¹⁰ God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. ¹¹ This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹² Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. ¹³ So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.

¹⁴ When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, ¹⁵ the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. ¹⁶ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:10-19

Dear God, there are two things in this passage that struck me this morning.

1. Verses 10-11: ¹⁰ God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. ¹¹ This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. This is kind of a lament or me because I don’t think the modern American church “displays [your] wisdom in its rich variety” very well. I’ve prayed about this before, but the TV show Ted Lasso is unique because the main character is completely a-religious, but he remarkably displays almost all of the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. The one he is missing is peace. And I still don’t think he’s found it over the course of the entire series. But for the others, he displays those and then they spread to the rest of the characters. What would it be like if the Church, your Church, displayed the fruits of your Spirit like that (including peace).
2. Verses 16-19: ¹⁶ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Speaking of the fruits of the Spirit, this is how they grow. Us dwelling with you and your dwelling in us. But we have to give the soil of our hearts continuous weeding, watering, and fertilizer so that our branch will grow deep into your vine. So our roots will graft into you. So that we will become one. Then it will be your love that keeps us strong.

Father, live and love through me today. Help me to keep my soil weeded and fed. Help me to spurn what is of this world and pursue you. Help me to give you all of the glory for everything good in my life. You and I both know my limitations–you know them better than me. I offer all of it and all of me to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen