Paul's prayer for the Ephesians has been one of my favorite prayers and one of my favorite passages for many years. I remember several years ago being stuck on verse 19...praying and thinking and meditating on those words..."to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge." I remember praying, "Father, how can you ask me to know something that passes my knowledge?" I will come back to this in a moment.
Paul is pointing out that the Jews and Gentiles have been brought into the same family through the blood of the Messiah, that the hostilities have been removed in Christ Jesus, we who were without hope and without God, now have access by one Spirit to the Father! So Paul is showing the unity we now have in Christ and he is showing his ministry to the Gentiles and how God's manifold wisdom may now be made known through the Church! These truths and more lead him to break out in prayer and praise to God the Father.
Eph 3:14-21 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 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, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
I can only imagine what Paul experienced during his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus...I believe that he witnessed the "riches of HIS glory" and as a result was "strengthened with might through HIS Spirit in HIS inner man." Can you imagine having an encounter like Paul, or Isaiah in Isaiah 6, or how about Moses, who talked to God face to face, what about Job in Job 42:5-6 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”
Paul longs for the Ephesians, by the inward working of the Holy Spirit, to know, to KNOW the riches of HIS glory in their inner man by faith, to comprehend with all the saints, (corporate fellowship, worship etc.) to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Think about this for a moment...our being filled with the fullness of God depends on our knowing the love of Christ which passes knowledge. I don't remember how long I had to wrestle with this...but I recall thinking Father, are you telling me that to experience fullness in my relationship with YOU I have to do something that I can't do? I was stuck!
Then in the year 2,000 Diane and I were at a going away party for some friends. We were at the Church in a large open area with about 80 people standing around talking. Diane was holding Zachary, who was 6 months old at the time, it was early afternoon on a Sunday and he was extremely tired. I'm sure all of you have witnessed the 6 month old tired head bobble, their eyes close, head drops and then pops back up again. It is amazing how long they can do this before passing out on your shoulder. There we were surrounded by a crowd of people, everyone talking and enjoying the fellowship...all the while I have one eye on Diane and Zach. Diane's back is to me, so I am watching Zach's little head bop up and down...thinking how cute he is and at that moment from about 30 feet away, through several people Zach sees me and his little tired face lights up and he grins from ear to ear...He saw his Daddy! If you are a Daddy you know what that did to my heart...those are sweet memories.
During the next few days during my quite times with the Lord it hit me like a ton of bricks...NOW STAY WITH ME ON THIS...When Zachary saw my face and his face lit up at 6 months old it showed that he KNEW A LOVE THAT PASSED HIS CURRENT KNOWLEDGE! His knowledge of me at that moment was very limited, he had no clue that every resource at my disposal would be deployed and used on his behalf if needed. But at 6 months old he had a KNOWLEDGE OF THE LOVE OF HIS DADDY THAT PASSED HIS KNOWLEDGE! Today Zachary is 9, his knowledge is much deeper, he has a better grasp on my love for him, he still does not fully understand...for him I believe that will come when he has his own children.
So, I love this, you and I can know the love of Christ which passes knowledge...THAT WE MAY BE FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS OF GOD! WOW! Let this smack you upside the head...is it any wonder that after sharing this Paul broke out in a doxology...20 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, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. at
OH Father in heaven,
open the eyes of our hearts that we may see, delight, enjoy YOU and the fullness that you long to pour into YOUR children...enable us to know YOUR love that passes knowledge!
love,
m