Ephesians 3:16-17a: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
I find this sentence really amazing. Firstly Paul talks about the glorious riches out of which God(he) strengthens us. Then he talks about what He strengthens us with - that is power. And this power is mediated by His Holy Spirit. The whole aim of this "strengthening" process is so that Christ may dwell in our hearts. And that not through compulsion, but through faith - whose faith? Ours?
That being the case, this small insignificant being called "me" is involved in the glorious amazing plan involving the mysterious trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, desiring to empower me out of the abundant riches of His storehouse, yet stopping to ask MY permission to carry on!!! Now how awesome is that??
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Very awesome. :)
ReplyDeletewelcome back. it's been a while since the last post. :)
-Joel-
Hi BP boy - yeah, been busy - too busy. Studying the Bible should be like going for a good swim - taking your time and soaking in it.
ReplyDelete........bp boy HAHAHA
ReplyDelete....sry.
hahah hey laura... cannot-wake-up-girl. :)
ReplyDelete....sry.
haha... and yeh, taking a swim would be nice... relaxing, non-rushed swim thru the Word.. and then come out all refreshed and ready to face the world with vigor. :)
OR, an alternative reading would be to take Christ as the subject of "faith"...meaning, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through (His) faith(fulness)."
ReplyDeleteBased that reading, the verse could also be a declaration of how it's Christ's faithfulness that determines His dwelling, not ours. That's great news too!
Though I think your reading to be more likely based on grammar, haha. Based on context, I'd go with mine. :D
Ah - so Christ determines. Is this predestination then? Let me do a closer reading of the Greek grammar - and see if it helps.
ReplyDeleteHahaha...no, not predestination. That would be reading too much! That just means that Christ is faithful to dwell in our hearts, and his faithfulness can be relied upon...
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, do let me know what the grammar itself says? Cheers!