Paul’s meditations on the person and work of God and Christ has caught up with him, and his thoughts elicit one of the most beautiful and powerful prayers ever recorded. In chapter 1 he burst forth with an effusive sermon about God’s abundant blessings based on his eternal decisions and his glorious grace. Paul uses phrases like “blessed us with every spiritual blessing,” “his pleasure and will,” “his glorious grace…that he lavished on us.” Based on those powerful truths he prays for enlightened hearts, deep knowledge, and incomparably great power. The result is that though we were dead and powerless, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive and saved us by grace. In addition, any barrier to any human being reconciled to God is dismantled so that all have generous access to God.
For this reason, because of the glorious riches and unparalleled power at His disposal, you have Christ in you. This status is not to be taken lightly. He is the majestic creator of all things, the One who sustains the world, whose power raises the dead and overcomes all obstacles. He is the possessor of unsearchable spiritual wisdom, boundless knowledge, and reckless love. He is the source of grace, the compassion behind all mercy, and the righteous judge. This is Who is in you. And because of that truth, you share in all of this wealth, like a person who is informed that their long-lost uncle left them a fortune beyond compare.
We are left with the challenge: Let this God do what He wills in you. God’s desires for you are greater than even your own desires for yourself, and what He would like to do in the Church is amplified by the number of all who are gathered there. Here is the power for living: It is God in you. It is saying to God, “Do whatever you want to me, in me, and with me,” and meaning it. It is learning to think differently so that we are radically changed from human beings to God’s people. It is setting aside all that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles (Eph. 4.17-24; Heb. 12.1). It is living in one direction, for one purpose, under one Sovereign. That is how we can be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” And these thoughts are too small to comprehend what God would really like to do. Imagine that.