A Prayer for Inner Strength - DJ
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00:00There are more than 45,000 self-help books published each year, over 200,000
00:07podcasts in the personal development category. But what if I told you all pale
00:12in comparison to the spiritual development one small book can have on
00:16your life and faith? Just six chapters, 2,000 words and 20 minutes of your time.
00:22Yet its impact lasts a lifetime. It succinctly and powerfully explains what
00:29it means to believe and how to discover God's calling for you. How to find
00:34purpose, overcome obstacles, connect with others, claim a life you love, endure
00:40difficulty, experience the fullness of life, love without limits, and ultimately
00:46be the follower of Christ you've always wanted to be. Join me in God's Word as we
00:52find the proven way to build a belief that thrives, impacts, and endures. A
00:58belief that behaves. It all starts with the book of Ephesians.
01:06Coming up on Turning Point. I don't know how many times people have said that to
01:11me, Pastor I just can't do this anymore. Maybe they're in a marriage that's
01:15coming unglued or they got children that have gone south or they have a financial
01:19issue or they're sick. Pastor I just can't do this anymore. And you need to
01:23say, you know what? That's true. I can't either. But I know someone who can. He is
01:28able. He's able to do above all that you ever ask or think.
01:35Discover a belief that restores, relates, rejoices, and behaves in Dr. David
01:40Jeremiah's new book, Belief That Behaves, the book of Ephesians. In this rich study
01:45of Paul's beloved epistle, Dr. Jeremiah explores what it means to be a follower
01:49of Christ in practical terms and how we should act or behave as believers.
01:54Through 19 chapters you'll discover God's how-to guide to the Christian life
01:59including resolving conflict with others, successful marriage and parenting,
02:02finding purpose, overcoming spiritual attacks, and praying effectively. Ephesians
02:08has the power to change your life at home, at church, and at work. Request
02:13Belief That Behaves by Dr. Jeremiah when you give a gift of any amount in
02:16support of Turning Point. Or if you give a gift of $75 or more, Dr. Jeremiah will
02:21send you in appreciation the Belief That Behaves set, which contains his new book,
02:26his complete two-volume teaching series on your choice of CD or DVD, and two
02:30correlating study guides. From the first verse to the last, the truths contained
02:35in Ephesians will fill your heart with joy and strengthen your relationships
02:39with others. Request the Belief That Behaves book or study set, new from Dr.
02:43Jeremiah when you contact Turning Point today. Thank you for watching Turning
02:50Point, and now here is Dr. Jeremiah with his message, A Prayer for Inner Strength.
02:58Dean Carnazzi stumbled as he reached the front porch of his San Francisco area
03:05house. He'd just spent an evening celebrating his 30th birthday and he was
03:10really drunk. He had a successful job in corporate America, but he didn't know
03:15what his life was all about. He was totally off track. As he stepped upon the
03:20porch of his home, he looked down and saw a pair of old sneakers on the porch. He
03:26put them on and decided to go for a run, and he ran for 30 miles. He said,
03:31I started sobering up around Daly City. By that point, he was having so much fun
03:37he couldn't stop running. I was on this rural country road and it was kind of
03:41misty, and the eucalyptus had these drips coming from them, and it was real
03:45pungent, and I just felt so alive, and that night changed the course of my life
03:49forever. Decades later, as one of the earliest stars in the sport of
03:55ultramarathons, his feats of strength and endurance are legendary. Incredibly, he
04:02once ran 50 marathons in 50 different states on 50 consecutive days. That's
04:091,330 miles, and no other person in history has ever done that. Perhaps even
04:15more impressive, Karnazes once ran for almost 81 hours straight without sleep.
04:21More than three full days, he covered 350 miles in that time span, and he did so
04:27without stopping. He estimates that he has run more than 100,000 miles over the
04:34course of his life, which would mean running around the diameter of our
04:38planet four separate times. As you might expect, with all that running, he's had a lot
04:45of time to think, and one of the things he believes most strongly is that people
04:50tend to place limits on themselves and on their bodies that are unnecessary and
04:55unhelpful. Your legs can only carry you so far, he wrote in one of his best-selling
05:00books. Running great distances is mostly done with your head and your heart. The
05:06human body is capable of amazing physical deeds. If we could just free
05:10ourselves from our perceived limitations and tap into our internal fire, the
05:15possibilities are endless. I like that image of an internal fire. More than
05:22perhaps any person in history, Dean Karnazes has tested the limits of
05:27physical strength, but as he and many others have discovered, physical strength
05:32can only carry you so far. We need something more substantial if we're
05:37going to thrive in this world and hold fast to both the promises and
05:41responsibilities that come with being a follower of Christ. What we need is inner
05:48strength. So, as we move to the second half of Ephesians chapter 3, we have the
05:54privilege of listening to a prayer that's all about inner strength, a prayer
05:59that Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers. It is one of the best sections
06:04of Scripture in the whole New Testament. So, as we explore this wonderful prayer, I
06:09hope you will realize in your life that I will realize in my life that we study
06:15this together as a message from God to each one of us individually. And at the
06:20heart of this prayer is Paul's desire that God would strengthen believers with
06:26power in their inner being. I think if we took a survey today among all of us in
06:33our honesty, there's never been a time when we each need more inner strength
06:38than we ever have before. This inner strength is so critical to our spiritual
06:43survival that when Paul introduced his prayer, he marshaled all three members of
06:48the Trinity. For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus
06:53Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would
06:58grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might
07:02through his Spirit in the inner man. There you have it, the Father, the Son, and
07:06the Holy Spirit in this text. That should get our attention. So, let's look first of
07:11all at the posture of Paul's prayer. For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father
07:19of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that probably doesn't sound strange to you
07:23because it's a common habit among believers today, and it's a common
07:27expression throughout the history of the church. When we pray, we bow our heads. We
07:33often bow our knees, but that wasn't true for the Jewish people. The ancient Jewish
07:38people, to bow their knees in prayer was unthinkable. They never did that publicly.
07:43When they prayed, they stood up and lifted their hands up to heaven. Remember
07:47Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? The Pharisee stood and he
07:53prayed thus with himself. You can almost see him. Lord, I am thankful that I'm not
07:57like these other men, extortioners and adulterers, or even like this tax
08:02collector. And what was the tax collector doing? Well, the Bible says he was
08:07standing afar off. So, they stood when they prayed, but Paul specifically told
08:14the Ephesians that he was kneeling in prayer for them. You don't get the impact
08:19of it unless you see the contrast of it, because he wanted to highlight the
08:23intensity of that moment, the intensity of his prayer. This was serious business.
08:29It was the kind of prayer that brought him to his knees, and he wasn't alone. If
08:34you read the Bible carefully, you'll discover that Jesus was withdrawn from
08:38them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and prayed. And Stephen knelt down
08:45and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And he
08:51fell asleep. And of course, we all know the famous promise from the book of
08:56Philippians. At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, and every tongue confess
09:02that Jesus is Lord. One day, every knee, Jew and Gentile alike, will bow before the
09:08Lord God. So, that's what we learned from the posture of Paul's prayer. He was
09:12serious about this prayer. He's about to pray for the Ephesian believers. Now,
09:16notice what he prayed for. Four things. First of all, he prayed that the Ephesians
09:23would have inward power. You can kind of catch his prayer requests by the little
09:27word, that. That introduces a purpose clause. He said, I pray that God would
09:32grant you, according to the riches of its glory, to be strengthened with might
09:36through his power in the inner man. Paul asked God to fill the Ephesians with
09:44inward power, with inward strength. Notice all the strong words in that section. He
09:49talks about riches and glory and strength and might. And the Greek word
09:54for might is found in the New Testament 120 times, and it refers to the power
09:59that God gives to people who belong to his family so they can accomplish their
10:04God-given assignments. And we need that inner strength today more than ever
10:09before. We discovered that our human physical strength is not sufficient for
10:14the things that we are challenged with. We wake in the morning and everything is
10:18all right, and before the day is over, here we are facing something we never
10:22dreamed we would face. And I'm sure you've decided already that this is true
10:26for Christians and non-Christians alike. When you become a Christian, you don't
10:29get a pass that keeps this from happening. How do we stay secure? Our
10:34security is found in the fact that the one who is in us is greater than the one
10:39who is outside of us trying to give us all of this grief. We are strong in God.
10:44If we understand our inner strength, we will never be afraid of the alarms. So,
10:49Paul prayed, first of all, that the Ephesians would have this inner strength
10:53about them, this not physical strength, this inner spiritual strength. And then
10:59he prayed for an inward presence, and this is really interesting. He says that
11:03Christ, there's that word, that again, that Christ may dwell in your hearts
11:08through faith. You say, well, that doesn't seem like the right kind of prayer to
11:12pray for somebody who's already a Christian. Doesn't he already dwell in
11:14your heart by faith? Well, he lives in your heart by faith. When you become a
11:19Christian, Christ comes to live in your heart. He gives you the Holy Spirit who
11:22dwells within you. You can't be a Christian without Christ and without the
11:25Holy Spirit. So, what is the meaning of this prayer that Christ may dwell in
11:30your heart? The meaning is found in the word dwell. The word dwell is a word that
11:35means to be at home. In the ancient Greek, in the language of the New Testament,
11:40this is a unique term that refers to more than just being somewhere or even
11:45living somewhere. To dwell in that context means to move in, to take up
11:50residence, to be at home. Listen to what Jesus said in John 14, 23. He says,
11:56If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him. Now, watch
12:00this, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Do you know that
12:06Almighty God and his Son, Jesus Christ, have a great desire to be at home in
12:11your life? You say, well, he's in my life. I didn't say that. Is he at home in your
12:14life? Jesus Christ and his Father want to live within us, not just to be a
12:20resident, but to be president. They want to run things. They want to be there, and
12:24they want us to be at home with that. Are you at home with Jesus in your life? Are
12:30you at home with being a Christian? Are you excited about the fact that you've
12:34been translated into the kingdom of light? That's what he's saying. I want you
12:38to be at home with Jesus. Here's the third that, that you, being rooted and
12:46grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is
12:50the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which
12:54passes all knowledge. Paul's third request is that believers would be able
12:59to perceive God's love, to understand how much God really loves them, to live in
13:07the knowledge of the love of God. We have so many people today, they get into
13:10a discouraging thing. What is the first thing they do? Well, God isn't listening
13:14to me. God doesn't care. I'm not on God's favorite list. You need to
13:20understand the love of God, and Paul gives us a really good way to understand
13:25it. He says, I want you to know what is the width and the length and the depth
13:32and the height of God's love. Let me give you something I will never forget, and I
13:37hope you'll never forget it. This is John 3 16. Watch. The width of God's love. What
13:43is that? For God so loved the world. The length of God's love. What is that? He
13:49gave us only begotten Son. He went to that length to love us. And what is the
13:55depth of it? That whosoever believes in him should never perish. And what is the
14:00height of it? But we would have eternal life. The width and the length and the
14:05depth of God's love. John 3 16. And we live in the midst of that even after
14:10we're saved. The knowledge that God so loved us that he gave us only begotten
14:15Son. And he did that so that we wouldn't perish because of our sin. But in fact, we
14:21won't just not perish. We will have eternal life with him forever. Is there
14:25any kind of love that's greater than that love? Is there any kind of love you
14:30can think of that's greater than the love that God has shown us through his
14:34gift of his Son Jesus Christ? Paul said to the Ephesians, I want you to know
14:38that. I want you to perceive that you are the object of that great love. And let me
14:44tell you why that's so important. Because you can only love others out of the love
14:48that you yourself have. And I often think when somebody says, well, she's not very
14:52nice or he's not very nice. And somebody said, we've got to love that person.
14:56That's somebody's daughter. That's somebody's son. Now, we love people not
15:01because it's natural. We love people as believers because God has poured his love
15:05into us. And I think of it as this great reservoir. I can't love others out of my
15:10own strength, but because I have inner strength, I can love God out of the
15:14reservoir of the love he gave me. If God loved me as much as he loves me, knowing
15:20what I would do and be, surely out of that love, I can love others. Paul said
15:25that perspective is on my prayer list for you, that you will know the height
15:31and depth and length and breadth of God's love. And remember, folks, let's
15:36don't forget this. Paul is praying this prayer right after he got done trying to
15:40solve the issue between the Jews and the Gentiles. And he's telling them there's
15:44something that surpasses all of the differences you have with each other. And
15:48that's the amazing love of Almighty God. His first petition is for inward power.
15:55His second petition is for inward presence. His third petition is for
16:00inward perception. And here's the fourth one, a prayer for inward provision. This
16:06is the highlight of the prayer for me. I hope it will be for you when we're
16:09finished. Verse 19 says that you may be filled with the fullness of God. There's
16:16that word again, that you may be filled with the fullness of God. Notice the
16:23progression of these prayer requests. The inner strength of the Holy Spirit leads
16:28to the indwelling of Christ. The indwelling of Christ leads us to
16:31understand his love. And now his abundant love leads us to experience the fullness
16:37of God. Now, this idea of being filled with the fullness of God needs to be
16:42explained. I remember growing up and I'd hear my dad preach about this. I used to
16:46think, well, I wonder how far up they're filled. Are they filled to the waist or
16:49they filled to the shoulders? If you're really godly, you must be filled up to
16:53right under your nose, you know? And then I heard and realized that wasn't what it
16:58was talking about at all. The word filled doesn't have to do with the volume of
17:03liquid in a glass. The word filled in this text is a word that means to be
17:07controlled. When you are controlled by the fullness of God, your life will be
17:12totally different. You say, well, how do we know that? Well, in Ephesians it says
17:16this, be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit. What does
17:22that mean? Don't let drunkenness control you. Let the Spirit of God control you. So
17:28let's pause for a moment and take stock. Are you filled with the fullness of God?
17:32To use a military term, does he have command and control of your mind and
17:37heart? As you go about your day and especially as you encounter difficulties
17:41or unexpected opportunities, do you respond to those moments based on what
17:46you want or what God wants? Do you act based on God's will or your own will?
17:52Here's one more principle. Don't let this one get lost. God will not fill you up if
17:58you're filled up with yourself. You have to have some emptiness in your life
18:02before God. You have to be able to come, as Paul said, and bow your knee and say,
18:06Lord God, this is beyond me. I don't know how to do this, and so I'm just giving
18:10this all up to you. I renounce my own solutions and I accept yours. That's what
18:18it means. As we bring this to a close, I want to highlight the potential of Paul's
18:23prayer, because I know that some of you are sitting there and you're not
18:26believing this. You're not believing that God can take you from the way you live
18:31and give you a way to live beyond that in the power of God. You think, well,
18:35that's for other people. I'm not there yet. If I were a Christian longer, I'd be
18:39able to do this. No, this is not for seasoned Christians. This is for all
18:43Christians, and the reason I know you can do it because it's not you. It's God, and
18:47God doesn't play favorites. He's not sitting up in heaven and saying, that guy
18:52in the third pew, he's a candidate, and that guy over there. No, we're all
18:55candidates for the filling of the power of God in our lives, and he is able to do
18:59that, and listen to the benediction. Now, to him who is able to do exceedingly,
19:06abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works
19:12in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ to all generations forever. When
19:18you read this prayer that Paul prayed, you think, well, can God really do that?
19:24Can God give me strength in the inner man? Can he set up my house in my heart
19:30so that God dwells there, and I'm wanting him to dwell there? Can he fill
19:36me with his fullness? Can he give me an understanding of his great love? Can he
19:39do that? And my answer to that question is, oh, yes, he can. Oh, yes, he can.
19:45Because the Bible says he is able. He is able, and only eternity will reveal to us
19:52how that power was at work in our lives when we weren't even aware of it because
19:57we were walking with the Lord, how he answered prayers we didn't even think he
20:01heard, because he's able. He doesn't just make minor improvements in our plans. He
20:06overrules them and gives a magnificent, worthy plan of himself. He can take what
20:13we ask, make it larger. He can take our thoughts and go beyond them. He can see
20:19where we can't see in the here and now, and he can see the then and where. He's
20:24able to do exceedingly abundantly above all. When you feel weakness in your space
20:32as a Christian, when you begin to wonder, can I do this? Just say to yourself, no, I
20:37can't, but he can. I bow my knee because I'm dependent upon him. I can't do this. I
20:44don't know how many times people have said that to me. Pastor, I just can't do
20:47this anymore. Maybe they're in a marriage that's coming unglued, or they got
20:51children that have gone south, or they have a financial issue, or they're sick.
20:55Pastor, I just can't do this anymore, and you need to say, you know what? That's
20:59true. I can't either, but I know someone who can. He is able. He's able to do above
21:05all that you ever ask or think. I want to leave you with a story that I read from
21:11history, that if you don't hear anything else that I've said, you will hear this.
21:16In the list of American presidents, one man shows up twice. If I gave you a test
21:22this morning, could you tell me who it is? It's Grover Cleveland, the only chief
21:27executive to serve two non-consecutive terms. He occupied the presidency in the
21:3322nd and 24th spots on the roll call. He's also the man who dedicated the
21:39Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, and he's the only president to have gotten
21:44married in the White House. Think about that. He was 49 at the time. His bride,
21:51Frances Folsom, was 21, making her the youngest first lady in history, and their
21:56romance obviously took the nation by storm. Grover Cleveland was a
22:01Presbyterian preacher's kid who thoroughly was trained in Christian truth.
22:06He grappled with the issues in his office, and in the middle of a national
22:10financial panic, he faced a personal crisis. He was diagnosed with cancer and
22:17endured a top-secret surgery aboard a friend's yacht so nobody would know it.
22:24The news was hidden from the nation for many years, and in his weakened condition
22:30as a cancer patient, he worked so hard that nobody ever knew he was sick. He
22:36kept up his strength and routinely worked past midnight every day.
22:40Historians have lauded him for his industry, for his courage and his common
22:44sense. His dying words summed up his life. He said,
22:48I have tried so hard to do what is right. The secret of President Cleveland's
22:55energy is found in the motto he lived by. It was a biblical promise which he
23:00framed, and he hung it right over his beds so every night when he went to bed
23:03he would see this. And when he got up in the morning, he couldn't miss it. He
23:07valued it so highly that he hung a copy of it on the law office where he worked
23:12before he became president. And throughout his life, he kept it within
23:16eyesight. It contained a family crest, and beneath were a set of words from the
23:22King James Bible, Deuteronomy 33, 25. Here are the words,
23:27As thy days, so shall thy strength be. As thy days, so shall thy strength be. When
23:37asked about it, Cleveland said, if I have any coat of arms and emblem, it's that. He
23:42awoke every morning with the firm conviction that God would give him the
23:46strength he needed for that day, and he believed God with all of his heart to
23:50live that day in God's strength because God had promised to strengthen him
23:55according to that day. That means if you live your life filled with God, filled
24:00with his truth, excited about what he can do, he will give you what you need for
24:05the rest of this day. And as thy days, so shall thy strength be. So here's the
24:14promise I take from that. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I have
24:19no idea how to manage what I'm trying to manage right now by the grace of God, but
24:24what I do know is this. Whatever it is that God calls me to do, he's promised me
24:29he'll give me the strength to do it one day at a time. I cannot get upset with
24:35him because I can't feel his strength for three days from now when there may
24:39be something major on my schedule. God says, let me just empower you today and
24:44I'll get you ready for the next day. And by the time you get to that day, you'll
24:47have a whole fresh infusion of the strength that I promise. And friends, if
24:53you learn how to do that, if you learn how to live that way, nothing can ever
24:57grab hold of you and take you off your game. Because you can get off your game
25:02if you start thinking about what's happening next week or next month. But
25:06you don't need to do that. All you need to do is say, okay God, it's you and me for
25:10today. Let's go. And God will help you. He proves that to you every day. He's proven
25:15that to me to the extent that I promise you it's true. As your days, so shall your
25:23strength be. Hallelujah.
25:34Thank you for watching Turning Point. When you give a gift of any amount in
25:39support of this program, Dr. Jeremiah will send you, in appreciation, his new
25:43book, Belief That Behaves, The Book of Ephesians. And if you give a gift of
25:48$75 or more, Dr. Jeremiah will send you The Belief That Behaves Set, which
25:53contains his new book, his complete two-volume teaching series on CD or DVD,
25:58and two correlating study guides. Thank you for your support. Request these
26:03resources when you contact Turning Point today.
26:08Thank you for joining us on Turning Point as Dr. Jeremiah taught from the
26:13book of Ephesians and shared the many blessings that believers have through
26:16Christ. But if you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ before, Dr.
26:21Jeremiah would like to help you take your first steps by sending you two
26:24resources. The first is a booklet called Your Greatest Turning Point, which will
26:29help you begin your relationship with Christ. And the second is our monthly
26:33devotional magazine, Turning Points, to give you encouragement and inspiration
26:38throughout the year. These resources are yours completely free when you contact
26:42Turning Point today.
26:47In addition, you can order Dr. Jeremiah's legacy work, The Jeremiah Study Bible, a
26:53beloved study Bible and the culmination of Dr. Jeremiah's decades of teaching,
26:57helping you to answer, what does the Bible say? What does it mean? And what does
27:02it mean for me? Available in multiple translations and formats, there is a
27:07Jeremiah Study Bible for everyone. Also available for children, Dr. Jeremiah's
27:12Airship Genesis Kid Study Bible. Order yours today.
27:18Next time on Turning Point. You're in one body with all the other Christians. You
27:24got one Holy Spirit living in your heart. You got one hope that heaven is coming
27:28and you have one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is, the Bible says, one day
27:33every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the
27:38glory of God the Father. We have one Lord. Amen.
27:46Thank you for being with us today. Join Dr. Jeremiah next time for his message,
27:51the oneness of our faith. Here on Turning Point.
28:00Dr. David Jeremiah is delivering the unchanging Word of God every month to
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