The Power Within

The Power Within

. . . 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. Ephesians 3:16-17, ESV

WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME praying for strength. We ask God for the strength to face mountains, to pray without giving up, to exercise our spiritual gifts, and to relate to people with grace and love. We even ask him for the strength to believe.

We do need strength for all of these things, and God generously provides it. But Paul’s prayer takes a deeper approach and focuses on one astonishing truth that will affect every other situation in our lives. We need strength to believe that Jesus—the real Jesus who walked the earth two millennia ago, the one through whom and for whom all things were created—is dwelling inside us. The miracle-working, truth-telling, resurrected Jesus resides in our spirit when we believe in him. Many of us live most of our days aware of that concept but not fully sensing the reality of it. Paul prays that this would become more than theory in our hearts—that we would experience Jesus ministering through us and that we would step into the presence and power he gives.

That can happen only with divine help. According to these verses, we need to be strengthened by the power of the Spirit to be able to experience the living Jesus. His presence within us is more than our natural selves can handle. We need his enabling before asking him for strength for anything else.

Think of the implications. If we believed not only that the hope and promise of Jesus live within us but that the actual presence and power of Jesus are at work within us, we would begin to grow stronger in faith and step out with more confidence. If we practiced his presence as a minute-by-minute awareness, all our thoughts and attitudes would be transformed. That’s why praying this prayer for yourself and others is life changing. Believe God will answer. It’s his ultimate will for every human life.

You have nothing to do in life except to live in union with Christ.