Daily Devotion – July 21, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison

Ephesians 3:14-21
3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.
3:16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,
3:17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
3:18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
3:19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
3:20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,
3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

This passage of Ephesians contains some very explicit witness to the power of the Triune God. Perhaps a Triune God was more than the Christians at Ephesus were able to imagine, but hear the testimony to each person of the Godhead:

Verse 14: I bow my knees before the Father

Verse 16: …that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit

Verse 17: that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

And living in community with the Triune God, the writer says that (verses 19-20) we may be filled with all the fullness of God…the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God’s glory.

Perhaps this claim in Ephesians is an actual description of how Jesus worked in his years of ministry. When he went away by himself to pray, he was emptying himself of himself and filling himself up with all of the persons of God so that God was able to use him to heal and to comfort and to inspire. The disciples could never fully comprehend his power, but it was there and working, and he promised it to them, just as he promised it to all his believers.

So let us not be afraid to empty ourselves of ourselves and pray that God dwell within us to accomplish all the abundant works God has in mind, for the world surely needs God’s abundance right now.

Gracious God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for being here now with us. Help us to empty ourselves and fill up with your power and purpose, so that we may be your hands and feet in this broken world.   Amen.