DAY 10
Pray for the Indwelling of Christ
‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.’ Ephesians 3:16-17
How much of Christ’s presence do you know and enjoy on a daily basis? This is a key question. This is not to undermine your identity or sense of security in Christ, which Paul has gone to great lengths to establish in chapters 1 and 2. But here in Ephesians 3:17, Paul has moved from celebrating our position in Christ to praying for our experience of Christ dwelling ‘in our hearts through faith’. Paul’s prayer that Christ may dwell in us contains the idea that Christ doesn’t want to just visit us but rather to live in us and make His permanent home in us.
Earlier in the letter, Paul has made it clear that we already have the Spirit since conversion, and in the parallel letter of Colossians, this means that now we have Christ Himself in us (see Colossians 1:27). But Paul is not praying for Christ to ‘come into our hearts’, or, in other words, for us to become Christians. Rather, he is praying for those who are already Christians to know the permanent indwelling of Christ in a personal and experiential way.
This indwelling is something that Christians throughout the ages have enjoyed, and something that we can enjoy today. The encouragement of this text is that we can follow Paul’s example and pray this prayer for ourselves and for other Christians. As we do, we will know Christ in such a way that we will enjoy ‘sweet communion’ with Him that not only affects our emotions in a wonderful way but will lead to us becoming more like Him.
DEVOTIONAL
by Zia Deeks
QUOTABLE QUOTE
“The Holy Spirit is a permanent resident in the heart of every true believer. He comes to make us His home, to be with us forever. His presence is the proof of our adoption as children of God, the pledge of our inheritance, and the power by which we live and serve.”
– John Stott - theologian
Prayer points
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- Let’s come before the Lord with thanksgiving for the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling permanently in our hearts. Let’s then ask the Holy Spirit how we can make more room for Him and how we can host His presence in our hearts in a way that honours Him.
- Pray a blessing on our church family, that every single one of us would know the permanent indwelling of Christ. Pray for new experiences of what it looks like to have Christ dwelling in us as a church.
- Declare an overflow of His presence from our hearts to our homes and to our spheres of influence. Pray that the presence of Jesus would touch our world wherever our feet may tread.