“May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God” (KJV, Eph. 3:18-19).
“May be able to comprehend”
Father, I thank you for how You have helped me understand Your Word. I realize that it is vitally important for me not only to know what the Bible says but also to understand it. When Jesus told the parable of the sower, He spoke of many different kinds of seed that fell along the ground. He spoke of seed that fell along the path, on shallow soil, amid thorns, and on good soil.
Later, He told His disciples that the seed that fell on good soil sprang up and yielded crops of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. However, He also said that the seed that fell on good soil were the ones who heard the word and understood it. Therefore, please help me to understand Your Word.
I realize I need Your help to understand Your Word and cannot understand apart from Your assistance. Your Word tells me, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).
However, I also read why I could never understand Your Word without Your Spirit’s help. Paul had said, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). As my spirit must be the one to dictate my thoughts to another, so it is by Your Spirit that Your thoughts will be dictated to me.
As I read Your Word, my utter inability to understand Your thoughts is made clear, for Your thoughts are not my thoughts, and Your ways are not my ways. So please help me by your Spirit to understand what You seek to communicate to me.
“with all saints”
Father, I see that Paul desired that all of the saints would properly understand what he was about to say. Your church was established long ago, and Jesus told me that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Thank You for this promise. No matter how bad things may seem, You are in control, and Your purpose will come to pass.
“what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height”
Ultimately Paul had the vastness of Christ’s love in mind when He wrote this verse. You are the eternally existing God. You have existed outside of time and space. When You created the heavens and the earth, You created time. I cannot imagine a state in which there were never successive events. My mind lacks the ability to do so. Your Word begins by telling me that you created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. Thus, at the beginning of time, You made the heavens and the earth.
The love of Christ knows no bounds. It is immeasurably vast. It appears much like the Psalmist’s words when he states that You have removed his sins as far as the east is from the west. When I look at a globe, I notice that if I go north for long enough, I will eventually go south, and when I go south for long enough, I will ultimately go north. However, if I move eastward, I will continue to go east, and when I move westward, I will continue to go west.
As a result, I am taken aback that You have removed my sin to the uttermost and without limit. Christ, You have loved me beyond the scope of human measurement.
“And to know”
I also see the importance of knowledge. In the book of 1 Corinthians, I am warned against a common pitfall. Paul tells me that knowledge can puff up, but love builds up. Therefore, I must never seek knowledge without love. But I am also told, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Pet. 1:3). Thus, I see that knowledge is essential to my growth in grace.
I must know the work of Christ and be captivated by His person. I must be assured of Who Jesus is and convinced of what You have said about Him.
“the love of Christ”
Father, I thank you for the love of Christ. Your Word has clarified that I was not seeking Jesus when He sought me. I was not living for Your glory when Jesus came to the earth to ransom me. Instead, I was enslaved to sin and walking contrary to Your ways. I was a rebel against Your kingdom and rule. I was much like the people spoken of in Psalm 2 who desired to burst Your bonds apart.
My sinful lifestyle did not merit Your love. Instead, I deserved death, punishment, and the grave. You are a righteous Judge Who sees all things and knows all things. You saw what I had done and knew that I was guilty. You did not need to bring witnesses before You to proclaim my guilt. You, the Judge, were keenly aware of my crimes.
Your law tells me that I deserved to be punished. However, Your Word tells me there was still hope for me. When the law condemned me through my guilt, You sent Christ to be born under the law. He met all the righteous requirements of the law but died the death of a sinner nonetheless. Christ, the sinless Savior, took my sin on the cross, and You punished Jesus in my place.
Jesus paid for my crimes on the cross so I could go free. He paid the debt that I owed and ransomed me from my sinful state. The love of Christ has been displayed in His wrath-bearing death. The acceptance of His sacrifice shines forth through His resurrection. Thank You for the love of Christ.
“which passeth knowledge”
Father, the love of Jesus is beyond human comprehension and can only be understood by the Spirit’s illumination. As a result, I am forced to pray yet again for Your Spirit’s help. Please, empower me by Your Spirit in my inner man to comprehend the love of Christ. May You bless me with a more significant understanding of Jesus’ love for me?
Paul was moved by the love of Christ and said that it was the love of Christ that compelled him. John declared himself to be the disciple whom Jesus loved. Clearly, the love of Christ made a life-changing impact on his life.
Would You also cause me to delight in my Savior this day? Would You reveal the love of Christ in new and exciting ways? Cause me to live for Him more as His love is revealed to me.
“that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God”
Fill me with the fullness of God. Fill me with the love of my Savior. I pray that I would decrease and Jesus would increase. I desire to be a stronger Christian and to be moved by the love of Christ. I want to surrender to You and cease living for myself. Please help me advance in holiness and for Your presence to fill me daily.
In Ephesians 4:13, I read about the importance of my Christian maturity. Paul tells me that I must attain the fullness of Christ. In Ephesians 5:18, I am also told to be filled with the Spirit. Thus, I read of being filled with God, Jesus, and the Spirit in Ephesians. May my life be filled with You, Lord, and would you fill me so that there would be nothing left of me and all of you. I pray that You would live through me and make me a vessel that You can use for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.