Power… Within or without?

How are we empowered-strengthened to live for God?

We are told in Eph 3:16, that "... according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being..."

This all sounds good, but what does it mean exactly and how does this work? Let's break it down.

This passage tells us we are empowered-strengthened to live for God "...according to the riches of his glory"

What are "the riches of his glory?" It is the immense worth-beauty-glory of God shares within and among the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. This is the essence of the dynamic ¹life and love of God itself. And this life - God's very own life - is fully extended to us in and through Christ freely as a gift. Because of Christ, we have been invited to participate in the Divine dance of the very same life and love of God in, by, and through the passion-Spirit-breath of God!

It is this holy Passion-Love-Spirit of God for his own infinite worth-glory we enter into, partake of, and are empowered by - i.e we receive the life and the love of God via his Spirit as we ²behold and adore Him in his glorious beauty, through which we are strengthened and empowered to live for him.

14 I bow my knees before the Father... 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.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  

Vs 16 

...he may grant you to be strengthened with power

...through his Spirit

...in your inner being

What drives and empowers us to live for God is a response by us from within (our inner being) to the love that comes to us from without (from God) through his Spirit (which now dwells within us) because of the work of Christ done without or outside of us.

The power needed to live for God is both from within and without. It is the coupling of God's Spirit-Love-Passion within the triune God, with our being to experience, enjoy, and glory in this Divine dance of love (i.e. because we are ³like God, we are able to respond in kind - the same way He does - to His infinite beauty and glory). 

The love of God that comes to us from without, stirs our heart (within through the Spirit), empowering us to live for him. As we behold His infinite beauty-glory revealed to us by His Spirit, we are aroused and quickened to love, pursue, and obey God. To say it simply, we love (and pursue/obey) Him because He first loves us. 

As we receive God's love from without, we are empowered within to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and others as ourselves. We are quickened and empowered by the love and glory of God, to love Him in return and desire to live for (i.e. obey) him... it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil 2:12).


Power and humility

To claim I am empowered by God might seem boastful. But to be empowered by God is not a point of pride but of humility. His empowering us is not possible without the grace of God extended to us in and through Christ, giving us access to God and the overflowing abundance of His infinite love to, in, and through is, by His Spirit. It is the work of Christ that makes us clean vessels suitable to be indwelt by his Spirit and filled with this love. 

This is our present state as a child of God in Christ. It is a status obtained for us and given to us, not earned by us. It is not something we have to do or necessarily feel, but that we must believe and respond to by faith if we are to experience Him fully. The more we believe, receive, and respond to His love (by and through faith filled obedience), the more we experience God's presence and are empowered by Him.

Why is this humbling? It reveals...

*Our capacity (being in His image) to respond is from God, not us, 

*It is God's infinite love we are responding to (He is the initiator), and 

*Christ - not us - qualifies us to receive that love...

These are all given to us by God. We do not cause these; we are simply the most lavishly endowed heirs-recipients of them. All these things are ours only because of Christ, not us. 

Our "work" is to believe these are true.

28Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?" 29 Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” John 6

For a discussion on where we get the strength for self-denial click here. 

For a further discussion on the nature of being empowered by God click here.

For a discussion on how we participate in the promises of God click here.

For further discussion on the Trinity, click here.
______________________________________________________________

¹Joh 17:3  And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 

The word used for "know" here is an intimate knowing; the kind of knowing we experience in and through relationships, not simply an intellectual knowing/gathering of information.

This is initiated by the Father, secured for us by Christ, and revealed to us by the Spirit.

² II Cor 3:17  "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

Do you wish to change from the inside out? Then behold and meditate on the glory of Christ. 

³as His image-bearers. The reason we can respond to God's love in a way no other creature can is that we bear His likeness i.e. we are like God in our ability to receive and give love in the same way God gives and receives love among the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit.