May 13th | Filled with The Fullness of God

A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON PAUL’S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS 

FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS OF GOD

Ephesians 3:17-19 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 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, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” 

St. Paul continues his prayer for the Christians in Ephesus. In today’s devotional verses his prayer is first that these believers would be “rooted and established in (God’s) love.” God’s love for sinners is foundational to their relationship with Him. Without God’s love there is simply no relationship with Him. First, He must reach out to the sinner because the sinner, because of their sin, will do as did Adam and Eve did in the Garden; “hide from Him.” Sin is an impenetrable barrier between the sinner and God. Only when God in His love reaches out to the sinner is this barrier overcome. 

Next Paul prays that these people be filled with God’s power. God’s power is sufficient to meet your every need, whatever it may be. He is almighty! When questioned by Peter as to how a person is saved, Jesus answered, “. . . with God all things are possible.” And Paul’s words in Romans 8:38-39 offer a litany of things that could possibly separate you from God’s love but they echo Jesus’ words to Peter that all things are possible with God: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

You, filled with the fullness of God, are a conqueror over all things including the negative things that occur in your life on a daily basis, those exceptional difficulties that come your way periodically, and eternity itself. Since God is with you, is on your side, listens to your prayers, answers them in accord with His will and for your good, as last Saturday’s devotion said, you can live your life confidently knowing that the Almighty God is with you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God which is yours in Christ Jesus your Lord and Savior. (Romans 8:31-39) 

Prayer: Fill me, Dear Father, with Your unconditional love to overcome all things that would separate me from You. I pray this in the name of Your Son, my Savior, Jesus. Amen. 

O love, how deep, how broad, how high,  
Beyond all thought and fantasy,  
That God, the Son of God, should take  
Our mortal form for mortals’ sake! 

He sent no angel to our race,  
Of higher or of lower place,  
But wore the robe of human frame,  
And to this world Himself He came. 

For us baptized, for us He bore  
His holy fast and hungered sore;  
For us temptation sharp He knew;  
For us the tempter overthrew. 

For us He prayed; for us He taught;  
For us His daily works He wrought,  
By words and signs and actions thus  
Still seeking not Himself but us. 

For us by wickedness betrayed,  
For us, in crown of thorns arrayed,  
He bore the shameful cross and death;  
For us He gave His dying breath. 

For us He rose from death again;  
For us He went on high to reign;  
For us He sent His Spirit here  
To guide, to strengthen, and to cheer. 

All glory to our Lord and God  
For love so deep, so high, so broad;  
The Trinity whom we adore  
Forever and forevermore.  (LSB 544)