Ephesians 3:14-19 – For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

THEME OF THE DAY: IT TAKES THE WHOLE HEART. Isn’t today’s scripture thrilling? It defines the two greatest experiences a Christian may ever have; to experience the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and be filled with the fullness of God. Apart from the High Priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus in John 17, this passage may also be the greatest prayer ever penned and the greatest prayer we may ever offer our Lord. And really, what more could we want as a Christian? What more could we ask of God of greater value and satisfaction to our souls than to experience Christ’s love and be consumed with God to the point He captures all of us – our wills, minds, emotions, desires, and everything else about us? As staggering as this prayer is, what makes it even more thrilling is that God stands ready for us to experience these truths of Him and His Son.

Do some honest self-evaluation. Do we know anything about what the Apostle Paul prays? Are we familiar with this knowledge and experience of Christ’s love? What about this fullness of God he prays for? Now before we answer, let’s define what these spiritual experiences are not. These are not emotional highs we may get from a retreat, concert, sermon, conference, or book. There is nothing wrong with any of these things to aid in our spiritual walks, but don’t look to them as the primary means of experiencing what the Apostle Paul prays would be in the lives of believers. To experience the love of Christ and know this fullness of God are not event-driven, but encounters with the living God. Please, don’t email me and be defensive saying, “I met God at this concert.” Or “God really spoke to me at this retreat or conference.” I am not questioning any of that . . . in fact, I, too, have met the Lord in powerful ways on retreats and at conferences, but to be honest, too often the impact faded as time went on. Was there life altering change as a result? Maybe some change, but life-altering? Life-altering change is defined as Jesus Christ becoming the single passion and chief affection in the heart to where the believer is never the same again. Their life is now all of Christ, all the time. For me? All those conferences and books didn’t do it. Did they you? And that brings us to the question of “why not?”

We may attend all the conferences available with the greatest of preachers. We may make the circuit of concerts of our favorite Christian musicians. We may attend a wide range of retreats from singles to couples to men and to women. We may listen to podcasts all day long of sound teaching. We may buy and even read the best of Christian authors old and new. And all of them will not bring us to experience what the Apostle Paul writes of and prays for in believers; to experience great depths of Christ’s love and be filled with the fullness of God. Why? The number one prerequisite to get these experiences with the Lord may not be in place. That prerequisite is to have an undivided heart of devotion to the Lord. That doesn’t mean perfection, but sincerity. The prophet Jeremiah says it better than me, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Beloved, there can be no one or nothing between us and the Lord. There cannot be a divided or half-hearted search to know Him. There cannot be a love for the world and Him. There cannot be a harboring of some sin or sinful desire and experience Him. There cannot be lack of complete surrender to Him. The Lord Jesus will not share His rightful place on the throne of our hearts with anyone or anything. Nor will He reveal Himself to the half-hearted, or heart-divided Christian who wants His will and at least some of theirs.

Go back and read today’s scripture again. Are you longing for these experiences but not knowing them? Perhaps the reason why is because we are not meeting the criteria the Lord demands to have them; a whole heart seeking of Him as the chief pursuit in our lives.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to seek You with all my heart, laying aside any hindrances which would hinder my seeking.”

QUOTE: “To know the fullness of God demands an emptying of oneself. We cannot be full of God and full of ourselves.”