Ephesians 3:14-17 “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from 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 through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.”
Pastor Herk continues: May Christ dwell in your heart through faith. The word “Dwell” here is the Greek word “Katoikeō”, meaning (1) to settle – metaph (supernatural). divine powers, deific influences are said to dwell in the Believers soul, to pervade, prompt, govern it. (2) to inhabit - to house permanently, reside as an inhabitant. God is said to dwell in the temple, i.e. to be always present for worshippers. 1 Corinthians 6:19 asks, “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “dwell” as: to abide as a permanent resident, or to inhabit for a time; to live in a place; to have a habitation for some time or permanence. Dwell imports a residence of some continuance. Acts 17:24-28 explains, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’” That Christ would settle down and be at home in the hearts of Christians.
Take to heart that Jesus is living in your heart. The word heart here is defined as: The inner part of any thing; The chief part; the vital part; the vigorous or efficacious part. The seat of the affections and passions, as of love, joy, grief, enmity, courage, pleasure etc. We read of an honest and good heart, and an evil heart of unbelief, a willing heart, a heavy heart, sorrow of heart, a hard heart, a proud heart, a pure heart. The heart faints in adversity, or under discouragement, that is, courage fails; the heart is deceived, enlarged, reproved, lifted up, fixed, established, moved, etc. By a metonymy, heart is used for an affection or passion, and particularly for love. The heart is the seat of the understanding; the seat of the will; hence, secret purposes, intentions or designs. The Lord tries and searches the heart. Sometimes heart is used for the will, or determined purpose. The heart is the person; character; used with respect to courage or kindness, Courage; spirit; as, to take heart; to give heart; thoughts in the recesses of the mind. The heart is the disposition of mind, the real intention and the conscience mind, will and emotion of the soul.
When you look at a house as a potential permanent residence, you’ve invested a lot of resources to prepare and make it a place where you can settle down and be at home there. The Apostle Paul’s prayer here for us is that we would be able to do the same things spiritually with our hearts that most of us do with our physical homes; to make it a place where Christ can take up permanent residence. When you receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you received the Holy Spirit in all that He can be and there was a change of mind and life direction, putting a whole lot of sinful thoughts and lifestyle behind us that was not “right in the eyes of the Lord”. Areas of our thoughts words and actions that Jesus feels not at home with in your converted heart, which you have not repented and hanging onto. The old saying goes: “when you bury the hatchet, do not leave the handle sticking out”. As the redeemed and justified Sinners, we repentantly lay our inequities at the foot on the Cross … some sooner than others as God clears the sin nature of the flesh out, so Christ can be at home in the heart and take up residence. Our goal is to make our heart His home.
The Apostle Paul, by stating “that He [God 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 heart, makes it clear that our lives are not quite ready for Him; it takes a little bit of time for us to clean house and be ready for Him. We embark on this process of sanctification by having our lives transformed that we can become more and more like Jesus; preparing our hearts to be a place where He can come, settle down and be at home.
Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on a heart for Christ in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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