Love Inside Out

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

The Apostle Paul had a great love for the church of his Savoir. There is a common thread throughout his letters to various churches how he not only loved them but prayed for them deeply, earnestly and sincerely. This kind of deep prayer was hard evidence of that love. In the book of Ephesians we find one of those prayers in which I believe we can learn much from.

Paul’s passion for the church is seen in this prayer but Paul’s passion for Jesus is also seen in the prayer. This passion or love that, according to Paul, comes from somewhere inside him. I believe the world today, including most Christians, don’t know how to love. We are told that love is an emotion, we are told that love is a choice, we are told that we can choose to love or not to love. We are told that we can find love and loose love. All this distorts the true meaning of love. I believe the world we live in would be a much different place if we knew how to love. I also believe Paul gives us a massive clue on just how to love.

Paul says that he prays that you, the church, would be strengthened with power. Surely if there is ever a time we need to be strengthened with power it is in the day we live. This power is through His (God’s) Spirit, the Holy Spirit and it comes from your inner being. Wow! Now we are looking at a power source that Paul further articulates is limitless and this power source is from the Almighty God. Sound interesting so far? Could you use a power source like that today, tomorrow and the rest of your life? I sure can. But there’s more.

This power source seems to center around one object and that object is not only limitless in power but is limitless in availability or volume. An unending resource that is from the Almighty God that is from inside every born again Christian. That object is love. However, let us not miss that fact that this love is unique it is God’s love that comes from within us not from our minds, not from our experiences, not from our choices, it comes from within us. One hundred percent available, limitless in volume and limitless in power and it is available to you.

This amazing love is also comprehendible, not in it fullest but in the sufficiency you need. Notice in verse 18 part of Paul’s prayer is that you comprehend this love and again in verse 19 that you would know this love. As a matter of fact the book of I John tells us that this love, God’s agape love, can be perfected, learned, mastered to a progressive degree (1 John 4:12). Now think with me, a limitless power source that comes from inside of you as a gift from the Almightly God, wow! My next question is are you using it, according to Scripture it is there, you have it, are you using it?

I have lived most of my life hearing about and paying for an energy crisis. During the term of President Jimmy Carter there was supposed to be a shortage of crude oil that drove prices out the roof. The story was that we was loosing our supply of oil and compensation had to be made. Speed limits were reduced, rations were considered it was a big deal. Now thirty plus years later we still have crude oil. What happened? It was either a lie or we found more oil. I believe most Christians run through live with an abundance of a power source that they rarely tap into for various reasons. Sometimes I think they don’t tap into because they don’t believe, or in other words they believe a lie. Most of the time though I believe they don’t tap into it because they don’t know how or they just don’t have the practice and/or experience.

Ask God to show you how to tap into this power source. Allow it to change the way you think. Allow it to change your family status, your marriage, your work place. I totally believe it can because Scripture says it will. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:8 that love covers a multitude of sins and sin is what causes all the conflict we face in life. So go ahead, earnestly, sincerely and expectantly ask God to show you how to tap into and use this limitless power source that comes from within you. I believe it will change the way you do life.

Lord Jesus, You said if we love You the world will see that love and know we are Yours, that is called witness and there is much, much more. Show us how to love with the love that Paul wrote about to Your glory. Amen.