David Jeremiah - The Strength of the Spirit
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We have been studying on these Sundays the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It’s been kind of a new thing for many of us, and we have learned a lot. We’ve learned about how to walk in the Spirit. We’ve learned about what it means to be filled with the Spirit. We’ve learned that the fruit of the Spirit is our character. And we learned recently that we have been given a gift by the Spirit to serve the Lord. All those wonderful things are true. But today, I want to talk to you about how we make all those things work. How do they function in our lives?
Today, I want to discuss a prayer for the strength of the Spirit, and it’s based on a passage of scripture in Ephesians chapter 3. We’ll get to that passage in just a moment. Mary Slessor was a single young woman who left Scotland at the turn of the century to be a part of the missionary force in Africa, a place filled with incredible danger. But she had this inward spirit that kept her going when many others broke down, gave up, and went home. One night, after a particularly exhausting day, she found herself trying to sleep in a crude jungle hut, and she wrote about it in her diary.
This is what she wrote: «I’m not very particular about my bed these days. I lay on a few dirty sticks laid across, covered with a litter of dirty corn shells, with plenty of rats and insects. Three women and an infant three days old in the tent, along with a dozen sheep, goats, and cows outside. You probably don’t wonder that I slept very little.» Then she added these words: «But I had a comfortable, quiet night in my own heart.»
And that is quite amazing, isn’t it? That you can be in the midst of that kind of confusion and have a comfortable, quiet night in your heart. I know most of us will never sleep in a hut surrounded by goats and rats like Mary Slessor did, but our challenges are just as real; they look different. We face busy schedules, financial difficulties, pressures at school or work. We have relationship problems, and we have the same kind of need. We need a quiet heart. We need an inner strength to face the challenges that are part of our daily lives.
Today, we’re going to explore what is, in my estimation, the most wonderful prayer in the New Testament apart from the prayers of our Lord. It’s a wonderful prayer that I hope will be realized in your life and mine as we study it together. That prayer is found in Ephesians 3:14–16. Here’s what it says: «For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named; that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.»
Let’s first look at the posture of this prayer. The first thing we notice is that Paul specifically mentions this posture. He says, «For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.» Notice he’s bowing to pray. I know this doesn’t sound strange to us because maybe before we go to bed, we bow to pray. But it was very strange in those days for a Jew to do that because they never did that; they stood to pray. It wasn’t common for ancient Jewish people to bow their knees in prayer, especially in public. We learn from history that they stood upright while praying, using their hands uplifted toward heaven. Remember Jesus and the Pharisee and the tax collector? Here’s what he said: «The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.» The Pharisees stood to pray, as was the custom. Even the tax collector was standing afar off. Most Jewish people stood when they prayed.
But Paul tells us that he was kneeling in prayer for them, for the Ephesians, and I think he wanted to highlight the intensity of that moment, the intensity of his prayer. This was serious business; it was the kind of prayer that brought him to his knees. Paul wasn’t alone in adopting this posture. Luke 22:41 tells us that Jesus was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed. And when Stephen was assassinated, we are told he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, «Lord, do not charge them with this sin.» And, of course, we all know the famous prayer in Philippians where we are told that one day, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
When I was a student in seminary years ago, Don and I remember the first time we ever went to the First Baptist Church of Dallas. We had heard about it most of our lives. It was pastored by a very famous pastor named W.A. Criswell, a Southern Baptist leader who was well-known around the world. That first Sunday when we walked into the sanctuary and sat up in the balcony, I was surprised to see that in this church, they had installed kneeling benches connected to all the pews. I mean, that was common in more liturgical churches, but it was strange to find that in a Baptist church. Pretty quickly, I realized it wasn’t strange at all. When it came time to pray, Dr. Criswell would say, «Let us all bow together,» and you would hear the crashing of these kneeling benches being pulled out, kind of like a thunderous sound throughout the church. When that settled down, you’d look, and here was the whole congregation. From the balcony, we could see it really well, all on their knees in prayer before God. It was very special. I understood why they did it.
Somebody once said, «Getting all those Baptists on their knees, you should do it every Sunday, no matter what it takes. Get them on their knees before God and get things right with the Lord.» In a similar way, there’s something special about our experience of prayer when we kneel. Doing so says outwardly what should be true inwardly-that we are submitting ourselves to the Lord. When you kneel before Him, you’re saying, «Lord, You’re in control.»
Well, I remember writing in one of my journals on an occasion that prayer is our declaration of dependence, and that is true. When we pray, we’re saying, «Lord, we’re counting on You.» Quite often, it’s true that we’ve tried everything else first, and now we come and bow before the Lord and say, «Lord, we need Your help, and we’re counting on You.» So the posture of Paul’s prayer tells us that what we’re talking about today is pretty important. It was important to him, and he wants it to be important to us.
Now, there’s much more to glean from this prayer apart from Paul’s physical posture. In verses 16-19, we learn about the possibilities of this prayer. Ephesians 3:16 says, «Here’s what I pray: that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.» Paul asked God to fill the Ephesians with inward power, with inward strength. All the strong words he uses in verse 16-riches, glory, strengthened, and might. The word might appears over and over in the New Testament, over 120 times in total. It refers to the power that God gives to His people. God gives might to us through the inner part of our being.
I’m so taken by the verse in 2 Corinthians 4:16. I won’t put it up on the screen; I’ll remind you of it. It tells us that the outward man is wasting away, but the inner man is being renewed day by day. That’s true; I don’t think anybody has to convince us of that. We know it; we experience it, especially the outward man part of it. But the interesting thing is the Bible tells us that while we may seem to be weakened in the outward person, we can become strengthened in the inward person, and that’s what Paul is praying about. He wants his people, he wants us, to have a strong center so that whatever happens, whatever takes place in our lives, we have this power, this might, this strength that carries us through.
One of our friends here at Shadow Mountain is a man named Rob Morgan. He preaches often when I’m not here, and he wrote a book some years ago that became very special to me because it was during the early days of my illness. The book was on strength. The book was called *The Strength You Need*. I was feeling pretty weak then, and I was looking for strength anywhere I could find it. I remember picking up that book, and Rob had taken all the passages in the Bible that talk about strength and written a chapter about them. I was blessed by that book and helped by it.
In this book, he said, «We’re living in a difficult age, and events on the world stage are disconcerting. In times like these, we need to be stronger. Stronger as husbands. We need to be stronger wives, stronger people. We need stronger children, stronger families, stronger churches, stronger determination to tackle each day for good and for God.» And he said, «If you’re like me, you want stronger faith, stronger peace, stronger joy, and more stamina to do the work the Lord assigns each day.» I kept saying to myself, «Amen! That’s what I want. I want to be strong in my spirit. I want to have the resilience, strength, and stamina to face the challenges that come my way, no matter what they may be. Not because I’m strong, but because there’s a strength in me that is greater than me.»
The Bible says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. And when you’re strengthened by the Holy Spirit, Paul says three things will happen in your life. These are things we may not think about, but Paul wants us to know that when, first of all, we are strengthened in the Spirit, we sense the presence of God in our lives.
Now, this is a little bit delicate, but let me see if I can help us grab hold of it. He says that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Verse 17, the Bible says that Christ comes to live within our hearts when we become Christians, and Paul is writing this to Christian people, and he’s praying that Christ might dwell in their hearts. There must be a difference between dwelling and living, and there is. The word dwell there means to be at home. Paul says, «My prayer for you is that Christ may be at home in your heart.»
Have you ever been in a place where you were in the house but you weren’t at home in the house? Maybe they spoke to you as close to the door as possible so that as fast as you came in, you would leave. You do not feel welcome; you do not feel at home. The Bible says that God’s prayer for us is that Jesus Christ might live in our hearts and be at home there, that He might dwell there, that He might be comfortable there. Is Christ comfortable in your heart? Are you comfortable with Christ in your heart?
It’s interesting to think about that in terms of the scripture that we have here from Paul. John 14:23 says, «If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and the Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.» That’s what Almighty God wants. Paul is praying for the believers in Ephesus to experience this. Christ wants not just to be a resident in your life, not just your ticket to heaven; He wants you to be comfortable with Him. He wants to be a part of your daily existence.
You know, I don’t know if this happens to you, but for me, when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I think about is the Lord. I pray and talk to Him even before I’m fully awake. Many days, the last thing I think about before I go to sleep is the Lord and what He’s done, and what He’s working in my life. He wants you to be in that vein. He wants the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus Christ into your life, and that He would not just be a resident, but He’d be the president, that He’d be at home there.
So here’s a question to ask yourself: Is Christ at home in your heart? I’m not asking you if He’s in your heart because most of you have already taken Jesus into your heart. But have you made Him comfortable there? And I don’t need to go into all the details of the things that can make Jesus uncomfortable, but you know what I’m talking about. Give Him a place of honor and comfort in your heart.
The second thing Paul tells us-and these are sort of unusual. This is not what we would expect to read-he says when you have this inner strength in the Holy Spirit in your heart, first of all, Christ will be at home in your heart. And then secondly, he says you will be able to comprehend the love that Christ has for you. Verse 17 states, «That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, length, depth, and height-to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.»
I don’t know if you can get your arms around this, and I’ve been thinking about it this week. What an incredible thing it is to know that somebody loves you! And what a wonderful thing to know that God has you as the object of His love. I know that we know God loves us; we read that. But just think about it for a moment: You are loved by the creator of the universe! He loves you! And Paul wants us to understand that with such desire that he actually gives us the four dimensions of God’s love.
I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this before: the width, length, depth, and height of His love. Now, I’ve read a lot of sermons on these. A lot of pastors have taken these four things and created some fanciful sermons. I don’t have one of those for you today, but I want to illustrate it for you by taking you to John 3:16. You don’t have to turn to it because you all know it: «For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.»
Now let’s look at that verse in terms of the dimensions of the love of God. «For God so loved the world.» That’s the width of God’s love-how wide is His love? It’s as wide as the world! And anyone who teaches you any different from that is not teaching the gospel. God loves the whole world. He loves everyone in the world. «For God so loved the world.» That’s the width of His love that He gave His only begotten Son. How much did He love us? He loved us so much that He dispatched His only begotten Son to this earth. That’s the length to which He went to show us His love. He didn’t just say, «I love you.» He said, «I love you,» and sent Jesus as the person of His love.
«That whosoever believes in Him should not perish.» That’s the depth of God’s love. God loves us so much that He doesn’t want us to go into the depths of the earth in hell; He wants to save us from that! His love reaches to the very depth of life. And His love is also a love that has height to it. He loves us so much that we might have eternal life! Every time you read John 3:16, just remember John 3:16 is the four dimensions of God’s love.
I remember reading that many atrocities were committed during the period of history known as the Spanish Inquisition. I once read a story about a Spanish prisoner whose bones were discovered when soldiers opened up one of the underground dungeons used by the leaders of the Inquisition. What they found was that flesh and clothing had long since dissolved, but the soldiers found the remnants of bones chained to a wall. And that wasn’t all they found. On the wall of that prison, cut into the rock with a sharp piece of metal, was a cross, and above the cross in Spanish was the word «height,» and below the cross was the word «depth.» One arm was «length,» and the other arm was «breadth.» So not only does John 3:16 teach us the four dimensions of God’s love, but so does the cross!
I’m sure you have noticed in recent days how many people on business and talk shows are wearing crosses. Everybody wears a cross. But you have to wonder: do they understand that that cross is a symbol of the four dimensions of God’s love? He came down to us and reached out to us so that we might not go down, but that we might go up to be with Him. That’s what the scripture says: «Love that passes all understanding.» That’s what you call an oxymoron. How can love be understood if it passes understanding?
Well, the point is that we can’t know this love by human knowledge. We can only know this love through the Holy Spirit, who is in our hearts. Remember, Paul was praying this prayer at a very certain time. I think this is instructive because when we read this prayer in Ephesians, it’s right in the context of the anger that was being expressed by the Jews toward the Gentiles and the Gentiles toward the Jews. Paul was trying to help them understand that God has enough love to bring these two entities together in one thing called the church. The love of God inspires us to go into the worst parts of town and minister to the down -and-outers.
And we can’t do that in our own strength. But when we have the Holy Spirit in our lives, when the Holy Spirit is filling us and giving us strength, then we can do what we would not otherwise be able to do. And we can be emissaries of the love of Christ! We should love others in the same way that God loves us. We should reach into the reservoir of God’s love for us, and out of that reservoir, we should find a way to love other people.
I think Congress could learn a little bit about that right now, don’t you? I don’t think they’ll ever be that, but that would certainly be an issue if somehow the love of God could get involved in that formula.
Then, not only is it true that when the Holy Spirit strengthens you, you will sense Christ’s presence in your life and the Holy Spirit will strengthen you so that you can comprehend God’s love in your life, but when the Holy Spirit strengthens you, you will be filled with the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 states, «That you may be filled with the fullness of God.» These progressions come in the right order. The inner strength of the Holy Spirit leads us to the indwelling of Christ. The indwelling of Christ leads us to the knowledge of God’s love for us. And now, His abundant love leads us to experience the fullness of God’s presence within us.
I know over the years when you read about being filled with the Spirit, it sends questions running through your mind. I told you earlier it doesn’t mean filled up like filled up to your knees or your shoulders; it means to be controlled by. When some people read this, they don’t understand it because it doesn’t mean what it normally would mean in English. It means to be filled by, to be controlled by. When you’re filled with God, you’re controlled by God.
Look at the illustration Paul used later in his book. He said we aren’t to be drunk with wine but to be filled with the Spirit. In the same way that a person is controlled by inebriation, the Bible says we’re to be controlled by the Spirit of God. He was telling us that when we allow the Spirit of God to live His life in us, when we acknowledge that He is there for us, the one thing that will happen is we’ll begin to learn what it means for God to control our lives.
Do you ask God about stuff? Do you ever see somebody in need and say, «God, should I help this person?» Do you think God cares about you? Do you think God will answer you-not out loud, but in your heart, in your spirit? He will. Do you ever do things that you do and people question it? «What are you doing that for?» Did you ever say, «Because God told me to»? And they look at you like you’re some weird person. «God talks to you?» Yes! If you’re controlled by God, you have the impressions and the sense in your heart that what you’re doing is a God thing. And He gives you great joy to do that even when some people may not understand it.
I told you once before that one of the things I did during Christmas and have continued to do is carry a little extra cash around. When you see somebody that you’d like to bless, just bless them. I’m talking about giving them $50; $20 doesn’t cut it anymore-$50 is what you need to get their attention! And it’s so interesting; Donna could tell you we’ve had so many interesting stories! When you do that, people don’t want to take it. «I can’t take that! What’s that for?» And you know what I tell them? «God told me to do this.» «Oh, OK.» And then they say, «Thank you,» and put it in their pocket.
Listen to me: God wants to tell us what to do and help us do it. He wants to be in control of our lives! And that sometimes seems so out of perspective for most people. «God wants to control my life?» Absolutely! When you let the Holy Spirit have His way in your heart, God will control your life, and the possibilities of that are overwhelming.
As we bring Ephesians 3 to a close, I want to highlight the potential of Paul’s prayer. In verses 20 and 21, he says, «Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.» You know how much God wants to do this for you? Do you know how much He wants to help you? Let me show you the pregnancy of this verse.
This verse tells us that God is so anxious to help you! You can’t understand this verse unless you take it apart and put it back together. I have told people it may be the most pregnant verse in the Bible. Here’s what he says: He wants to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ever ask or think! He wants to do exceedingly. What does that mean? Only eternity will reveal how God has answered all of our prayers. We thought He’d ignored them, but when we look back, we realize He not only answered them-He answered them exceedingly!
And He wants to do it abundantly. He doesn’t want to just make minor improvements; He wants to overrule our plans and give them a magnificence worthy of Himself. He wants to give us exceedingly abundantly! And then the Bible says He wants to give us exceedingly abundantly above. He’s able to do exceedingly more! God can take what we ask and enlarge it. He can take our thoughts and go beyond them. He can only see; we can only see the here and now; God sees the then and there.
And then He’s able to do more! He’s able to do exceedingly abundantly above all. He’s not restricted to just one request; He can do all requests! He’s able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask! What are we asking for? The Bible says we have not because we ask not. The Bible says if we ask, God will hear us. Maybe it’s peace in the midst of the storm. Maybe it’s the salvation of a loved one. Maybe it’s help in an emergency. Maybe it’s guidance in a direction. Maybe it’s victory over sin. No matter what we might ask, God is able to do it! He’s able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask!
And here’s the one that is really hard to comprehend or think: God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or even think! We have thoughts we never express. We have yearnings we would like to ask God about but we’re afraid to. «Maybe that’s too much to ask God for this.» And we have longings that are so intangible we can barely put them into our own words. God is able to do everything that I have said-even to the things that you think when you pray. God reads these thoughts, and He’s able to accomplish what is beyond our imagination. This is the potential of Paul’s prayer -that’s the application of his prayer to your life and mine, right now, today.
If we will put our life in His hands, He can do everything He promised. How much is that, pastor? It’s exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think. What a wonderful guarantee that is from the God of heaven! And that’s why at the end of this, there’s a benediction: «To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.» What a great God we have! He’s given us all these promises, and He’s given us the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to grab hold of these promises and put them into action.
This is a lifetime experience for us. We grow in this every year as we trust the Lord. But what a wonderful thing it is to know you’re not alone! You’re not trying to get through all of this in your own strength. You have a God who cares about you. You have a God who knows what’s going on in your life. And do you know how much He loves you? He loves you exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or even think! But you have to be willing to accept it. You have to be willing to respond to it.
I want to wrap this up today with a brief story from history. In the list of American presidents, there’s one man who appears twice beside our current president. His name is Grover Cleveland, and he is the only chief executive to serve two non-consecutive terms. He occupies the 22nd and the 24th places in the roll call of presidents. He dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, and he was the only president to marry while he was in the White House. He was 49 at the time, and his bride, Frances, was 21, and it was a romance that captivated the nation.
Grover Cleveland was a Presbyterian preacher’s son, well- trained in Christian truth, and in the midst of national turmoil and a personal health crisis, he actually endured surgery on a friend’s yacht so that no one would know he was having surgery. And during the day while the surgery was in process, he kept working late into the night as soon as he returned to recovery. Historians tell us of his integrity, courage, and common sense. His dying words summed up his life. Here they are: «I have tried so hard to do right.» Above his bed hung his life’s motto from Deuteronomy 33:25, which captures what we’ve been talking about today.
Here’s that verse: «As thy days, so shall thy strength be.» Grover Cleveland said, «If I have any coat of arms, that’s it: As your days, so shall your strength be.» That means every day you get up and you ask God for strength for that day. And then the next day, you do the same thing. You don’t get to have four or five days at a time; it’s one day at a time. «Here’s all your days. Here’s all your strength. Here’s the day. Here’s the strength for that day.» And that’s the way you live this life that Paul is talking about in Ephesians 3.
You access the strength of the Spirit of God every day. Every day, you say, «Lord God, here’s this day You’ve given me. Now give me the strength to do what I need to do today to bring honor and glory to Your name and to bring wholeness to my life.» God is able to do that! How do I know that? He told me so in this book! He told me He’s able to do that for you and for me. We don’t have to live normal Christian lives; we can live supernormal Christian lives in the power of the Holy Spirit if we’ll give Him a chance to let that happen. Amen.
Let’s bow together in prayer. Father, thank You for this encouragement from Your word. We are easily talked into the idea that what we have is all we will ever have. And yet we read Your word and realize there’s so much more available to us in this Christian life if we will access it according to Your word. We pray that You will help us believe God for great things, trust Him for great things, ask Him for great things, and watch Him in His power and might. Show us His strength, Lord. Help us never to just accomplish the things we think we can do but to accomplish those things that You enable us to do because we have faith to trust You.
And Lord, I’m aware of the fact that as we talk about all these things, there are people listening who’ve never yet invited Christ into their life. So these promises, these things we’ve been discussing, don’t kick in until they become Christians. And that’s why at this moment, I want to invite anyone who’s listening to me, if you’ve never received Jesus Christ as your Savior, to accept Him today into your heart. You say, «Pastor Jeremiah, how do I do that?» The Bible says if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart, God will save us. That means if you’ll just ask God to come into your life, ask the Lord Jesus to be your Savior, He will hear you. He will come. He’ll forgive your sin and give you the gift of eternal life, which He’s promised to all who believe.
So let me lead you in a prayer that you can do that, believing it in your heart. You don’t have to pray out loud or make a sound, but in your heart, in your inner heart, pray this prayer: «Dear God, I know that I need You, and I need Your strength. I need Your love. I need the things we’ve talked about in this message today. But most of all, I need Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be my Savior. So Lord Jesus, I confess my sin today. I believe that You are the Son of the living God who came to this earth, died, was buried, rose again on the third day, and are now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. And today, I ask You to live in my heart and be my personal Savior. I confess my sin and receive Jesus. Thank You, Lord, for hearing my prayer.»
Father, You tell us in Your word that You are not willing that any should perish and no one who’s ever prayed to receive You has ever been denied- including everyone who prayed in these last moments. And we thank You because of the power of the word of God and the promise of the word of God, they have passed from death into life. Even now in heaven, we are told the angels are rejoicing because someone has found Christ and become a Christian. We thank You for the privilege of preaching the word of God straight from the Bible and knowing that when we do that, You will work in our hearts.
So bless the truth we have discussed today and bless those who have prayed to receive You. And we ask this in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.