How Wide, How Long, How High, How Deep — Ephesians 3:14–21 | Season 2, Episode 7

Have you ever felt spiritually weak? Thin on the inside? Exhausted from trying to be faithful when you're running on empty?

Paul has a prayer for that — and it's one of the most powerful passages in all of scripture.

In this episode of the Set Free Stay Free Bible study podcast, host Matt Dawson arrives at his absolute favorite section of Ephesians. Chapter 3, verses 14–21. Paul falls to his knees and prays that the church would be empowered with inner strength through the Holy Spirit. That their roots would grow down deep into God's love and keep them strong. And that they would have the power to experience — even if they can't fully understand — just how wide and long and high and deep that love really is.

Matt shares a deeply personal story of a November trip to a cold, nearly empty beach during one of the weariest seasons of his life — and what happened when he sat down with this passage and stared at an ocean he couldn't see the end of.

Using the SOAP method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer), Matt unpacks the roots-and-branches illustration of faith versus feelings, what it means that God can accomplish infinitely more than we could ask or imagine, and why the closing doxology of chapter 3 is one of the great benedictions in all of the New Testament.

This Ephesians Bible study is for anyone who is spiritually weary and needs to be reminded where their strength actually comes from.

In this episode:

• Why inner strength comes from the Holy Spirit — not from trying harder
• The roots and branches illustration of faith, feelings, and what keeps us strong
• A personal story of experiencing God's love at an empty November beach
• What "more than you could ask or imagine" actually looks like in a real life
• Why Paul closes chapter 3 with glory to God in the church — and what that means
• A closing prayer for weary believers to be strengthened by God's unlimited resources

📖 Passage: Ephesians 3:14–21 (New Living Translation)

🔍 Keywords: Ephesians Bible study, Bible study podcast, SOAP method Bible study, Christian Bible study, Scripture-first Bible study, Set Free Stay Free, Matt Dawson, walking through the Bible, Christian discipleship podcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome to the Set Free Stay Free Bible Study Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Dawson. We are cruising into episode seven of this second season, which is studying the book of Ephesians together. And it's going to be an incredible podcast today, an incredible time in his word today. I want to start off with this question, though. Have you ever felt weak spiritually? Have you ever felt tired in terms of your faithfulness? Have you ever been just exhausted, feeling like you're called to more and should be doing more, but you just don't know that you have it in you? It is one of my favorite parts of Ephesians chapter three. Um, and it's one that I visit so often. I'll even share a personal story with you in my own example of that exhaustion today, because I think Paul wants to encourage everybody in what he wrote in this letter. So don't forget your Bible. We are using the SOAP framework to read and study scripture together. If you don't have uh any framework for studying the Bible, I encourage you to use SOAP. It's Scripture Observation Application Prayer. I have a free resource for you. You can download. Click the link in the description or in the pinned comments or uh DM me if you want. I'll be happy to get you that free resource. So and it gives you a few extra verses uh that you can read along with together uh today. And before we dive into chapter three, verse 14, I want to go ahead and start us off in prayer together. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the way in which you breathe out your word to us as we sit down to read it. So praying today that your spirit would encourage us, that it would just challenge us in the areas that we might feel kind of weak or weary. Encourage us by your spirit today, by what we're going to read, and we pray all this in your name, Jesus. Amen. Again, I might get a little loud, a little excited. This is one of my absolute favorite passages of scripture is Ephesians 3, uh, 14, all the way through the end of the chapter. I probably, if you've been around me or you're a part of Journey Church, you or you've been a part of this channel, uh free, stay free channel on YouTube, you you've heard me use so many of these things that I'm getting ready to read today. Okay, so just letting you know in advance, uh, this is gonna be power pack today. All right, here's where we're gonna start. Verse 14. Paul says, and again, this is Paul ending his, hey, this is the mysterious revelation of God, is he was gonna bring these people together through the work of Christ, and we can come boldly into his presence, and he was gonna use the church, right? He already said that in chapter three. He said, I'm gonna use the church in this unique way to express the mysteries of God to the world. Here's where we pick up, verse 14. When I think of all of this, talking about everything he's already written from chapter one, chapter two, and the beginning of chapter three, when I think of all this, man, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. And I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, that he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts, and as you trust in him, your roots will grow down deep into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide and how long, and how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to fully understand. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now I'm gonna pause here and not read the last little bit because I think the last little bit is our application, right? I think it's our it's kind of a benediction, if you will. So I'm gonna let Paul kind of end our time together. But here's where I get excited because I have used this so often. And again, I'm gonna share a personal story of my own life. He says, when I think of all these things, this is Paul just kind of feeling the moment. When I think about his marvelous grace, when I think about the work that he's doing in the Jews and in the Gentiles, when I think about the work of Christ, again, he those contrasts of we were dead, now we're alive, we were far, now we're near, but God rich in his mercy, I mean, all the things. He says, I pray to the Father. And he says, I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, that he will empower you, talking specifically to the church with inner strength through the Holy Spirit. And I think it's important to just remember where our strength really comes from. Now, I'm not against people working out and building muscles and you know, having good health and routines. And I mean, I see a lot of things that hacks and wearing beanies with silver lining to protect you from Wi-Fi things and touching grass and sleeping on sheets with silver in them so you can ground yourself. And I mean, there's all these things that we've kind of come up with, these modern ways to kind of make us feel better, to help us be a little stronger, to help us move a little better, take your amino acids, make sure you eat your protein. I'm not against any of those things, but I think it's important that we understand where strength really comes from. And as followers of Christ, I think it's okay to acknowledge when we feel weary or thin. Like it's just our margin is thin and our our our strength is thin. It's thinning out. You can feel it. And you don't want to admit that you feel weak or that you're tired or that you're exhausted or that you have these things. We don't mind physically saying that. Oh, I just need to bring, I'm so exhausted. Sometimes we don't we don't know how to express that with our emotions and our mentality and our and our spiritual nature to say, guys, I'm just I'm just feeling weary. And Paul is wanting to encourage the church and says, I want you to understand that we have, okay, we just told us earlier, come boldly and confidently into God's presence. We have this source of unlimited riches from his glorious unlimited resources that he will give us power, that he will give us strength, inner strength, because of the Holy Spirit residing in us. Then he says, when Christ makes his home in your heart, here's what happens. He says, your roots grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And he says, I want you to have the ability and the power, he uses the word, to understand. And he gives this beautiful picture how wide, right? Sorry, let me make sure I read the right way. He says, How wide and how long and how high and how deep his love really is. I'll go ahead and share with you many, many, many, many years ago, when I was uh first moving to the Huntersville area, I actually came to plant a church. I actually came to plant. I was coming up here with a couple of friends in ministry. We were going to plant a church called Renaissance Church in the Concord, Huntersville area. And um, I think we even had like a vision meeting and we we might have had a service or two, just like a vision service. Like, what could this look like? What could this be like? I printed off stuff, I worked on the marketing side. I was because of the nature of my life, I was the first one to move here and sort of establish roots here. And man, it was just, I was coming from a place of brokenness to this area to do a work of God and work for God, but I was just already weary. And if you know anything about planting churches, like we didn't officially even plant or launch, but even the prep work, even the working on it, man, it was just hard. And it was a lot. And I was the only one currently here. The other two guys, one had a full-time job, both of them had full-time ministry jobs, and we were kind of working through timing like what does it look like? And when would they kind of step out of their zones to help this? And when would one move across the states to come do this? But I was I was weary, and I remember telling my wife that if she could sense it, and I was just so exhausted spiritually. And again, coming from a place that was already broken probably needed healing, but I was just kind of pushing on, you know, pressing on for what God wanted us to do. And I had enough money. I I found some, I think it was back then it was the Groupon, um, to find a little place at the beach, and it was super cheap, little tiny hole in the wall uh uh hotel right on the beach, because I said, I just feel the need to go and have a day or two away. And my wife, rich in love and and grace, my wife, said, Okay. I mean, and she definitely could not deny that that I needed that. And so I got in the car, I left, and I'm telling you, I was already worshiping in the car. I was listening to some crazy Southern gospel stuff in my old roots and just weeping and crying and heading down to the beach. And I remember writing in my journal because it was cold. Okay, just hear me. I probably didn't, I didn't choose the best time to go to the beach. It's probably why I got a group on for such a sheet cheap deal. It was November. It was the fall, it was not, it was not good beach weather. But I went out there anyway, sat in a chair, drug a chair out to the sand and with a hood up over my face, over my head, probably still in shorts, just didn't care. And I just stared at the ocean and I just prayed. And God, I believe, brought this verse either to mind or he brought this verse to me to read. And I just remember again, this is just me. I was staring out at this ocean and I was reading those words, right? I want the God has this unlimited resource of strength. And and Paul says, I want you to know how wide I looked at the ocean and I was like, man, I can't even see the ends. Don't you know how long? And again, horizon. I was like, I I can't, I don't know where it ends. I mean, I know eventually I know theoretically where it ends, can't see it, how high. And I was just like, man, this is this is just a representative of the heavens, and just and then how deep. And I just began to start thinking about the depths of the ocean that we haven't even tracked yet. We don't even know how deep certain trenches things go. And I was like, man, and I was overwhelmed in that moment. I remember writing in my journal, like, God, I don't I'm sitting here and I'm experiencing this, but I don't there's just so much that I can't truly comprehend. And it was so the case with the love of God overwhelming me, pouring out over me, really strengthening me. Now I did sleep and I did rest and I did have other time of prayer, and I probably smoked a cigar and just, you know, enjoyed my my time there just in solitude. It was one of my first early kind, probably I considered a solitude retreat. But guys, I'm telling you, that was such a landmark moment for me. This passage and though and that moment, just understanding that that even in the things I fully couldn't explain, I couldn't comprehend fully, but I was able to experience something. That's what us followers of Christ get every day in the love of God. We get this unlimited vast resources that Paul is saying to the church, I want to pray that you would experience. Even when you can't fully understand it, which is one of my favorite passages, by the way, you still get to experience it. Oh, how much of what it is about God that falls into that category that I can't tie it to on, I can't tie it up and explain it all and tie it with a bow, but I can experience it fully because this Holy Spirit in me gives that. Now, there's another passage in here that I want to just hit real quick, and it's an example I've given people before that comes from from scripture, and it has to do with this idea of letting when Christ sets up rule and reign in your heart, you let the roots go deep, right? You let the roots go deep. And I oftentimes tell people, I think the roots of my faith are the things that I know and understand and can explain. So uh I read the Bible, I've sat under some incredible teaching, I've listened to some incredible things, I I have put things together, I've written things myself as God's worked through me. So I want you to know like the roots are those things. But the feelings, I always tell people the feelings that we have are like the branches of a tree, right? The wind blows or the rain comes and the and the tree loves fluttering all around, you know, or it's getting the rain, you know, from on the leaves itself, or maybe the sun is just baking it to death and the leaves are falling and it's barren. Like, like we, our emotions are just like that. I mean, it's seasonal, it's in and out, it's up and down, it's all over the map, it's like whatever. And I just sit there and go, you know, sometimes my faith, I rely too heavily on my emotions and my feelings, right? I rely too heavily on the branches to feel the wind or the rain or the sun. I rely too much on that. When really I think, I mean, it's not that God doesn't give his grace those things, but when when I don't have those things, I have the roots. I have the root system. I have the root system holding nutrients, I have the root system holding things, keeping me strong, keeping me there. And we read all those passages about the tree planted by the water, like we we read these things that know that there's something about that visual that God loves. And I think Paul says, I want your roots to grow down so much into God's love that it keeps you strong. That even when circumstances would be wearing you out spiritually, that there's some strength that you still have in reserve because of the root system that you have. And I love this prayer. Again, I I I've probably prayed this over the church, I've prayed this over people that you would be able to experience this kind of love in your life. And then he closes out the third chapter with this amazing sort of doxology, this sort of ending to this theme of the first few chapters. Now, all glory to God who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Man, this is just a couple verses. So much here, so much here. When Paul ends this and says, I want all of this declared, closed out, sort of bow on top, if you will, all glory comes from God. And he's able, because of his unlimited resources, right? The mighty power, but he says these words, at work within us, because he's already spent the first few chapters talking about the Holy Spirit in us and the power that raised Christ from the dead is in us. He says that power that's at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we could ask or imagine. Imagine the NIV version, but we could ask or think that we could ask or imagine. What does it look like for our lives to begin to experience things that are beyond what we could ask or imagine? I'll be honest, at a certain point in my life, early on, where I am today was beyond what I could imagine. I mean, I imagine lots of things. I imagine getting rich, I imagine winning the lottery, I imagine all sorts of things, right? But I don't know that I could have understood the plan God had for my life, the fulfillment, the rich joy and satisfaction that I'm I experience in my life. I don't know that I was even able to imagine that. Because I'm experiencing currently in my life more than I could at one time even imagine. I remember seeing a meme one time that said, Everything that you're experiencing today, just remember, at some point in your life, you might have actually prayed for this. You know, like you might have actually prayed for this. You got three kids and they're driving you crazy. You remember the time before children? You were praying for children. You were praying that God would overflow your your your um your, you know, what's the arrows and the Old Testament talks about the arrows and the quiver. Like you would overflow it. You look, you would you would give us so many, like you would bless us with kids. He's like, Yeah, sometimes this is where we're at is where we've been praying. But I love the fact that he's like, look, that's the power of Christ at work in us, has this ability to accomplish. I love that word accomplish. It's like the it's like the word of Christ on the cross. It is finished. It's not limbo, it's not just stuck in a state of like, oh, I don't know. It's fully accomplished, it's accomplished. I mean, there's it's stamped, it's done. He's like, there's so much that God wants to do and accomplish in us that's beyond. We don't even know to pray for it. We don't even know to ask him for it. And yet that doesn't stop him from being able to do it because of the mighty power at work within us. And then I love that he says, this is at work in the church and in Christ Jesus. So we just talked last episode about underestimating the church, underestimating God's plan for the church. And here he is in this benediction saying, No, no, this power is at work, not only just in you, but he's doing it. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Like this is what's happening in you. So I don't know, even know, I don't even know. I'm walking away pumped. I don't know what you needed today, but there's so much here that I can't even, I mean, I've I've walked you through even my own stuff, but just today, this unlimited, it is available to you. He wants you. Paul is praying for the church, but he's again, future generations are gonna learn from this. Like you, he wants you to be able to have your roots grow down so strong in his love that the width and the depth and the height and the length, you can't even fully comprehend it, but you get to experience it. And maybe that's where you are today. Maybe you are crushing it in your faith. I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy, so glad that that's where you are. I know there might be some that are feeling frail and thin and weak, and their internal spiritual strength, they they probably can't even give words to it, but I want you to know the spirit sees that in you. And I want you to know that according to Paul, what he wrote the church, this prayer can apply to you. And so that's what I want to do today. I want to give you the summary prayer from me to you, for you, in the same way that Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus. That's how I want to close uh today. So, God, we pray. And as in the words of Paul, I pray very similar to the creator of everything on heaven and earth, that you, from your glorious unlimited resources, that you would empower those listening today with inner strength through your Holy Spirit, that they would allow you to take, just put you in their hearts, let you take root in their hearts and grow their roots strong in your love, the love that they cannot even fully understand the width and the depth and the height. They can't fully understand, but they can experience it fully. And God, I pray that in all of this, that you would be made complete in the fullness of Christ in our lives. That as we leave wherever we are, we're heading into the office, or we're going into our next thing, or watching this tonight, and we're going to bed getting ready for the next day. God, we would understand that the mighty power that's at work within us, because your Holy Spirit now dwells within us, the one that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, resides and lives in us, that we can experience some things beyond we can ask or imagine. That ultimately, God, is a promise for your people. And I know, God, that I'm living examples of things of that that I can point to in my life, is beyond what I even knew to even pray for, and what I probably even at that time could have even imagined the satisfaction and the fullness of life that you have just blessed me with. Thank you, Jesus. I pray that that work that's at power work within us and it worked within the church. God, that we wouldn't want to under every underestimate the church, we would begin to experience in our fullness today, right now. That they don't have to have a weekend away at the cold beach, you know, weeping and crying like I did just to experience this. Maybe they do, but God, right now, right now, speaking through these moments, can you just place that power in us? May you strengthen our hands, may you strengthen our weary legs, may you strengthen our spirit by that unlimited resources and power of your Holy Spirit in us. And God, may we just do incredible things today. May we just leave right now this place and just continue to move forward in not just absolute confidence and absolute hope in you, but God moving forward in the in the power that we don't even know yet what to pray for, and that your Holy Spirit can even tell us what to pray for and begin to imagine because what you want to do in through us is beyond even that. God, I'm so grateful. We pray all this in your name, Jesus. Amen. All right, guys. Episode seven is down. We are cranking through. We're starting. Episode eight is going to start chapter four. And I'll be honest, chapter four through the end is a lot more practical, right? It's got some very practical things. So I'm really looking forward to that. Don't forget to share this with folks and uh continue to rate and review. And I look forward to touching base with you again soon.