Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan.

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

Ephesians 3:16, 17Paul tells the saints at Ephesus that he prays on their behalf. What better thing can be done for you than that a fellow-saint pray for you! What a wonderful encouragement!

Paul does not just tell the Ephesian Christians that he is praying for them. He also tells them what he is praying for them. That is an even greater encouragement!

This is the second time Paul tells the Ephesians that he is praying for them. His first prayer is found in Eph. 1:15-23. The first time was on the occasion of hearing of their “faith in the Lord Jesus and their love unto all the saints.” The second time, the occasion for his prayers for them was their concern about his imprisonment in Rome. They were fearful that the removal of Paul would be harmful for the church, their church, and for the cause of the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles. So Paul tells them that he is praying for them.

The two prayers have one thing in common. Paul asks God to supply the Ephesian believers with what is needed for spiritual maturation. This is every pastor’s prayer. It is the request that God will bless the sheep with increased spiritual growth unto spiritual maturity. In the first prayer, Paul asked that God give them spiritual growth in the way of increased knowledge. In the second, he asks two things that are characteristic of those who are spiritually mature, namely, an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and the ability to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.

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Paul’s prayer is “that Christ dwell in your hearts by faith.” This seems strange. Was not Christ already in the hearts of these Ephesians to whom he is writing? After all, he addresses them as saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus. He spoke of their having been predestinated and redeemed (Eph. 1:5, 7) and quickened (Eph. 2:5). To be quickened is to be regenerated. Regeneration is the power of divine, irresistible grace working in the heart of the elect sinner, dethroning Satan and putting the life of Christ into the heart. Yes, Paul knew that Christ was already in them. He is not denying that.

Paul’s prayer now is for something else: that Christ dwell in their hearts by faith. This is to be distinguished from regeneration. That Paul is thinking of something other than regeneration is obvious also from the fact that he adds the words, “by faith.” Regeneration is a work of God that He does without the use of any means or instruments. Paul’s prayer is for Christ to dwell in the Ephesians “by faith.” So Paul is requesting that God do something of which faith is to be the means or instrument.

The key to understanding this petition of Paul is the meaning of the word “dwell.” To “dwell” means to live in, as in a house, to settle down and to be at home. May Christ live in our hearts as in a house; may He be at home in our hearts.

What does it mean that Christ dwells in our hearts? Remember that this has to be more than believing in Him, for the Ephesians were already doing that. First, it means having Jesus Christ so revealed to us that His presence is in us and with us. And, second, it means that there is a pervasive sense of His presence in us—He dwells in us in the sense of being settled and at home in us. Third, it is a joyous fellowship with Him.

It is sad but true that one can be a Christian without having much conscious fellowship with Jesus, without being aware that He is near to us. When Christ dwells in our hearts, He is doing more than exerting a vague, infrequent influence on us. He is so at home in us that we are at home with Him, consciously aware of and enjoying His presence.

It is one thing to know what Christ has done for us. But it is another thing to know that He who has done so much for us is in us and with us. When we are young in our faith, our focus is on knowing what Jesus did for us. This is as it ought to be, for at this stage of our spiritual development we must know these beautiful truths of His perfect work. However, as one matures, the knowledge of these objective truths more and more includes the experiential awareness of their wonderful, amazing, humbling, and refreshing implications. When Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, then we will experience the on-going miracle that “whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life” (John 4:14). Jesus said that “he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” (John 6:56).

The believer in whose heart Christ dwells knows that he lives spiritually. This is the experience of living a life in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me, so “not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). It is possible, from our human perspective, to have a relationship with Christ, but not to have Him as the constant center of our lives. Paul prays that the Ephesian believers will have a greater intimacy with Christ, their Sovereign Friend, which is likened to the friendship and fellowship that Jesus has in His Father. When He promised the Comforter, Jesus said, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). Later Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23).

When Christ is in us, then He is the controlling factor in the whole of our life. The relationship with Him is not a vague influence, but a real fellowship when His will and pleasure controls and directs our life. It is possible to know Christ, but not be controlled by Him so that He rules over our thoughts, words, and actions. When Christ dwells in us by faith, then He is Lord of our life in a real, practical sense. Then we want to keep growing in our love for Him who loved us so much. Then we want to trust Him more and more. Then we believe that He is able to make everything in our life work out for our spiritual and eternal profit, no matter how impossible that may seem to our flesh. Then even His rod and His staff comfort us. Just so He is with us and having His abode in us.

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How does this become a reality for us?

First, this becomes a reality “by faith.” This does not come about in a special, mystical way. This is not for some special, extra-blessed Christians. Rather, Christ dwells in our hearts “by faith.” Not only is faith the bond which unites every believer to Christ, but it also reveals Him to every believer. “Faith is an instrument that keeps us in communion with Him in all His benefits” (Belgic Confession, Article 22). Without faith we can read over these great words and not understand their meaning. Faith enables the believer to know the truth about Jesus, not in a superficial way, but so that the believer is “persuaded of” these truths (Heb. 11:13).

As our faith is lived embracing Christ, we experience the wonder that Christ makes His abode in us. Faith enables every Christian to desire and to seek this reality. Do we often neglect to exercise our faith in the day-to-day things of life, in our conversations, in our thinking and planning? Do we live our life in the flesh as an end in itself, or do we seek to live in the flesh as having Christ living in us. Do we use the things of this earth as ends in themselves, or do we use them as part of our Christian life on the path to the life to come? Are we growing in the awareness of how much we sin and therefore how much we need Christ? Living by faith we experience the wonder of having Christ Himself in us, so we increasingly enjoy His presence.

Second, we attain this level of spiritual maturity only by being “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” A spiritual baby is weak and needs to be strengthened. We need to be strengthened against the devil and his host (cf. Eph. 6:11, 12). The evil one often attacks our inner man. In order to put on the whole armor of God against the devil, we must be strengthened. “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might” (Eph. 6:10). We need to be strengthened in our inner man to be able to deal experientially with the wonderful truth that Christ dwells in our hearts.

We need to be strengthened because of the greatness of the truth. Strong meat is for those who are strong and mature. Milk is for those who are babes. There is a time for milk. And there should be a time for strong meat. But tobe strong enough to eat the strong meat we need to be strengthened. To receive, appreciate, and enjoy truths so strong, we need to be strengthened.

It is our “inner man” which needs to be strengthened. This inner man includes our minds. Our minds are earthly. Our minds can wander, or be dull and slow to understand, for all kinds of reasons. And the truths presented to this earthly mind are deep, spiritual truths. While the truth of what Christ did and does are gloriously simple, they are also tremendously profound. Our minds need more and more to expand to take in the truths of Scripture and their implications. To know the depths of the implications of God’s truth, we need our mind strengthened.

And we need to be strengthened in our wills. Sometimes we don’t want to put forth the effort to learn God’s truth. I have heard Christians say that they are not readers, not realizing that they are then hiding these truths in the ground, like the servant with one talent. We must realize that this prayer of Paul is for all Christians, the “ordinary” ones too. We can easily be intellectually lazy, saying that we don’t want to climb down into the depths or up into the mountains of God’s truth. In order to appreciate the blessed truth that Christ dwells in our hearts, we must have our wills strengthened.

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May Christ dwell in your hearts. The possibility of this happening to us is the grace of God. “The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” is the One before whom the apostle bows his knees (Eph. 3:14). He is the One who must “grant” this reality to us. When He grants it, then it is free. We do not have to buy it or earn it. Therefore the weakest Christian may pray that God mercifully grant him to be strengthened in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in his heart by faith.

When God grants, He does so out of “the riches of His glory.” Is there any end to His glory? Of course not! His glory is the beauty of His infinite perfections shining forth from Him. So great is God and so infinite are His perfections that His glory is a treasury which fills this whole universe and beyond. With the riches of God’s glory being the source, the blessings He gives and the strength He imparts are great indeed!

God grants this blessing to us “by His Spirit.” The Spirit of Christ works in us initial regeneration and salvation. And He is the One who continues the work in order to strengthen us. The Spirit of Christ is the power that strengthens us so that we can hold Christ in our hearts. Christ Himself dwells in the human heart. The Spirit makes this possible. Let us pray with Paul that God may grant, according to His riches, that we be strengthened, so that we do not stagger when confronted by truths so wonderful and amazing.

When we by His grace rid ourselves of that which is incompatible with Him, Christ is at home in us and we are at home with Him. We must rid ourselves of love of the world and of self. We must increasingly see His love for us, so we love Him. “He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).

Let us rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory that Christ dwells in us. May we more and more know the wonder that He is at home in us and we in Him.