{"id":26527,"date":"2023-05-28T22:00:21","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T05:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ephesians-3_7-13-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-05-16T14:46:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T21:46:14","slug":"ephesians-3_14-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ephesians-3_14-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Experiencing God\u2019s Power in Your Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ephesians 3:14-21 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ephesians 3:14-21.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/strong>\u00a03<\/strong>:<\/strong>14<\/strong>\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n14<\/sup>\u00a0For this\u00a0reason\u00a0I kneel before the Father,<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse\u00a014: \u00a0Paul got on his knees when he prayed to God.\u00a0 Likewise, sometimes when you’re\u00a0praying, especially when you’re by yourself, try physically kneeling if you can.\u00a0 When I get on my knees in prayer, it’s a reminder to humble myself before God.\u00a0 Kneeling reminds me of how small I am before God and how much I need God in my life.<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/strong>\u00a03<\/strong>:15\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 15: \u00a0No matter how different the cultures, backgrounds and countries we come from, all of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ belong to the same family and are given the same family name.\u00a0 That “whole family” includes every believer on earth today and every believer who has already gone to heaven.\u00a0 The church of Jesus Christ is the largest, most diverse, most multicultural family that ever existed or ever will\u00a0exist.<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/strong>\u00a03<\/strong>:16-17a (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup>so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-17a: \u00a0Three times in this passage Paul mentions the word “power”.\u00a0 He prays that God would strengthen his church in Ephesus with\u00a0power<\/em>\u00a0(v16).\u00a0 Then he prays that they would have\u00a0power\u00a0<\/em>to grasp how great God’s love is (v18).\u00a0\u00a0Finally\u00a0he states that God can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine “according to His power that is at work within us”\u00a0<\/em>(v19).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0God made you\u00a0<\/strong>to experience\u00a0Him. Not just to know Him from afar but to experience Him up close.\u00a0 He wants you to know His power.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0How can you know God’s power?\u00a0 By cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit<\/strong>, who lives in every Christian — as Paul says, “through His Spirit in your inner being<\/em>” (v16).\u00a0 When you draw close to the Holy Spirit through extended time in prayer, worship and reading His Word, you begin to experience His power working in your life.\u00a0 It’s like firing up an oven.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The whole goal of receiving power from God is not so that we can chase after our selfish ambitions; rather, it’s “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (v17).<\/strong>\u00a0 God’s desire is that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith.\u00a0 The word “dwell” here means to fill and take over a place.\u00a0 Christ wants to fill and take over every part of your life.\u00a0 He wants to infuse every aspect of your life with His hope, peace, confidence, wisdom, purpose and joy — “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (v19).\u00a0 For that to happen, you need the Holy Spirit to empower you.<\/p>\n

You can’t run a Ferrari on a small 9 volt\u00a0battery. \u00a0 Similarly,\u00a0we don’t have the power\u00a0<\/strong>by\u00a0ourselves to let Christ dwell in us as He should.\u00a0 We need the Holy Spirit to empower us<\/strong>.\u00a0 Only when the Holy Spirit is empowering us can Christ dwell, fill and take over our lives.\u00a0 When the Holy Spirit empowers you, that’s when all the lights come on and you can hear the engine that is Christ in your life roar.\u00a0 So seek to be empowered by His Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The more time you spend drawing near to the Holy Spirit, the more He will empower you.<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/strong>\u00a03<\/strong>:17b-19 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>…And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17b-19: \u00a0Another important part of experiencing God’s power in your life is to love your church family. When love is the foundation of what we do (that is,\u00a0when we are “rooted and established in love” – v18) and when we are united with other believers (“together with all the saints” – v17), three things happen:<\/p>\n

– we begin to grasp how immeasurable God’s love is (that it’s higher, deeper, wider and longer than we can comprehend) (v18);<\/p>\n

– we begin to really experience God\u2019s love \u2013 not just hear about it or know about it intellectually, a \u201clove that surpasses knowledge” (v19);<\/p>\n

– the fullness of God begins to fill our lives more and more (v19).\u00a0 God\u2019s intent was always that you and I would \u201cbe filled to the measure of all the fullness of God\u201d (v19).<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/strong>\u00a03<\/strong>:20-21 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>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 us,
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,\u00a0for ever\u00a0and ever! Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 20-21: \u00a0God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. But how much He actually does in us is “according to the power that is\u00a0at work<\/em>\u00a0within us”.\u00a0 In other words, how much God actually does in our lives will depend on how much we allow His power to be at work within us.\u00a0 If we maintain a close relationship with the Holy Spirit, that power will very much be “at work within us”, alive, and active.\u00a0 But if we remain distant from the Holy Spirit, we don\u2019t allow God\u2019s power to work within us the way God intended.\u00a0 God has made the most incredible power available to us.\u00a0 It’s the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Ephesians\u00a01:19-20).\u00a0 But it\u2019s up to us to give God the room to work that power in our lives.<\/p>\n

Holy Spirit, please take all of me and fill me today.\u00a0 I want Your power to be fully working in me.\u00a0 May Christ dwell in my heart through faith.\u00a0 May I experience Your love more deeply.\u00a0 And may You have unlimited room to work in and through my life.\u00a0 To You be all glory and honour forever!\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ephesians 3:14-21.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ephesians\u00a03:14\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n14\u00a0For this\u00a0reason\u00a0I kneel before the Father,<\/p>\n

On verse\u00a014: \u00a0Paul got on his knees when he prayed to God.\u00a0 Likewise, sometimes when you’re\u00a0praying, especially when you’re by yourself, try physically kneeling if you can.\u00a0 When I get on my knees in prayer, it’s a reminder to humble myself before God.\u00a0 Kneeling reminds me of how small I am before God and how much I need God in my life.<\/p>\n

Ephesians\u00a03:15\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n15\u00a0from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.<\/p>\n

On verse 15: \u00a0No matter how different the cultures, backgrounds and countries we come from, all of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ belong to the same family and are given the same family name.\u00a0 That “whole family” includes every believer on earth today and every believer who has already gone to heaven.\u00a0 The church of Jesus Christ is the largest, most diverse, most multicultural family that ever existed or ever will\u00a0exist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26527"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26530,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527\/revisions\/26530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}