Sunday, November 7, 2021
This last Monday I was reading from Ephesians 3:14-21 and my Bible had some Kingdom Dynamics on these verses and I want to share them with you.
Reformers like Calvin called Christian gatherings “Coram Deo” which means, “in the presence of God.” During the “Great Awakenings”, Puritans spoke of revival as “the manifest presence of Christ.” Prayer for revival is an invitation to this — to something wonderfully beyond God’s “essential presence” (that is, He is always with us), and beyond His “cultivated” presence (that is, as the believer grows to know and walk with God daily).
The apostle Paul prayed for believers to know that order of reformation or revival that brings about an intensification of the presence and power of Jesus Christ.
In this text’s prayer, Paul asked that the Holy Spirit deepen His work in their lives in three ways: 1) that Christ would dwell — more literally, “be at home” – in their hearts by faith, that is, that He would move from being an acquaintance to being the center of their church family; 2) that they would grasp God’s love at a spiritual level, beyond intellectual or theological knowledge; and 3) more fully, achieving God’s fuller work in each life — unhindered, unquenched, and ungrieved.
You are loved, Pastor Don