“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Dear Saints, Good Morning! May our Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you as you continue to serve Him in your various and important vocations in life. 

In today’s reading, the apostle Paul models for the church in Ephesus, and for us, the way to approach our Lord -  kneeling in prayer, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father...” – the humblest and most appropriate way to approach our Heavenly Father. This brief section in scripture is nestled after Paul’s mighty opening in chapter three, in which the apostle revealed the mystery of the gospel. This brief section is a prayer for spiritual strength. It is inspirational and God-breathed. 

The apostle Paul also quickly identifies God as our Father in this prayer, “From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named…” Father of all, above all, and a model of truth for all. Not like our earthly fathers, who, while commendable or not, are human and fall short. God our Father does not. He is perfect and a perfect model for us and His children. 

Then, in this prayer for strengthening our faith, Paul uses several clauses, one after the other. In Greek, these clauses are called “hina clauses,” clauses that convey a result. For example… “so that,” “in order that,” or “that.” I don’t know Greek, but after brief research learning about a “hina clause,” it was helpful to understand the gravity of Paul’s prayer in each of these clauses for strengthening our faith, one after another. Here they are below. I found it helpful to see each one individually; maybe you will, too? 

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named…”

Hina Clauses (v. 16-19):

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 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 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.”

Paul’s prayer, asking God:

May we be strengthened inwardly with God’s power, by His Spirit, who is always within us.

Deepen our love and understanding of Christ’s love in our hearts and deepen our faith.

Along with the saints, we may comprehend God’s love for us (wide, long, high, and deep) through Christ.

The love of Christ surpasses our understanding, but may we fully understand and express it to the best of our human ability as given to us in His Word and through His Spirit.

In our daily walk, Saints, it is difficult to grasp the magnitude of the love of God given in His Son, Jesus Christ. There are really too many distractions that take our attention away from His power and Glory. As fallen humans, we tend to focus on what we can do rather than what He can do through the power at work within us, the power through faith as Christ dwells in our hearts. 

If we truly believe He can do far beyond all that we ask or imagine, what then should we expect? There is nothing too big for our God. Our outlook, expectations, and imagination can truly run wild, that is, wild to see what He can accomplish through us as we watch His glory unfold rather than what we can accomplish on our own.  

In some ways, I think Paul’s prayer sets a framework for strengthening our faith by guiding our thoughts and hearts to remember where our strength comes from: the Spirit who lives within us. Paul focuses on God’s love by pointing to the gift of the love of Christ, in which he reminds us that Christ’s love dwells in our hearts through faith, roots and grounds us in love, and gives us strength (along with the saints) to know this love deeper. Amen!

May the Lord bless and keep you, Saints, as you meditate on and live out Paul’s prayer to strengthen our faith. Have a great weekend. 

In Christ’s love and mine,

Dr. Jeffrey S. Beavers, CEO

Crean Lutheran High School 

dr.beavers@creanlutheran.org

Dr. Jeffrey Beavers is a husband and father of three. He is a Minister of Religion, Commissioned in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and serves as the Executive Director |CEO of Crean Lutheran High School. He has served there since the school’s founding for the past eighteen years and is blessed to be a lifelong follower of Jesus Christ, and a sinner and a saint, only by God’s grace. He and his family worship at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Orange, CA.