Strengthened for God’s Building

Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19 shows the preparation of New Jerusalem. He prayed to the Father (v. 14) who is the source. He prayed that the Spirit would strengthen us into our inner man (v. 16), our human spirit indwelt by Christ, with the goal that Christ would make His home in our hearts through faith (v. 17), not through our efforts.

The outcome of Christ’s homemaking to fill us, to live fully in us, is that we be rooted, for growth in life, and grounded, for building up (v. 17). Thus we are strengthened 1) to apprehend corporately (not individually) the vastness of the unsearchably rich Christ (v. 18) and 2) to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ (v. 19).

For Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9), to make His home in our hearts is for Him to build Himself into our being so that all three parts of our heart are constituted with Him. The way that God builds up the church to consummate in the New Jerusalem is to build Himself in Christ into our being. This is why it is so crucial for us to daily pray for ourselves and for others to be strengthened with power into the inner man….We need to be strengthened…out of our outer man, our natural man, our old man and into our inner man.

Paul’s prayer is absolutely for New Jerusalem. In verse 16 he asked the Father to strengthen us “according to the riches of His glory.” Thus the city of glory is the focus of the prayer.

And the praise at the end of the prayer is “to Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think” (v. 20)…”to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever” (v. 21). The goal of the prayer is God’s corporate expression in glory both now by the church and forever by New Jerusalem.

* From pages 33, 34 of Ed Marks, The New Jerusalem—A Corporate Person, Affirmation & Critique Monograph, A&C Press, © Living Stream Ministry (2025).

Tagged Christ may make His home, Colossians, Ephesians 3, God embodied in Christ, life and building, our Father, praying in spirit, soft heart of faith, the riches of His glory, to Him be the glory, Triune God

Posted by Don on July 3, 2026

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2026/07/03/strengthened-for-gods-building/