Prayers Of The Spirit: Seize the Dimensions of God’s Love
Study The Word
Ephesians 3:17-18
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.”
Today we moving right along with the prayer of the Spirit from Ephesians chapter 3, and this portion is absolutely extraordinary! The Apostle Paul by the Spirit prays that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Now, the moment you were born again, Christ came to live in you. But Paul is praying for something deeper here—he’s praying that Christ would be so at home in your heart, so settled in your inner being, that His presence becomes the foundation of everything you are and everything you do. And the purpose? So that you would be rooted and grounded in love!
ῥιζόω rhizoo rooted – to cause to take root, to plant firmly, to establish, to make stable, to fix deeply
The word “rooted” is the Greek rhizoo, which means to cause to take root, to plant firmly, to establish, to make stable, to fix deeply. Think about the roots of a great tree—they go deep into the earth, drawing nutrients, providing stability, making the tree immovable even in the strongest storms. That’s what God wants for you! He wants you so deeply rooted in His love that nothing can uproot you! Hallelujah!
θεμελιόω themelioō grounded – to lay a foundation, to establish firmly, to make stable, to strengthen
And “grounded” is themelioō—to lay a foundation, to establish firmly, to make stable, to strengthen. This is architectural language! God is saying that His love is to be the very foundation upon which your entire life is built! Just as a building must have a solid foundation to stand, your life must be established on the bedrock of God’s love. When you understand how much He loves you, when you experience the depths of His affection for you, you become unshakeable! Glory to God!
Now here’s where it gets even more powerful. The Word says the purpose of being rooted and grounded in love is so that “you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.” You get it? There’s a supernatural comprehension that God wants you to have—a divine understanding of the multi-dimensional nature of His love!
καταλαμβάνω katalambano comprehend – to seize, to take hold of, to grasp, to lay hold of, to apprehend, to possess, to make one’s own
And the he says that you may katalambano, which is to take hold of, to grasp, to lay hold of, to apprehend, to possess, to make one’s own! God doesn’t just want you to have an intellectual awareness of His love. He wants you to seize it! He wants you to take hold of it! He wants you to possess it and make it your own!
This is much more than head knowledge. This is experiential, possessive, all-consuming knowledge of the love of Christ! The T4T translation says, “you along with all believers may be able to know how much Christ loves us.” And the Remedy translation says your minds will be “enabled together with all the saints to grasp how immense and wide and long and deep and high is the love of Christ.”
Think about this: God’s love has dimensions! It has breadth—it’s wide enough to embrace every person, every situation, every circumstance in your life. It has length—it stretches from eternity past to eternity future, never running out, never diminishing. It has depth—it reaches down to the lowest places you’ve ever been, to the darkest moments you’ve ever faced, lifting you up. And it has height—it elevates you to the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, far above all principality and power! Hallelujah!
And notice it says “with all saints.” This is not a private revelation for just a few special believers. This is for every child of God! God wants all of His children to katalambano—to seize and possess this supernatural knowledge of His love! How long are you going to just live on the testimonies of other people’s experiences of God’s love? How long are you going to be content with hearing about it rather than personally experiencing it? The bible says you may be able to comprehend WITH ALL THE SAINTS! That includes you!
Remember what Romans 5:5 says: “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” The Holy Spirit Himself pours out this love into your heart! Furthermore, He is the One who also enables you to katalambano—to seize and possess this divine knowledge in experience!
And this is why it’s a must for every child of God to pray this prayer of the Spirit consistently, contending for our own personal experience of the love of God!
γνῶσις gnosis knowledge – knowing, understanding, intelligence, comprehension, acquaintance
Now verse 19 goes on to say that this love “surpasses knowledge.” And knowledge here is gnosis—knowing, understanding, intelligence, comprehension of natural things; or scientific knowledge. The word of God is saying that the love of Christ goes beyond what your natural intellect can grasp! It surpasses intellectual knowledge! The Remedy translation puts it beautifully: “to know in every fiber of your beings this love that surpasses intellectual knowledge.”
So this is not referring to studying the love of God in a textbook. This is about experiencing it in every fiber of your being! It’s about having such a deep, personal, intimate encounter with the love of Christ that your entire being—spirit, soul, and body—is saturated with the reality of how much He loves you! Hey!!
When you truly katalambano—when you truly seize and possess the knowledge of His love—you are changed from the inside out! You begin to think differently, speak differently, act differently. You become more like Christ Himself, who is the embodiment of God’s love!
I want you to understand something: being transported into that knowledge, being immersed into that supernatural knowledge, into that divine knowledge of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge—this is your inheritance as a child of God! Father, I pray right now for every person reading this: transport them into that knowledge! Immerse them into that divine understanding! Let them experience the reality of Your love in a way they never have before in the name of Jesus Christ!
May the power of the Holy Spirit overshadow you! His miraculous power will grant you the grace to be able to seize and possess the knowledge of the love of Christ! From today, from this moment, wherever you are, you will begin to experience the multi-dimensional love of God—its width, its length, its depth, its height in the name of Jesus Christ! Glory to God!
This is what begins to be the practical, experiential reality for every Christian who prays this prayers of the Spirit! And when you experience this love, when you katalambano this love, when you seize and possess this love—everything changes! Fear is displaced. Insecurity is removed. Anxiety is driven out. Because perfect love casts out fear!
You are loved with an everlasting love! You are loved with a love that will never fail, never diminish, never run out! And God wants you to know this—not just in your head, but in every fiber of your being! That’s why He gave us this prayer of the Spirit!
Pray The Word
Heavenly Father, thank You for rooting and grounding me in Your love. I pray that You would enable me by Your Spirit to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ. Grant me the grace to katalambano—to seize, to possess, to make my own—the supernatural knowledge of Your love which surpasses all intellectual understanding. Thank You, Father, that I am being immersed and transported into this divine revelation of Your love today, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Speak The Word
I am rooted and grounded in the love of God! My foundation is secure and unshakeable! I katalambano—I seize and possess the knowledge of the love of Christ! I experience in every fiber of my being the breadth, the length, the depth, and the height of His love for me. This love surpasses intellectual knowledge and transforms my entire life! I am loved with an everlasting love, and nothing can separate me from it, in the name of Jesus Christ!
15 Days Of Prayers Of The Holy Spirit Day 2: Strength & Knowledge Of God’s Love