Within Paul’s prayer of Ephesians chapter 3, we read of the connection between faith and the working of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 3:16-19, Paul prays that according to the riches of His (the Father’s) glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Through his prayer, the apostle Paul reveals the amazing spiritual resources which are only available to Christians. God’s divine treasure, found within the immeasurable wealth of His heavenly glory, has been made available to His earthly children, to those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ. As incomprehensible as this may seem, access to this storehouse of blessing is gained through faith.
Faith, which is trusting belief, its dependant belief, and its belief that channels the believer’s affections through Jesus Christ to God, it is this faith which attracts God’s full attention. So, it is because of faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection as payment for our sin, that God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:5. Cf. Rom 3:21-26). And it is God’s Spirit who manifests the heart of God within the believer’s changing heart.
Now, as the child of God is rooted and grounded in love through the Holy Spirit, Paul prays for the believers to have strength to comprehend the enormous greatness of the love of Christ. As the Holy Spirit grows and matures the child of God, so it is God’s desire for them to be filled with all the fullness of God. And to be filled with God means we are to be saturated with the presence of the Holy Spirit, which speaks of being controlled by God’s Spirit.
Paul explains the ways in which the Holy Spirit manifests Himself through a believer’s attitudes and behaviour in Galatians 5:22-23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… Again, these expressions of the Holy Spirit are the outcome of faith, because faith chooses to live in obedience to Jesus Christ and God’s Word. Faith chooses to walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Living an obedient life of faith stops sinful desires becoming sinful behaviour.
Faith not only believes in Jesus Christ for salvation, but it trusts the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent (John 15:26) for daily representing the Lord Jesus within us. Faith trusts the Holy Spirit to do the long term job of sanctification, of changing our lives to be more like Jesus Christ, a little more each day.
Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NLT. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
Faith in God, through Jesus Christ, is reliant upon the Holy Spirit to accomplish the things we cannot do in our own strength. As always, this ministry of the Triune God within us does not… depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy (Romans 9:16 NIV).
