Filled to Overflowing

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Scripture

Eph. 3:18 I pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Observation

Paul’s prayer is for God’s people to know the very nature of God. All are called to the holy life, to become participants in God’s nature and to reveal his holiness to the world. As such, we are all the saints and drawn into a holy and loving relationship with God.

This love is greater than anything that we can imagine in the human realms, larger than the temple dedicated to Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world! No matter the great knowledge that has developed in the Greek world, God is even greater. And God’s people can be filled “with all the fullness of God.”

Application

Ephesus was known for the great temple dedicated to Artemis. People traveled from all over the world to see this incredible work of human hands. But Paul knew that there was so much more to life to be found in the transformational power of the Holy Spirit. It is believed that his description of the breadth and length and height and depth — refers to the size of the temple to Artemis. That God’s love is so much bigger!




http://daydreamtourist.com/2013/08/05/temple-of-artemis-at-ephesus/

We are challenged by Paul’s prayer, to be filled to overflowing with the the very nature of God. His prayer wasn’t just for the Ephesians, but for you and for me. We are called to be God’s holy people in the world today.

Just this week I was traveling in Romania and there we saw the Parliament building, considered the second largest building in the world today. Yes, it is impressive and massive and yet, it is but a shadow of the love of Christ which we are invited to partake.

We become self-limiting in terms of our relationship with God if we try to put God in a little box. It may be our own fears which limit the working of God in and through us. He’s able to do much more than we can ever imagine. He’s bigger than the temple to Artemis — He’s bigger than the biggest buildings humans can build. God cannot be contained and he invites us to become partakers of his divine nature — filled to overflowing with God’s holy love.

Prayer

Lord, please fill me with you. Amen.

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