{"id":1607,"date":"2017-07-17T02:07:43","date_gmt":"2017-07-17T02:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=1607"},"modified":"2017-07-17T02:07:43","modified_gmt":"2017-07-17T02:07:43","slug":"the-work-of-the-holy-spirit-today-part-vi-strengthened-in-the-inner-man-a-study-in-ephesians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=1607","title":{"rendered":"The Work of the Holy Spirit Today Part VI – Strengthened in the Inner Man – A Study in Ephesians"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>THAT he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;<\/span> \u00a0<\/strong><\/em>THAT Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; THAT ye, being rooted and grounded in love,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>May be able to comprehend with all saints what\u00a0is\u00a0the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, THAT ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em>Unto him\u00a0be\u00a0glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,<\/strong> world without end. Amen. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Ephesians 3:14-21<\/strong><\/p>\n

For this cause……..V<\/strong><\/em>erses 2-13 are parenthetical. \u00a0Paul repeats this phrase from verse 1 to continue his line of thinking from Ephesians chapter 2 concerning the riches believers have in Christ. \u00a0I\u00a0<\/em>(Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles<\/em><\/strong>, see vs 1), bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (not necessarily our physical position, but certainly the submission of our will to Him)**, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named (a reference to Christian believers – Jew and Gentile alike).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That……T<\/strong><\/em>here are no less than four <\/strong>that<\/em>‘s<\/span> which are Paul’s requests unto to God for his fellow believers – Jew and Gentile. \u00a0 The THAT’s above are like falling dominoes. \u00a0Fulfillment of the first spills onto the the next and so on. \u00a0 We will concern ourselves only with the first that,<\/em> which will teach us something more of the work of the Holy Spirit\u00a0in the church today.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

……….that he would grant you,……..<\/strong><\/em>The word translated\u00a0<\/b>grant<\/em>\u00a0is a derivative of the Greek word <\/b>didomi <\/em>which simply means <\/b>to<\/em>\u00a0<\/b>give.* \u00a0<\/em>The Giver is God, the recipient of the gift is the believer who apart from God is without this gift. <\/b>\u00a0Every\u00a0good\u00a0gift\u00a0and\u00a0every\u00a0perfect\u00a0gift\u00a0is\u00a0from\u00a0above<\/strong><\/em>,….James 1:17.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

.……according to the riches of his glory<\/strong>..<\/strong><\/em>……The word for riches is the Greek word ploutos <\/em>which is used in the NT of\u00a0(I) material “riches,” used evilly, <\/em>and\u00a0(II) of spiritual and moral “riches,” possessed by God and exercised towards men.* \u00a0<\/em>The latter\u00a0(II)\u00a0<\/em>are rich benefits, wealth, or abundant blessing which flow from God or Christ.***\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

……..to be strengthened with might……<\/strong><\/em>The meaning for to be strengthened<\/em> is self explanatory. \u00a0The Greek word<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>used here is from the root word <\/strong>krataiow<\/strong>\u00a0which\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>basically means to be strengthened,*\u00a0<\/em>as it is translated.\u00a0<\/em>The important observation is that it is in the passive voice, meaning the subject (believers) are being acted upon. \u00a0 This is not a strength that can be mustered up by the individual. \u00a0The source of this strength is God Himself. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

……….by his Spirit……<\/strong><\/em>.The English translation,\u00a0by his Spirit,<\/em>\u00a0does not adequately express what is contained in this phrase in the Greek language. \u00a0The word eis<\/em> is included in the Greek, but its meaning is not conveyed in the\u00a0translation. \u00a0It can mean one, only, one virtually by union, one and the same. \u00a0<\/em>Another form of this word includes the meaning of oneness and unity.<\/em> \u00a0This word emphasizes the unity of the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). \u00a0It emphasizes \u00a0the one and only Spirit of God as opposed to the many spirits in the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

……….in the inner man…….<\/strong><\/em>This is not outward physical strength that Paul is petitioning for his fellow believers. \u00a0It is a supernatural inner strength that enables a believer to be delivered from the power of sin after he\/she realizes his\/her own strength is not sufficient . \u00a0It is a supernatural inner strength that enables a believer to stand alone when all others including family are opposed. \u00a0It is a supernatural inner strength that enables a believer to be sustained when all other avenues of resources have been depleted. \u00a0 It is what sustains when the will is broken, the physical is exhausted, and the emotions have run dry. \u00a0It is not to be merchandized. \u00a0It is \u00a0for our sustaining power and for His glory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He giveth power to the faint; and to\u00a0them that have\u00a0no might he increaseth strength. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew\u00a0their\u00a0strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;\u00a0and\u00a0they shall walk, and not faint. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Isaiah 40:29-31<\/strong><\/p>\n

*Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words – pgs 265, 533-534, & 605; \u00a0**MacArthur Study Bible NKJV – notes on Ephesians 3:14; \u00a0***The Analytical Greek Lexicon, Zondervan Publishing House, Sixth Printing 1970 – pg 330.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,\u00a0Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,\u00a0THAT he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; \u00a0THAT Christ may dwell in your hearts … Continue reading The Work of the Holy Spirit Today Part VI – Strengthened in the Inner Man – A Study in Ephesians<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1607"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1621,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607\/revisions\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}