My wish for you.   Ephesians 3.14-21

Good Day.

Some of my most treasured possessions are hand-written cards and letters.  Why?  Well, I guess because each is a personal gesture intended to touch my heart in some way.  Think of it—I have notes from my mom and dad (who have long since passed away), when I was far away from home in college, love letters from my husband when we were dating, and Mother’s Day cards from my children over the years … all written in the hand of each of my loved ones. 

When the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write his various letters to specific churches and young believers, Paul pictured these folks—many of whose faces and names he could envision--thinking of certain personalities as he wrote.  He could not know it then, but he was not just writing to folks he had met or heard about, but was hammering out the key elements of Christian faith which would stand for eternity.  Wow. 

Last night, I sat down to hand write greeting cards to dear friends in my life—one for a birthday, another sympathy for the loss of her husband, and a third for a college graduate.  Next week, I will be writing quite a few more graduation cards to students from Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Sunday Night Live, who along with my Dylan, will don the cap and gown, and stride the football field to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance.  I could write ‘congratulations’, ‘go, get ‘em!’ and the like in their cards, but surely there is something a good deal more profound.  Of course there is…Paul’s prayer right here in Ephesians 3, verses 14-21~

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, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

For the Graduate, I pray these things~

That you will let Jesus rule your life, through the power of the Holy Spirit…

Whatever college you attend …

Sport you pursue …

Relationship you enter into …

And in whatever activities you choose to participate.

I pray that you invite Christ to dwell in your hearts through faith.  (Note: the Greek word Paul uses for ‘dwell’¹ means to live permanently, to be ‘at home’—so that your faith in Christ is not just a one-time decision, but a heart-acceptance that is lived out in a lifestyle commitment, as a way of life.)   Oh, dear one, I pray that you will make good and wise decisions about how you will live, whether near or far, in private or for all to see.  It will be yours to live by someone else’s standards, ‘well, everyone else is doing it, so I guess I will too’ or by the dictates of your conscience that calls you higher. 

God grant you the desire to plunge yourself into the depths of God’s great love for you, and how it changes everything—that his love will act as a guiding light for your thoughts and decisions, and will inform your affections and emotions as well.

And finally, may you have God-sized dreams that you grow to experience the very best God has for you, and never settle for anything less!  Stay close enough that you may experience the ‘dust of the rabbi’, which will take you further than the natural man, and lead you to fulfill your unique purpose and destiny in him.  In the great rabbi’s name, Jesus, Amen.   

->Now that I think of it, this is a great prayer to pray for anyone!<-

Christine

1 ‘dwell’ from the Greek word ‘katoikeo’, means ‘to really be at home’

2 the dust of the rabbi … from the notion of following a rabbi or teacher – in this case Jesus.  ‘Drink in his words, be covered in the dust of his feet,’ so says an ancient Jewish proverb, encouraging disciples to follow right on the heels of their teacher.