The Fullness of God

For this cause I bow my knees (Paul’s prayer) unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 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; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.  Ephesians 3:14-19

The Fullness of Christ

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:  Ephesians 4:11-13

The Fullness of the Holy Spirit

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  And be not drunk with wine,                    wherein is excess; but be (being) filled with the Spirit; Ephesians 5:15-18

For in him (Jesus Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  Colossians 2:9

Paul’s prayer: That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; Ephesians 3:17a.  Faith is a firm persuasion or conviction brought about by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.*

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; Colossians 3:16a

Let  implies submission and obedience to the word of Christ.  The word of Christ is His doctrine or teaching.  It is the written Word of God.  Christ nearly always included it is written in His teaching and instruction.  He taught with objective truth (based on fact) and not subjectively (based on feelings).  Dwell is used as a verb meaning the act of providing a home or a residing place for His truth.  In you describes where this residing place is.  It is in our mind and heart.  Richly describes in one word the quantity and the quality of His Word that we should have within us, compared to anything else within us.

It is difficult to fill a cup with one thing, when the cup is already full of something else.

I AM AMAZED

I am amazed that God could ever love me,

So full of sin, so covered o’er with shame;

Make me to walk with Him who is above me,

Cleansed by the pow’r of His redeeming name.

Refrain: I am amazed that God would ever save me,

Naught but the cross could take away my sin;

Through faith in Christ, eternal life He gave me,

Now He abides forevermore within.

I am amazed that God should grant salvation,

To such as I and all who heed His word;

Eternal life to ev’ry land and nation,

This is the wondrous message we have heard.

Author – Alfred Henry Ackley – 1932

I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.  Psalm 40:10

Have you ever tried a cure, but saw no improvement?  Could it be that the cure is not the problem?  Maybe the problem is understanding the directions.

I recently went to the doctor for a sinus infection.  The doctor wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic, but after three days the symptoms became worse.  I left work early the third day to go home and rest.  The weekend wasn’t any better.  On Sunday morning as I was taking my next dose, I wondered at the number of pills left in the bottle.  As I reread the directions I found that I had been taking half the prescribed dose which was two pills, twice a day. I was taking only one pill, twice a day.

You know I’m afraid that this happens often in the spiritual realm.  We have a problem so we get a prescription from the Bible for the remedy but somehow we conclude that the remedy doesn’t work or so it seems.

The Scripture is God’s Word.  God wrote the book on the human condition and its remedy.  God makes no mistakes.  We have to conclude therefore, that the Bible’s directions are true and sure. The difficulty is with our ability to follow directions.  If we have tried the Bible’s remedy and still say it does not work, then we did not follow the Bible’s directions properly.

As an example, Proverbs 3:6 says; In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.  It doesn’t say when you happen to acknowledge Him then He will direct your ways.  It says; in ALL thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.  The promise of direction is to those who acknowledge Him in ALL their ways. 

Acknowledging Him in all our ways would be walking in the Spirit.  Walking in the Spirit is letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly.  If we are walking in the Spirit, we can be assured that He is directing our paths.

…let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…