Through the Spirit
Paul makes this wonderful truth very plain: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor 3:10). This experience is what Jesus told Nicodemus when he said that we must be born again or “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
In summary, the New Birth, is the work of God through “His Spirit” (1 Cor 2:22), that changes the whole direction of our inner thoughts and desires. “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires” our condition before we were Born of the Spirit, “but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires” (Rom 8:5).
We understand the New Birth only by experience. We can understand it only because it is given to us by the Spirit, making it plain and applying it in our lives. The Spirit does not leave us without a witness to his presence, chiefly seen when there is more love for God in your heart and for others in response; with increased humility, honesty and a “clear conscience toward God” (1 Pet 3:21), by an ever-widening deeper confession of sin.
How do we know that Christ dwells in us?
Paul answers because Christ is established, set Himself up, in us—In love. Without love for God through Christ and the Spirit, dwelling in us and we know it is there—nothing else much matters.
If you feel you have no vibrant love for God in your heart. Stop and pray. Ask God to show you if there is anything that is blocking the Love of Christ from being rooted deep in our present reality. Ask God in Christ, for more and more love to Him and others.
There is one big roadblock on love’s highway. It is any form of hate, ill will, open discord, and disgust with others. “We know that we have passed from death to life,” having been Born Again or Born of God, “because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains [dwells, abides] in death” (1 John 3:14). In other words, they are living while they are really dead.
If Christ, through the Spirit, dwells in us, we will know love. If love does not abide in us, we abide instead in a state of perpetual death.
This is unique to the Christian faith. Budda is external to the worshiper; Hindu Gods are external; In Islam, the Holy Spirit is believed to be the Angel Gabriel. Muslims have explicitly rejected Christian doctrines of the Trinity from an early date.
Rooted in Love
Spirit-given love builds downward with deep roots, over time becoming a large tree. It can’t be pulled up or snapped off. As time passes, love grows deeper and deeper into our feelings, our emotions affecting every aspect of our lives. When we become aware of feelings of ill-will or fall into the trait of shunning someone, it should be a call to confession to God and asking God to give you repentance and love. It is not impossible, for Jesus said, “But to you who are listening [pay attention], I say [I command]: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Lk 6:27,28).
We don’t love because people can love us back—We love because we can. Because we were made too, because it is the only good thing we can possess, and maybe the only thing we take from earth to heaven. We love because God makes us able to love. “Love comes from God and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).
Love with Peace
Love becomes bonded by “the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3). Peace with others and peace with God.
The Root of Love
Notice that Love is not itself the root, it is love of and for Christ, which is deeply rooted. It is not at all like the Beatles song which is just romantic in surface: “Love, love, love all you need is love.”
Love cannot grow deep, with any bitterness. This is a chief reason why many congregations are devoid of the Spirit: there is hatred, animosity, class divisions by education, family exclusiveness, or racial divisions that create separation from the mainstream, in and among them.
Love cannot grow deep, when the church seldom places any emphasis on the ministry of the Spirit. When church leaders do not often express their personal love of God. The congregation will be held together by social means and doctrinal convictions. Not by love for each other that springs from love of God and love from God. “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).
Housekeeping
When we pray for the love of God and for Christ to make a home in us, the Spirit will start housekeeping inside us. The Spirit will lead us to feel guilt over broken covenants and promises we have made to others. We will feel the need for confession followed by repentance with deep sorrow. To those who “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16), this will be a common experience.
“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Heb 12:14-15). Notice that holiness is related to living at peace with others, and peace is placed in our hearts by the grace of God.
Established and Grounded in Love
The word is taken from architecture, where a firm foundation is laid as a building that rests on a solid basis. For love to grow strong, deep inside us, there must be a cleaning out of all the pockets of hidden animosity. Hidden self-love, lust of the flesh, lust for wealth at the expense of family and friends or those who get in your way.
If any “malice” (Eph 4:31), or ill-will should exist between us and another person, the Love of God cannot grow deep and exist with any kind of bitterness. Even if one feels their belief is correct, it does not justify any kind of resentment.
When all resentment over our treatment by others is pulled up, root and branch, by prayer for the Spirit—Joy in the Lord will follow as evidence.
When all resentment over our treatment by others is pulled up, root and branch, by prayer for the Spirit—Joy in the Lord will follow as evidence. Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit preceded first by love. After Love, then Joy, then comes peace with God and others. Peace inside, “peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Phil 4:7).
The same can be said for “love of the world”, its movies of enchanting drama, sexual situations, and cold-blooded murder, will for sure, draw our hearts from prayer and the Scriptures. The consequences of willingly watching Hollywood’s action and high drama movies are spiritual confusion. A spiritual paralysis will overtake you. The inability to confess your sins, followed by the increased media addictions. Before long, the lamp of God’s presence in your life will grow dimmer and dimmer. Oh, the mercy of God when we pray, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Lk 18:13). Oh, the need of “grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:16).
Ephesians 3:18 [That we] 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, NIV
3:18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height [full dimension] NKJV
3:18 in-order-that you, having been rooted and founded in love, might be strong-enough to grasp together with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth” Disciples’ Literal New Testament
3:18 hat you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
3:18 In order that you may be empowered to grasp with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth Mounce Reverse Interlinear New Testament
3:18 And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. New Century Version
To be Able to Comprehend
This Greek word means to perceive and understand, to seize a tight hold and to grasp something so as to make it our own. The power and the ability to understand the greatness of the Love of Christ and His Father’s love for us, is possible because we are made able by the mighty power of the “Spirit” (Eph 3:16).
The Love of Christ Comes From His Life and Messages
It is “the kingdom of God…about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31). The “message is heard through the word about Christ” (Rom 10:17). It is “the message of the cross” (1 Cor 1:18) and the “message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19). It is the “message of Christ” that is to “dwell among you richly” (Col 3:16).
What Does it Mean to Grasp in Depth the Love of Christ?
What does it mean to grasp in width-length-height-depth of the love of Christ? In simplest terms it means to love our Savior.
To love “the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13).
To love “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
To love the account of Christ in the New Testament.
To love with deep gratitude, forgiveness of sins that comes from Him.
To love the promised inheritance and resurrection made possible by Him.
To love His promise that we can have “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5:21).
To love what Jesus taught, and the Apostles proclaimed.
To know all about the content of each of Paul’s letters, given to him “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:12). Paul said that “grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8).
We would not have the four gospels, Acts and the letters of the Apostles were it not for the resurrection of Jesus, who has become the Messiah for the World, Jesus Christ. “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:7). To “all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love” (Eph 6:24).
Our Modern Age—Mostly Second-Hand Biblical Knowledge
We live in the age of second-hand Biblical knowledge—through the media, You Tube, and religious programming. As the result, the Bible on its own, is less often given serious time for study. More often the Bible is unmarked. Nowadays, for the most part, the Bible is understood through the media presentations of thousands of books and sermons.
No one can doubt media has its many useful benefits in presenting Biblical truths, yet it is still second-hand information. Nothing can compare to the Book itself where God speaks to us directly, personally, through His Spirit. In Scriptures we can pray, repeating the exact words of God’s promises, with our eyes on the written Word. Where we can ask God, by His Spirit, to teach us and guide us into a closer walk with God. Jesus said, “the words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63); these words, and what the Apostles have proclaimed on His behalf, we should give very close attention, these words impart the Spirit and eternal life.
God’s Last Audible Command to Earth
“While he was still speaking [Peter], a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased Listen to him!” (Matt 17:5). It is important to notice that the Father loves the Son; thus, all who love the Son will also have the love of God. God’s love is made available to us through His Son. Notice also, that God unites love with listening to my Son, which means that love should be seen as the chief and more important product of worship of God and His Son. In every worship service.
This is the last audible commandment from God the Father, carrying in authority of more importance than the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. The first audible commands of God were written on “tablets of stone.” This audible command from God, is to be written on “tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:3).
While Peter was still talking, about his idea of building “three shelters” (Matt 17:4), to commemorate Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. God interrupted Peter to show him where his attention and loyalty should lie—on the Son of God, not on Moses or Elijah. They represented the Old Testament witness given to Jesus.
God Himself is telling the world what he wants us to do—Listen to His Son. “For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” (John 6:27). To listen to Jesus, became the theme of the New Testament, Moses, and Elijah, only carried weight as they witness about Christ.
As Peter told related in the first Christian sermon after Pentecost, “For Moses said, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people” (Acts 3:22,23).
To love Christ is the Love the Father Also
To love Christ our Savior is to also love God our Father. “Who is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord?” (Rom 8:29). What Paul is saying is that God’s love is enfolded in His Son, Christ Jesus.
In him [Christ], we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace…in [His] love” (Eph 1:7,4). God’s love for us is seen in his grace toward us in providing Christ whereby we can have forgiveness of sin. This process is made available to us because of the “riches of God’s grace” (Eph 1:7) and the “glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).
“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23). Our love of Christ should be evaluated by our loyalty and devotion to not just to the name of Jesus, but his words, his teachings and example as proclaimed by the Gospels and the Apostles. Being devoted to the life and teaching of Jesus, brings huge rewards, the Father Himself with His Son will make their home with us. From their combined presence, made possible by the Spirit of God. Then the love of God and the love for Christ our Savior will become over time the largest evidence that bring to us “confidence”, boldness and “freedom” in prayer (Eph 3:12).
Together with All the Lord’s Holy People
This is true Christian fellowship, where the “love of Christ” (Rom 8:35) and “the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39) are the frequent themes of teaching and celebration in prayer and songs. As we walk together “in footsteps by the same Spirit” (2 Cor 12:18). All of us in “one body” sharing among all “one Spirit” (Eph 4:4). Where we all “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit” among us, “through the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3). This bond that binds us together in our faith, our love, and our hope in the gospel, cannot be broken without loss of the Spirit and loss of “undying” fervent “love” (Eph 6:24) for God and Christ Jesus His son. If this took place, how empty would the Christian life become, like a marriage where the first love is long gone.
To Grasp & know how: Wide-Long-High-Deep—Is the Love of Christ (NIV)
To Grasp & know how: Width-Length-Depth-Height—The full dimensions of love (NKJV)
Wide enough to encompass everyone, Christ’s love reaches out with both arms to all of us.
Long enough to last for eternity, everlasting to everlasting, it goes beyond human barriers.
High enough to exalt those who love Christ, to heaven.
Deep enough to reach the most degraded sinner to touch any need, any sorrow and any hurt.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast unmeasured, boundless, and free
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of His love—
Leading onward, leading homeward
To His glorious rest above.
Trevor Francis (1834-1925)
Ephesians 3:19 and to know this [love of Christ] love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God NIV
3:19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. NKJV
3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to [with] all the fullness of God” NET Bible
3:19 I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. Common English Bible
3:19 Christ’s love is ·greater than anyone can ever know [beyond comprehension/knowledge], but I pray that you will be able to know that love. ·Then […so that] you can be filled with the fullness of God. Expanded Bible
3:19 I pray that you will know the love of Christ. His love goes beyond anything we can understand. I pray that you will be filled with God Himself. New Life Version
The Love of Christ Surpasses Knowledge
It cannot be written down or explained in a course of lectures or a hundred books. Yet it can be experienced in ever increasing degrees. What joy, comfort, sweetness and positive influences, this love from both God and Christ, brings into our lives is very precious. It is at the heart of worship and the pulse of life; it is a far greater influence than that of education, culture, or of our environment. It makes a difference in everything that you do. Life is honeycombed with “God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reigning in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Rom 5:17) and “the Holy Spirit and in sincere love” (2 Cor 6:6).
All the Fullness of God
This is a progressive term, not static. It is not to understood like a reservoir that holds only a limited amount of water. The fullness of God is like a 5000-year-old Bristlecone Pine tree which is always growing. This is to be the lifetime experience of Christianity.
The indwelling of the Spirit constructs a “temple” (1 Cor 6:19) inside the believer, for God to call his “home” (John 14:23). Here, through the influence of God’s Spirit, evil, darkness, anger, and malice have no room to grow, due to the presence of God’s fullness. Those who are “Born of the Spirit” (John 3:8) can come to God every day to ask God to display His fullness through His gifts. For God to “fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” (Col 1:9). Jesus has promised us, “ask and it will be given to you” (Matt 7:7).
Fullness, Grace Upon More Grace
These are gifts from God’s grace that is generously given to us: “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16). This means grace upon more grace we have received, because we have needed it—yes, we have! Do you see how much you are dependent daily on grace?
Know This Love, “Through Faith” (3:17)
This is Paul’s prayer for the church members, all believers together. It is spontaneous and arises inside us; at various times of the day we can sense the personal love of God. If you can say that you love Him, without effort, it is taking root in your heart. Thank God for it!
Ask God every morning and evening for more love. Love for others around you, love for those you work with, love for distant family, and love for Scriptures. But most of all, best of all, more rewarding than all other loves and more than before—ask God to give you more Love for God your Father and His Son Jesus Christ, who forgives your sins and offers you adoption to His Father, our God who loves you.
“We know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.
Whoever lives in love—Lives in God,
And God in them”
1 John 4:16
Ephesians 3:20—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 [in] us, NIV
3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us NKJV
3:20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— Christian Standard Bible
3:20 Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; Common English Bible
3:20 Now to the One being able to do super-abundantly beyond all of the things which we ask or think according to the power being at-work in us—Disciples’ Literal New Testament
3:20 Now to him, who is able, according to the power that is at work within us, to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine Evangelical Heritage Version
3:20 With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. New Century Version
Now to Him Who is able to Do
Now, that we are seeking to experience the love of Christ and the fullness of God in our lives. So now let us, believe that God is able to do immeasurably more then we can ask.
Here, God is said to do something: The word do in Greek is poieo, means to make, cause, act, or construct, carry out, perform, or create. It points to God as a worker, where He is neither idle nor inactive in ministering to us.
Now unto him that is able to do…super-abundantly beyond all of the things.
Now unto him that is able to do…infinitely more than we can ask or imagine
Now unto him that is able to do… Exceedingly abundantly that we ask or think
Now unto him that is able to do…far beyond all that we could ask or imagine
Now unto him that is able to do…above and beyond all that we ask or think
Now unto him that is able to do…According to the power that works in us
Now unto him that is able to do… Abundantly that we could ask or think
Now unto him that is able to do… Above all we can ask or think
Now unto him that is able to do…All that we ask or think
According to His power, the Holy Spirit working from Inside Us
What is this power that can do all things: It is "Power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Eph 3:16). It is the power of the Holy Spirit in a person that has has been “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). It is the first and foremost work of the Spirit to transform our lives, giving us the peace of God, the love of God, always with ever increasing humility. Never attempting to create fame for us, to gain wealth or be promoted above others.
Don’t let this power—which above, and more than we can ask or think, go to our head. No, this is the power of the Spirit that works in us, by faith with deep humility. It is not us; it is not our abilities, our commands, or our wishes—it the Spirit that transforms us from the inside.
This power is not given to draw attention to ourselves, as a person of mighty answered prayers, so that we can gain fame. If this is the case, there will be no Spirit power in our prayers, no matter how fancy they might be. As Jesus taught on the Sermon of the Mount it is “the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:3). They are the ones that are brought into God’s kingdom.
The “poor in spirit,” is in reference to our attitudes. We come empty handed to God, teachable and open to spiritual things to learn of his “ways” (Heb 3:10) and the will of God. We offer no excuses for our shortcomings, and we pray to God about our faults, asking for strength and a change of heart. We are quick to say I am sorry. We are humble in heart and attitude. Not boastful. Ready to listen, to learn and to grow. We acknowledge our spiritual poverty before God. We are devoted to Scriptures, taking time for seasons of prayer.
As C.S. Lewis wrote of this experience, “Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel we are good--above all, that we are better than someone else. I think we may be sure that we are being acted on not by God but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is to either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether”. Mere Christianity, Book III, Chapter 8, entitled "The Great Sin".
To Be Able
The Greek means to be empowered, to make it possible, to be enabled by God, either directly due to His love for you and His Spirit inside you. Believe this, as you present your requests before God with His love in your heart.
Able to do…More then We Ask or Think
There is a boundless reach to God’s power in our prayer of faith. God wants us to be reinvigorated in the assurance of the Divine ability.
Always keep in mind that whatever wisdom God may impart to you, it is for the glory of God, “in the church and in Christ Jesus” (Eph 3:21).
If the power of love is not among us, because of petty fights, animosities, strong political views, or slights that fester—the church will have little power in prayer. A malaise will settle over the whole congregation while many fall asleep or read from their cell phones during the church service.
Ephesians 3:21 to him [God] be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. NIV
3:21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. NKJV
Throughout All Generations
The eternity of ages. It is the language of a heart full of the love of God and desiring that He might be praised. Why, because of God’s love in Christ and in us. This love that starts here on earth will last forever, multiplied by eternity upon eternity in unimaginable returns.
In the eternal world, as our eternal life unfolds into unnumbered important activities, as God’s children, there love will be super-abundant. The redeemed of the Lord will love each other to the same degree God loves them, and they love God.
Eternity with God is where we will experience joyful love, present peace, and personal fulfillment of anything as possible, as Sons and Daughters of God. It all started when God came to earth and found us, called us to higher better love, then here on earth. The love, found in the fullness of God growing in us, calling us to a higher, better love than is found here on earth. This part of the very love we take to heaven, but it is God’s love dwelling in us. While here on earth, “the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13).
The Church
The church Paul is speaking of here is not one specific denomination or building. But the whole of all the believers on earth.
Ever and ever
When the redeemed of the Lord have lived twelve periods of eternity, God will still be glorified in them, as they radiate the love of God into the cosmos. Imagine twenty-five periods of eternity past, an unimaginable number, and the “redeemed of the Lord” (Ps 107:2), the redeemed from earth are only beginning to understand the glory, the joy, satisfaction, and potential that God’s love has handed out to them. What of anything here on earth would we trade for such a full-bodied everlasting love, promised by God? You answer me?