Ephesians 3:14-19 (NASBStr)
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 fullness of God.
If you were ever going to pray for someone this would be the prayer, the purpose and the desire you would want to pray. Paul, an apostle sent by God, lifts up the believers at Ephesus and prays that they, through the working of the Spirit and based upon faith (alone) in Christ, would have strength, not in their jobs, or their homes, or their relationships, but would have strength in the "inner man." That strength would allow them to have a deep understanding of the fullness of God. Paul, here, is giving us the formula for a right relationship with God, after our salvation, and the correct formula for our relationships at home, work and play. Even though they were already justified, by faith, they are now to be sanctified by faith and that sanctification means a growing in the understanding of the fullness of God. In this passage we have the work of the Father, Son and Spirit in our day-to-day sanctification process. Just as our salvation is not our own (chapter 2) neither is our sanctification is our own. Paul wants them to be strengthen in the inner man, with power of the Holy Spirit. He does not want them to think they can muster up the inner man by their own flesh. It is ONLY through the ministry of the Trinity that we can have sanctification take place and find strength in the inner man. Pray this for me. Pray this for your family. Pray this for the Body of Christ; every believer you know.
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