The Courage of Staying

Ephesians Study
Chapter 3

Ephesians 3:16-17 — The Courage of Staying
Amplified Bible:

Ephesians 3:16 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

Ephesians 3:17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

It is easy to say you trust when your life is going smoothly and when you  have no physical or emotional challenges.  Where huge truth encounters come is when seemingly everything has fallen apart…livelihood and health.  As long as you have your health, you have the ability to make a livelihood.  Our upbringing has us trusting in our own ability.  

Paul, on the Damascus Road had a trust in himself and his ways.  Then he could not see.  Is that not a visual aid for us?  We move from a place of thinking that we know it all and have the “doing” all planned.  Then, a life-changing event happens, and we cannot see into the future or see a way out of the present.  

Paul, had to be led by the hand to another place and another person.  All of this is very good news.  There is another place to shelter us in our brokenness.  There is another person that takes us in and offers guidance.  And, there is the hope that we have a purpose when what we think our purpose is has been sidetracked.  Paul brings us the message of all of this good news.  Even after he was put in prison and ministered faithfully from there, we have his mentoring.  

Life did not turn out how Paul had it planned.  He was a Pharisee.  He had plans and had a way of making a name for himself.  What does Paul say of himself in Philippians 3:4-6:   “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

The issue is trust.  It is not trust in self.  It is trust in God and what He does with the inner man.  Trust in self would probably get in the way…it did with Paul.  

Ephesians 3:16 has some beautiful promises for us…for the inner man; for the personality.  May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory — His glory (character) is a rich treasury.  So often we are exploring our character, our personality, our gifts and talents.  This is really starting at the wrong place…a creation of man.  Start with God’s character.  That brings us up to truth.  

What God is doing — to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man — is not something that we can do by ourself.  In fact, what we call “failure” is really an invitation to us for truth encounters about that with which we need help.  These places of “failure” we tend to run from and hide…like Adam and Eve when they hid from God.  We do not want to be found out.  Yet, the first Beatitude says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who know they need help).  It is a blessed place to know that help is needed.  When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead us into all truth.  

I find this scripture to be amazing.  It encompasses the entire being.  When the character is affected, then the external behavior is noticeable.  This is an external manifestation of an internal situation.  Our being is strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].  What a wonderful picture of mind, body, and spirit development and empowerment that comes from KNOWING Him.  

I cannot say enough about these scriptures and what is being said to us!  Listen to Ephesians 3:17: May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,  Everything starts with Christ.  That is why it is so important to have a good foundation in Him and a correct identity of God and self in God.  You have something to have faith in besides yourself.  So often we measure who God is by HOW man is and our experience with that.  Our feelings betray faith in Him.  

Christ uses your faith in Him to make a dwelling place in our hearts.  We must be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.  Paul is telling us that it is all relational.  This dwelling place is in the heart. We may know a lot of theology.  We may know the scripture.  Given that, we may not know Christ.  Theology and knowing scripture does not save you.  Jesus Christ does.  Read the red words in the Bible.  What is Jesus saying about relationship with Him and with others? 

We are Christians to manifest God to others.  He said that we are to tell them what He did and what He said.  What did He say?  The red words.  That is a now type of thing.  The kingdom of heaven is within.  Christ has given us the fullness of the Godhead and His mind.  

Philippians 1:23 & 24: Paul says that he desires to depart and be with Christ.  Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needed for others.  Many of us could probably understand where Paul is coming from.  Do not let what you are going through determine who you are or what you can do to serve God.  Let God’s truth about Him and about you determine your identity.  

For Paul, escaping life (this body), was not the answer.  He saw needs. He felt it was an honor to serve His Lord in what he saw.  His perceptions and his life path was not based on escaping any of the unpleasant things with which he was faced.  Oh, this so adjusts my own perception of “how things should be.”  We are not told that this is how they will be.  The kingdom is now.  Am I going to live in present tense or am I going to walk by all of life (the good, the bad, the ugly) in the hope of His soon coming to take me to a better place.  Jesus, and Paul, endured to the very end.  With our eyes on Him, may we do the same.