The Rung of Residence

Yesterday we looked at the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 3 and talked about climbing the ladder of prayer.  The first rung is power, and it is found in verse 16, but let’s move toward the second rung…the rung I call RESIDENCE.

Paul prays in verse 17, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…”. The Holy Spirit indwells us the moment we are born again. In Romans 8 Paul says if you don’t have the Spirit of God you don’t belong to Jesus…you aren’t saved, but here he is talking about the Spirit dwelling in us…that gives a clue as to what he is praying.

There is Greek word for dwell that speaks of dwelling somewhere as a stranger.  In just a few weeks I will travel to Asia and will dwell in a hotel for a week.  I’ll dwell there, but it won’t be my home.  There is another word in the Greek, the one Paul uses here, that speaks of taking up residence, of being at home, of something that is permanent.

Paul is praying for the Holy Spirit to be at home in them…to take up residence.  Is He at home in you?  When I pray this for myself, I have to go back and ask Him if there things in my life that make Him uncomfortable.  When I pray this for others, I’m simply asking the Holy Spirit to move into their life, to take up residence, and for them to take the necessary steps for that to happen.

We will look at the third rung tomorrow…comprehension!