#1436. I pray that you may know the unknowable love of God (22/1/26)

Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional (posted, at present, every weekday) as we continue our Ephesians series: Ephesians - To the praise, for the purpose, in the power of God.

In our last reflection, we considered how Paul prayed that that The Holy Spirit would give them strength and true faith so as to experience Jesus’ presence and submit fully to Him. Today, as we continue to learn from Paul’s prayer, we see that:

The Spirit’s empowering presence, develops Christ-like love for one another among us, as He also fills us with revelation of God’s love toward us. 

To watch this devotional, please select the link below: 

1. Paul prays for them to embody the love of Jesus

Paul prays: ‘And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…’ Here we have a biological and architectural analogy combined. We need our roots, deeply in God’s love for us so as to be built up into a community of the love of God. F. F. Bruce writes:

It’s as the Spirit empowers us and fills us with the presence of Jesus, that we become a people who love like Jesus. If Jesus is in us, we will become like Him -  become ‘rooted and established in love’ - we will be a community that increasingly loves one another and those around us. 

2. He prays that they may ‘grasp’ Jesus’ immeasurable love together

As well as embodying Jesus love in the church community, we are to experience God’s immeasurable love. We need the ‘power’ of the Holy Spirit in order to ‘grasp’ God’s love. He prays for them that they,  ‘…may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.’ If we want to experience the immeasurable love of God, it’s important not just to read and teach about it, but to pray for the Spirit to give us an experience of God’s love. 

3. He prays that they may know Jesus’ unknowable love together

Paul could quite simply have described the love of God to them. He could have given them 5 affirmation to repeat each day. However, as important as teaching is, He prays for them to know God’s love, and he does this because he wants them to ‘…know this love that surpasses knowledge’. I find something like quantum theory or the theory of relativity hard to understand, however, without the Spirit’s power, God’s love surpasses knowledge! 

4. The outcome of His prayer is their being mature together

Finally, he tells us that the result of knowing God’s love will lead to being ‘filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’ This sounds very mysterious and attractive! In essence, this is about maturity - becoming a mature Christian and a mature church. A church that loves one another like Christ, and experiences the love of God by the Spirit is mature - is ‘filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’ 

Response

God wants to make us mature as a church. He wants us to put our roots down deeply into God’s love so as to become a people who embody His love; and for this we need to both study and pray! 

• How are you putting your roots deeper into God’s love each day?

• Pray, That you and the church would be ‘rooted and established in love’. 

• Pray that You and the church would experience and know God’s love that surpasses knowledge. 

May we seek to become those who honour and bring glory to God by experiencing and showing His love. 

Community Group Notes

1. Notices

It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News. 

2. Icebreaker

How has God been speaking to you from His Word this week, and how has this helped you? 

3. Worship together

Let’s begin our time together by lifting our eyes and hearts to worship our great God. Perhaps you have readings and songs that you would like to use together. Let’s be open to the gifts that the Spirit wants to give in order to encourage one another.

4. Study and pray together

Balanced Time Allocation - Please ensure a balanced focus on discussion, SIV (Serve, Invest, and Invite), and prayer so that each section is meaningful and fruitful.

On Sunday, we continued our new series entitled: Ephesians: to the praise, for the purpose, in the power of God. 

Please read Ephesians 3:14-21 and discuss:

• Personal Reflection – From Sunday’s message and this passage, what stood out to you? Was there anything the Spirit particularly impressed on your heart?

• One family, one identity - Paul speaks of the unity of all Christians—particularly Jews and Gentiles—through adoption into God’s family.

• Loving one another well - Paul prays that believers would be ‘rooted and established in love.’ In practical terms, how could we, as a CG, grow in love for one another?

• Learning to pray from Paul’s example - Ephesians 3:14–21 is a model prayer. What does this passage teach us about:

  • What we should pray for?

  • How our prayers should be shaped by who God is?

• God’s power at work in us - What do we learn here about God’s power and the work of the Holy Spirit in believers and in the church?

• Applying this to our prayer life - How might our personal prayers - and our prayers together as a CG and church - change if they more fully reflected the truths of this passage?

SIV (Serve, Invest, and Invite)

• Power and unity -  From our text, what can we learn about God’s power and our loving unity in regard to mission? 

• Sharing Stories – Have you had any recent opportunities to Serve, Invest, or Invite someone toward Jesus? Let’s encourage one another by sharing stories of how we’ve seen God at work through simple faithfulness.

• Practical Next Steps – Who might God be placing on your heart at this time? Are there any “people of peace” (see note) in your life—those who seem open, welcoming, or receptive to spiritual conversation?

Let’s Pray Together

Let’s pray for one another in light of what we’ve studied and bring any other needs before God.

• Pray for courage, wisdom, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit in our Serve, Invest, and Invite opportunities.

• Pray specifically for the ‘people of peace’ in our lives - that God would open hearts and deepen relationships.

• Ask God to work through us by His power, so that others may come to know Christ.