Scripture: Ephesians 3 v 14 - 16: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of 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 by might by His Spirit in the inner man."
Who can begin to fathom the riches of the glory of Jesus Christ? He grants us our full portion individually as well as to the whole family in heaven and on earth. Every sleeping saint, born again child of God now in heaven, every one of us alive today receive His strength in our inner man.
The inner man is our spirit that is seated with Christ in heaven. It is strengthened by the power of Jesus continually even as the vine has the sap running through it. In John 15 Jesus says He is the vine and His Father is the gardener. The sap in the vine is like the Holy Spirit - the sap is full of the powerful nutrients that produce and ripen the fruit. Without this sap the vine would wither and die.
So through the Holy Spirit the riches of Jesus are poured into us to nourish us spiritually as we study the Bible, pray, praise and worship God. If we are not doing all of those things then the sap has stopped flowing and our bunch of grapes is not maturing.
When we become a child of God we inherit all his attributes. The inheritance of character from our earthly father is replaced by the character of our Heavenly Father. However, a battle is created when our fleshly nature wants to dominate and our will hankers after the fleshpots of Egypt, like the Hebrews following Moses. The flesh breeds corruption through sin and this does not please God. No matter how right it feels to have an affair!
Our Father is good in every way. Jesus said, don't call Me good, My Father is truly good. So we need to focus on the goodness of God and aim to achieve it. He is very patient and kind, loving and gentle with understanding. He always sees the best in us and wants the best for us. Through Jesus He can heal us, deliver us from evil, provide our daily needs, answer our prayers.
Through the Holy Spirit He can give us supernatural gifts like miracles, tongues, prophecy, discerning of spirits, words of knowledge and wisdom. He can enhance our faith to do the impossible like raise the dead or see the lame walk. Everything Jesus did, we can do too. Only believe, all things are possible if you believe.
The reasons why we stop maturing are varied but here are a few:-
1) Through disobedience to God's Word in false doctrines twisting it out of shape.
2) Through carrying on in a worldly and offensive manner after being born again.
3) Through fear and unbelief which cause backsliding.
4) Through deliberate sin which grieves the Holy Spirit.
Repent of whatever your sap-stopping error may be and renew your mind according to His Word. Walk the Christian walk in faith and sincerity thereby pleasing Our Father and Jesus, and you will feel the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit flowing through your life again, producing the new wine that can be poured out to those who thirst for righteousness. Then we will indeed be strengthened by might!
Prayer: Father God, let us be strengthened by the might of Jesus in our inner man through the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Forgive us the sins and errors that stop this flow and cause us to wither shamefully instead of abundant growth on Your fruitful vine. In Jesus' name. Amen.
