I was reading this morning in a new journal and the author referred to the latter part of Ephesians 3, and I was struck by the words Paul:
Ephesians 3:16-17 (NIV)
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,
There is in these beautiful words something that struck me. The first part is clear - we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our day to day life. We need to be strengthened - growing stronger in terms of the work of the Spirit in our inner soul. Our heart, motives, attitudes; Our will, desires, passions; all fall under the domain of our inner being. It is Our Soul that Paul is saying needs this empowering.
It is in vs 17 that I am struck: "that Christ may dwell in (y)our hearts through faith".
Linda and I have lots of different ways of hosting people. We've had multiple friends, guests who've come into our home to talk with us, pray with us, listen to us, eat with us, celebrate with us. It is our "dwelling"..."katoikeo" - where we live, the place we settle, reside in.
Read it again: "that Christ may dwell - live, settle in, reside in - (y)our hearts through faith."
The deep desire of God's Spirit is to be comfortable in us. That every day, wherever we are, we carry in our soul - that place of our motives, our attitudes, our desires, our passions, our heart, and our will - a place of dwelling for God's Spirit.
What would it be like if you were invited into someone's home and they offered you coffee..."thanks"...and then proceeded to yell at each other, break out into an argument, screaming vulgarities, etc...?
I think I would shrink back and hope to get out of there as soon as possible.
God comes to us just as we are...make no mistake about it, this is not a matter of perfection. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy a personal letter of encouragement to say "let your progress be evident". It's never about perfection, it is about progress.
We may not feel worthy of God's Spirit dwelling in us, but His desire is to live within us and teach how to live in the fruit of His Spirit.
As you go to school, your work place - whether in an office or a field - remember that we carry God's Spirit with us and He desires to work within us - to "dwell" - within us...I think that is pretty awesome, don't you?
Peace
Ephesians 3:16-17 (NIV)
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,
There is in these beautiful words something that struck me. The first part is clear - we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our day to day life. We need to be strengthened - growing stronger in terms of the work of the Spirit in our inner soul. Our heart, motives, attitudes; Our will, desires, passions; all fall under the domain of our inner being. It is Our Soul that Paul is saying needs this empowering.
It is in vs 17 that I am struck: "that Christ may dwell in (y)our hearts through faith".
Linda and I have lots of different ways of hosting people. We've had multiple friends, guests who've come into our home to talk with us, pray with us, listen to us, eat with us, celebrate with us. It is our "dwelling"..."katoikeo" - where we live, the place we settle, reside in.
Read it again: "that Christ may dwell - live, settle in, reside in - (y)our hearts through faith."
The deep desire of God's Spirit is to be comfortable in us. That every day, wherever we are, we carry in our soul - that place of our motives, our attitudes, our desires, our passions, our heart, and our will - a place of dwelling for God's Spirit.
What would it be like if you were invited into someone's home and they offered you coffee..."thanks"...and then proceeded to yell at each other, break out into an argument, screaming vulgarities, etc...?
I think I would shrink back and hope to get out of there as soon as possible.
God comes to us just as we are...make no mistake about it, this is not a matter of perfection. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy a personal letter of encouragement to say "let your progress be evident". It's never about perfection, it is about progress.
We may not feel worthy of God's Spirit dwelling in us, but His desire is to live within us and teach how to live in the fruit of His Spirit.
As you go to school, your work place - whether in an office or a field - remember that we carry God's Spirit with us and He desires to work within us - to "dwell" - within us...I think that is pretty awesome, don't you?
Peace
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