The Love of Christ: (Pt One) "For this reason"

I am praying that I will do this study with all of the grace God will offer. I pray that I will be as sensitive as possible to what God would have me know and convey to others through this vital study regarding the Love of God. It is my desire to do an in-depth expository work on comprehending the Love of God. As it is with any truth from God’s Word, this is only possible with God’s Spirit opening my eyes and directing me. I believe ahead of time that I must have patience as I live with the anticipation of knowing the Love of God in more depth than I ever have before. I am very excited about this study and yet know I must yield myself to His Hand of Change, as I sense ahead of time as well, that He will be working some changes that will be unpleasant to my old ways of thinking. But this is good with me as it is my God given hearts desire to be more like Him. "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (Heb 12:10). "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2Cor 3:18).

The Love of God (part one)

Ep 3:14-21
"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, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 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, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

God willing, I will expound upon this passage in the following text and probably a few posts. But, when we get to "the Love of Christ" I am anticipating a more intensely burning heart kindled by the Holy Spirit showing to me just what Paul, through the Lord’s inspired words, has prayed that I as a believer would see. I expect this flame to have a purifying affect in my soul where my mind is also renewed as this promised spiritual growth occurs.

"For this reason..."
What was the reason for Paul being so serious before the Throne of Mercy to intercede so that other believers might also be empowered through Christ’s magnificent, merciful, and mysterious Love? Of course we see the reason as we look at what is said prior to this fervent prayer happening in Paul. Paul sees with eyes of understanding what Christ has given to all believers. Not only the mercy of sins forgiven and pardon from eternal Hell. But with this, the Omnipotent Heavenly Father has granted that any and all believers born of God are seated with His Wonderful Son. The Son of God in whom dwells all of the fullness of the Godhead in His bodily form. It is vital that we know this as a defense against the worldly temptations of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. If we know where we came from (born of God from the highest of Heaven), and that our nature is like His, there is great moral and spiritual power granted to us as children of the Highest. 2Peter 1:3 declares : "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue..." This has so much more to it that I will be growing in this knowledge for as long as my soul dwells in this mortal decaying body. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day" (2Cor 4:16). Now that we have a general understanding of why Paul prays as he does we will go into his specific prayer.

" I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named"
Paul bowed his knees before the Father. He sees that "God so Loved the world that He gave His One True Son" to redeem and purify for Himself from a sick and sinful world an entire family for the Father’s own eternal glory and pleasure. And we are to be "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." There is salvation in no other, "for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved". As much as I will honor my earthly parents of whom my body was born or my childhood nurtured, I need to acknowledge that I am a part of the family of God’s unique, sinless, "one of a kind" Son, "Jesus Christ the Righteous". My sin was punished on His Cross and His Righteousness was placed in me in the Eyes of the Father. I will "do good to all men", including my unsaved relatives. I will share "the Love of Christ" with them in any way possible. As God leads, I should have "humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." For how will they know Him if I hide the light from them or if I become sinfully proud, arrogant and selfish about eternal salvation. My thoughts about that say if we act like that about this merciful salvation we should question if we are even saved in the first place. For if God was able to graft me in, He could graft anyone in. And not any other soul out there was or could be any better or worse than I was before God’s birthing me from Heaven as was planned before the foundation of the world. He alone is God! Not any one of us. He alone saves AND keeps us. There is no place for any of us to boast or be proud in this matter as this stinks in the nostrils of the Holy God who has shown us mercy (consider Romans 11:11-25). I am "in" the world just not "of" it. On the other hand I will "do good....especially to the household of faith". They have the same Holy Spirit that dwells in me. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ and will be of the same Lord and Spirit forever.

"that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory"

Lord willing, I will continue with this on my next post...

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