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

Lord, please open this up to us and help us understand this passage this morning, by the power of your almighty Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name, Amen.

This passage is very much about the Holy Spirit and his power and the power he can give you. Typically when I think about the Holy Spirit and power, I think about power to do this, power to do that, power to perform miracles, power to change peoples' lives, but here Paul is talking about something different. He's talking about the Holy Spirit's inner power for us—a strength that he gives us so that we can know and understand the love of Christ which is beyond knowledge and that we could be filled with all the fullness of God.

The goal is clear, right? The goal is to be filled with all the fullness of God. And we want to be full, don't we? We don't want to be shallow or empty. Sometimes in our lives we feel empty and we look at other people's lives and think, Wow, she really gets it. She's just full of the Spirit—full of this fullness of God. In this passage, Paul ends with those words, "so that you may be filled," ...

Francis Chan is former pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, and author of Crazy Love and Forgotten God.