Be Strengthened and Grounded In Love

Paul’s prayer:

That He [the Father] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:16-17.

The first part of Paul’s request is that God, might strengthen, or, “cause to be strong to overcome resistance,” with power, in other words, “dynamic living power,” (see Ephesians 3:20) through the Holy Spirit in a believer’s innermost being. The result of this is that through faith Christ may dwell in believers’ hearts, that is, their whole personalities. The word used for “dwell” here refers not to the beginning of Christ’s indwelling at the moment of salvation. Instead it denotes the desire that Christ may, literally, “be at home in,” that is, at the very center of or deeply rooted in the life of a believer.

Paul continued his prayer by repeating his request that Christ be the center of believers’ lives.  They are to let Christ become the dominating factor in their attitudes and conduct, very thinking and behavior. He stated this in a mixed metaphor of biological and architectural terminology: being rooted (like a plant) and grounded (like a building on a foundation) in love. The key words, “being rooted and grounded” are indicating a past action with continuing results. They could be translated “having been rooted and established.” As believers, we have been “rooted and grounded” and continue to be “rooted and grounded.” The whole purpose of this request is that believers may have power (see again, Ephesians 3:20), in other words, “have inherent strength” in and through Christ Jesus! What an awesome and glorious prayer!

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
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