Rooted in Christ: Experiencing God’s Immeasurable Love

Have you ever felt like a broken instrument? Like there’s something missing in your life, a void that needs to be filled, or something that needs to be changed? The good news is that God can make a masterpiece from the brokenness of your life. Just as a Symphony for a Broken Orchestra was created from discarded instruments in Philadelphia, God creates a symphony from our brokenness for His glory.

In Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul offers a powerful prayer that reveals how God can do more beyond all we ask or think. This prayer shows us the pathway to experiencing the fullness of God in our lives.

Why Does Paul Pray? The Foundation of His Prayer

Paul begins his prayer with the phrase “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father.” This references everything he has discussed in the previous chapters:

• God has brought proximity out of distance
• God has brought unity out of diversity
• God has one plan for all people in Christ

Paul approaches God with both humility and boldness. He comes humbly before the Almighty God “from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,” yet boldly because in Christ we have access to the throne.

What Is Paul Asking For? Two Powerful Requests

Paul’s prayer contains two main requests with five results that lead to one ultimate purpose.

Request 1: Divine Granting for Inner Transformation

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory…”

Paul asks God to grant something that happens on the inside, drawing from God’s unlimited resources. This request leads to three results:

1. Strengthened with power through His Spirit – Paul prays for God to empower believers through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, doing something that cannot be explained outside of divine resources.
2. Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith – Paul prays that Christ would take up permanent residence in believers’ hearts. This is where we get the phrase “asking Jesus into our heart.”
3. Rooted and grounded in love – Paul prays for a discipleship process that results in believers being like trees deeply rooted or buildings firmly grounded in love. Love becomes the distinguishing factor of this transformation.

Request 2: Divine Comprehension of God’s Love

“That you…may be able to comprehend with all the saints…”

Paul’s second request is that believers would be enabled to understand what is otherwise incomprehensible. He wants us to grasp:

• The dimensions of God’s love – “the width and length and height and depth”
• His love is wide – no one is outside the scope of His love
• His love is long – you can’t go far enough away that His love won’t reach you
• His love is deep – you can’t sin enough that God will stop loving you
• His love is high – so high you can never comprehend it

 

• To know the unknowable – “to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge”
• Not just believing in God’s love, but experiencing it
• Not just knowing about it, but being transformed by it

What Is the Purpose of Paul’s Prayer?

“That you may be filled to the fullness of God.”

The ultimate purpose of Paul’s prayer is that believers would be filled with the fullness of God. This is a paradox – being filled with what is already full, containing what cannot be contained. We have too long been too satisfied with too little of God.

Paul’s prayer is filled with beautiful paradoxes:

• Comprehending the incomprehensible
• Knowing the unknowable
• Being filled with the immeasurable

Who Is God in Paul’s Prayer? The God Who Can Do More

Paul concludes with a powerful doxology that reveals who God is:

The God Who Is Able

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we ask or think…”

Paul piles superlative upon superlative to emphasize God’s ability. Our problem may be that we’re asking too small of requests. God can do:

• More than we ask
• More than we think
• More than we can imagine
• More than we can conceive

Throughout Scripture, we see this truth affirmed:

• “Is anything too difficult for me?” (Genesis 18:14)
• “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37)
• “With man it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Luke 18:27)

The God Who Is Worthy

“To Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

There is only one who is ultimately able and only one who deserves all the glory. All glory belongs to Him – the One who is more than can be understood, known, measured, or imagined.

Life Application

The message of Paul’s prayer challenges us to experience the fullness of God in our lives. Here are some questions to consider this week:

1. Where in your life do you need to experience God’s ability to do “far more abundantly beyond all you ask or think”?
2. How might your prayer life change if you truly believed God could do immeasurably more than you can imagine?
3. In what areas are you settling for “too little of God” rather than seeking His fullness?
4. How can you become more deeply rooted and grounded in God’s love this week?
5. What broken areas of your life need to be surrendered to God so He can create His masterpiece?

This week, challenge yourself to pray boldly, asking God to do what only He can do in your life. Remember that He is able to meet your needs, carry your burdens, answer your questions, and satisfy your deepest longings. And when He does, give Him all the glory, for He alone is worthy.