• HOW CAN WE HAVE THE POWER OF GOD WORKING IN US?
• It is possible for us today.

• Ephesians 3:14-21
• For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

• INTRODUCTION
• Paul, having learned the mystery of God, (Ephesians 3:1-7), that both Gentiles and Jews are fellow partakers of the promises of God, started declaring it publicly, and suffered greatly for so doing.
• Even though he had suffered because of his preaching, he doesn’t want the brethren to lose heart (give up) v.13.
• So he offers a prayer that they “might be strengthened with might (power) through His Spirit (Spirit of Christ) in the inner man” v.16.
• This is God’s enabling power to “do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” v.20.
• By utilizing this power God will be glorified “in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations” v.21.
• Then the Christians will see the hand of God working in their lives far beyond anything they could possibly imagine.
• If his prayer for them becomes a reality they would experience the enabling power of God working in them v.20, and God would be glorified v.21.
• The same is true for us today.
• We can have this same prayer answered in our lives.
• We can experience the hand of God working in our lives far beyond anything we can possibly imagine.

• Power Into Action
• Utilizing this power is much like driving a car.
• Until one turns the key that ignites the power in the engine the car won’t move.
• In the same way we will not be motivated and transformed in our lives to be what God wants us to be if we don’t apply this power in our lives.
• We are being challenged to “start the engine” so we can experience the power and glory of God.

• What is this power Paul writes about?
• The Greek word, might v.16, power v.20 (dunamis - dynamite) occurs 118 times in the NT.
• It denotes the universal, inherent power, ability or capability that is physical, spiritual or moral that resides in a person or thing, the driving force or cause for action or work.
• It is variously defined as power, ability, might, strength.
• It is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
• Ephesians 1:19-20 “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, these are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places…”
• It is the power to resist temptation.
• It is the power to tell Satan “NO!”
• We have more power than we realize and we are guilty of limiting such power.
• But here in this passage it is the spiritual power dwelling in the inner man, that allows God to accomplish His purpose, so He might be glorified in the church and in His Son.
• So, instead of putting a stack of dynamite under a person, Paul puts it inside a person.
• In Ephesians 1:15-21 he prayed that saints would come to “KNOW…the exceeding greatness of His power.”
• Like the saints in Ephesus, Paul prayed that they would know and understand this power.
• Once we know what it is and what it does: we need to USE it.
• Grab the power that will enable them to act like a fully functioning Christian.

• How can they do this?
• By following Paul’s prayer
• Be strengthened in the inner man v.16;
• Colossians 1:11-12. “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light”.
• The inner man is the real YOU.
• We can see the outer man in the mirror, but the inner man is the inside you, the soul or spirit, the part that drives you.
• This is the part that needs to be strengthened, for the outward man is perishing
• 2 Corinthians 4:16. “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day”.
• This strengthening is done by the Holy Spirit though His word.
• 1 Peter 2:1-2 “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,”
• 1 John 2:14 “I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning, I have written to you young men, because you are strong, and the world of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one”.
• Let the Spirit, through His word, instruct and lead you.
• Galatians 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh”.
• The latter part of Ephesians 5:18 instructs us to be filled with the spirit.
• Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God”.
• That is why we need to study and meditate on God’s book.
• 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth”.
• Then we can apply the power in everyday life, and in so doing, experience the greatness of God’s power working in our lives.

• Let Christ dwell in you
• Being strengthened by the Holy Spirit and Christ dwelling in us are not two different processes.
• Both enter our lives the same way, by a trusting, obedient faith.
• Acts 2:41 “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls”.
• Acts 19:5 “And when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus”.
• Galatians 3:27 “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ”,
• When Christ dwells in us, so does the Holy Spirt.
• And, so does God the Father.
• This indwelling is not literal.
• We cannot literally inhabit Deity, nor does Deity inhabit us directly.
• It is thru the agency of the Word, received by the hearing of faith and put into action.
• Galatians 3:2 “This is the only things I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”
• Romans 8:5 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit”.
• This indwelling is an indirect, representative indwelling.
• It is in a way the harmony of spirits; ours and God’s.
• We have the indwelling of Deity’s attributes, but not the eternal, perfect nature of God.
• 1 John 3:24 “And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us”.
• A concept repeated often in the words of Jesus.
• 1 John 2:3-6, “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him; the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked”.
• 1 John 2:24 “As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father”.
• To dwell in or at means to be at home.
• It is where we live, stay, abide, inhabit, and exist.
• Does Jesus feel at home in your life?
• He goes wherever you go.
• 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?
• Jn.14:23 “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him”.
• Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself up for me”.

• Rooted and grounded in love.
• Here is the idea of plants
• 1 Corinthians 3:9 “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building”.
• Colossians 2:6-7 “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and over-flower with gratitude”.
• The seed is planted and a plant is produced.
• After its kind.
• Romans 6:5-6 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;”
• A Spirit filled life and an indwelling Christ produces a healthy Christian (plant) rooted and ground in love
• Jn.15:9-14 “ Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love,. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one that this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do what I command you”.
• Love is the soil into which we are to be rooted and grounded.
• Will it last?
• Love is essential to our wellbeing.
• 1 John 4:8. “God is love”
• The first fruit of the Spirit is love.
• Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”
• Without it we are nothing.
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing”.
• If this love is fixed and firmly established (takes root) it will be able to withstand the trials of life, not tossed about by false doctrine.
• Ephesians 4:14 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;”
• One will not have this type love until Christ really makes His home with us.
• But Christ will not dwell in us if the Spirit of God is not controlling the inner man.
• Only then will one be able to grasp, comprehend, seize the greatness of God’s love vs.18-20.
• Comprehend the greatness of this love.

• How great is this love?
• Vs.18-19 catches the essence or concept of just how great this love really is.
• Comprehend means to personally grasp, lay hold on, turn the lightbulb on and understand what it all means.
• Seize the mental concepts of this love.
• Notice the 4 dimensions of this love.

• The Breadth of this love
• Broad enough to die for all men (sinners) regardless of standing, race, culture, education, social standing, or wealth.
• Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.
• Matthew 26:28 “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins”.
• There is no one too good or too bad that they cannot benefit from His love.

• Its Length
• How far would He go to save sinners?
• From eternity to eternity and beyond.
• It is unending.
• 1 Corinthians 13:13 “But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love”.
• It endures even when one sins.
• He continues to make His blood available to any who want it.

• Its Height
• From heaven itself down to undeserving man living on earth, His footstool.
• Philippians 2:5-11 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

• Its Depth
• It reaches down to rescue man from the very lowest pits of sin.
• Raised by the power of God to sit with Him in the heavenly places.
• Ephesians 2:6 “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,”.
• Colossians 3:4 “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory”.
• In reality the love of God cannot be fully described in words.

• CONCLUSION
• One who is willing to do these things will have access to the power of God.
• You know it, now seize it and see just how much this power can do in your life.
• In doing this God will be glorified and exalted in the church through His Son for all generations.
• Are you ready to allow the POWER OF GOD to work in you?

By Carey Scott from an article by Tommy Thornhill

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