I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God's love, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
(Ephesians 3:16-19)(HCSB)
In this prayer Paul voices three wonderful petitions for the Ephesian Christians. First, that they would be strengthened with might by God's Spirit in the inner man. This is not a prayer for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but that the Holy Spirit would be able to strengthen them in the inner man.
The purpose of this strengthening is Paul's second request, that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith. The word translated dwell really means that Christ would settle down and feel at home in their hearts. That whereas He had been a guest He would be allowed to be host. That He would not be looked upon as a divine Visitor, but as Owner with the right to transform. The truth that Christ indwells the believer is taught many places in the New Testament, but it is when this truth is believed that the Indwelling Christ becomes that Lord of the life and does His transforming work. This is the truth that transforms Christians.
Paul's third request is that the Ephesians would be rooted and grounded in love and so be able to understand experientially the love of Christ which passes knowledge. This will result in their being filled unto all the fullness of God.
He closes this wonderful prayer with the assuring words that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Pray this prayer for yourself and others. As it is answered in the lives of God's children, it will produce a revival such as has not been experienced before.
--Dr. R. H. Belton