Mapperley Monday Mail, 24th March 2014
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
One of the things that Paul asks for is that God would give us power so that Jesus would dwell in our hearts through faith. That can sound like a bit of an odd thing to ask for – after all, we're promised that Jesus lives in our hearts when we trust in him. But there's a difference between living somewhere and being at home there, or as the NIV translates it, dwelling there.
I think that a lot of the time, Jesus lives in our hearts, but he isn't very at home there. It's rather like if we've moved into a new house but haven't been able to redecorate yet. In the same way, Jesus may well want to change the wallpaper, clear out some of the junk, replace some of the furniture, even knock a wall or two through for him to feel really at home in us.
When Jesus redecorates, he never does it on the cheap. He's not going to run out of money part way through or start something he can't finish. After all, Paul prays that God would do this out of his glorious riches. He knows what he is doing, and does it with the love that brought him to earth to die for us.
It can be difficult to let Jesus redecorate. We might really like the wallpaper, even if it is peeling a bit; there might be some places we'd rather he didn't go. Often we can't just change ourselves. And so it's wonderful that Paul doesn't just tell us to help Jesus feel at home – he prays that God would give us power by his Spirit inside us so that Christ may make himself at home in us.
It needs God to give us strength, God to change us, to change our hearts so that we trust Jesus more and love sin less, so that we let him take our hurts and pains and change and redeem them. It takes God's power to change the human heart. But God can do that. Paul prays God would do it out of his glorious riches. God isn't short of power. No matter how poor we are, no matter how expensive it would be to change things in us, God is more than rich enough, and so glorious that the new us will be astonishing beyond what we can imagine.
May God change us by his Spirit and grant us power so that Christ may make himself more and more at home in our hearts as we trust in him!
God bless,
John
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