All the Fullness of God

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

Jesus, we belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Ephesians 3:14–21

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

CONSIDER THIS

When you think about being “filled” with God’s Spirit, what metaphors come to mind? If you are like me, one visual image usually leads the way—a vessel being filled to the brim with God’s presence. But there are other ways we can think about spiritual fullness, ways that may help us better understand what Paul is getting at when he writes, “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Here are just a few.

When the night sky is radiant with light, we say it is full of stars. When we are moved by affection for someone we care about, we say that we are full of love for that person. When orchestral music is strong and encompassing, we say the music sounds full and strong. When a season of time is complete, we may say that season has reached a full-ness of time (Gal. 4:4). When a young person becomes an adult, we say that they have come to full maturity.

With these ideas in mind, as we read verse 19, spiritual fullness can mean a number of things: we are radiant with Christ, permeated with Christ, encompassed and moved by Christ, complete in Christ, and mature in Christ. It can also mean we are overflowing with Christ.

Then, zooming out a bit more on Ephesians 3:14–21, we see that the goal of spiritual fullness is actually the point of Paul’s prayer.

Verse 17 points to verse 19: “I pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (v. 17),” “. . . that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (v. 19).

Verse 18 also points to verse 19: “I pray that . . . you may have power (v. 18) . . . to grasp (v. 18), . . . to know this love (v. 19),” “. . . that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (v. 19).

Paul clearly wants us to be filled with God and his love. And what is his measure? “Filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” means that God’s person is the quantitative standard, the measure. But God is boundless and endless. So, to put it another way, the God-measure is the measure beyond all measures, the metric beyond all metrics! Paul is praying that we are to be filled with God, beyond ourselves, beyond understanding, beyond-all-limits—full in a God-sized way!

Our Creator is not primarily interested in us coming into the fullness of who we are, at least not as the end goal. Our Creator is interested in us coming into the fullness of who he is—in character, love, and wholeness. Made in the image of God, the imago Dei, we are unique personalities reflecting God’s glory into the world. Our Father intends for us to thrive and delight in our uniqueness—but not to see self-expression as the culmination of our destiny. 

Our identity as image-bearers is to be filled and radiant with Christ’s presence. Just as a unique and remarkable stained glass window shines with light from within, so too we remain uniquely beautiful as the light of Jesus shines through our gifts and personalities.  

Our Father wants us to come to full maturity in Christ—feeling, thinking, and acting with the character of Jesus as our operating system. Paul will later say in Ephesians 4:13 that various ministry gifts have been given to the body of Christ to serve us “until we all . . . become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” There it is again. Being spiritually mature means we have the fullness of Jesus shaping every aspect of our lives.

Your motives. Your attention. Your work. Your play. Your friendships. Your family. Your loves. Your choices. Jesus wants you to be filled and full of him. Full stop.

When your back is turned, may people begin to whisper about you: “She is so full of Jesus,” or “He is so full of Christ’s love.” 

Paul’s measure is beyond measure, yes. And while there is no ordinary human being that could contain the “measure of all the fullness of God,” Jesus can. 

The mystery, the miracle that sits at the center of the gospel, is that Jesus lives in you and me (Col. 1:27).

THE PRAYER 

Lord Jesus, I am in you and you are in me. I want to be full of you, radiant with you, permeated with you, encompassed by you, mature in you. I believe that because you live in me, I will come to experience what is prayed for me in this prayer. I want to be filled “to the measure of all the fullness of God.” In Christ Jesus, I pray, amen.

THE QUESTIONS

What metaphor most resonates with you when you think of being “full” with all of who God is? How could you begin to pray in such a way that you daily welcome God to fill you with his presence?

For the Awakening,
Dan Wilt 

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