Unlocking Boundless Love and Holy Housecleaning: Ephesians 3

Have you ever wondered if God could really do the impossible in your life? Paul's prayer to the Ephesians offers a breathtaking promise that continues to transform lives two thousand years later.

Tucked away in Ephesians 3:16-21, this powerful prayer was written from a prison cell to a church Paul deeply loved. As we explore this ancient text, we uncover truths that feel surprisingly relevant to our modern struggles. The prayer reveals several profound insights we desperately need today. 

What parts of your heart do you need Jesus to transform today? Where do you need to pray boldly and expect God to exceed your expectations? Join us as we discover how this ancient prayer can revolutionize your faith journey.

Text a friend to share this episode, and remember—there's always something to be grateful for!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Life Out Loud
• 1:05 Paul's Prayer to the Ephesians
• 4:35 Unity and Inner Strength
• 9:10 Understanding God's Immeasurable Love
• 14:20 The Glory of God in Us
• 18:14 Closing Prayer and Encouragement

Transcript

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 0:06

Ciao and welcome to Life Out Loud. I am your host, desiree Melfi-Bozzo. We are going to use this space to share experiences and help you find lasting, unshakable, unwavering, unmessable. With joy and gratitude. We're going to be throwing around encouragement a little bit like confetti, and giving you support to live your very best life.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 0:30

Ciao, friends. Welcome to episode six of season four of the Life Out Loud podcast. I'm the creator of this podcast and your host, desiree Melfi-Bozzo. I'm so glad you're here. If you've been hanging around this season, you know that we're focusing on prayers and scripture that have shaped the world. In this episode we are going to talk about the prayer of immeasurably more.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 0:57

It's a prayer that was written by Paul to the church in Ephesus. This was about 60 to 65 years after Jesus had died. If you hung around here and listened to the podcast episode on Ephesians 6, you know some of this information about Paul, about the book of Ephesians. But Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians when he was in prison and the prayer that I want to share to you today was in that letter. Paul knew the Ephesians really well. He had spent several years with this church and his influence in Ephesus and with the people of Ephesus was really profound. The Bible handbook commentary states the influence that act of faith from the Ephesian people shows us the transforming power of the gospel. At the heart of Paul's letter was encouragement. Right, the transformation of hearts had happened. It had occurred, but the people still needed to be strengthened and edified. Right, they'd heard the message, they believed it, but they were also living in their daily lives right. Much like us, paul knew that if every part of their lives was steeped in the gospel, that the truth would permeate their hearts and minds. The truth would guide their steps, and the truth would travel through families and through generations. This was so true for the church in Ephesus and, my loves, it is so true for the church today.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 2:47

This prayer that Paul penned from prison so long ago is still incredibly relevant to our lives, and I think it's one that's worthy of our time and of our attention. So we're going to flip to chapter three of Ephesians. It's nestled right in there. It's titled appropriately A Prayer for the Ephesians, and we can find it specifically in Ephesians 3, 16 to 21. It reads 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. Verse 20,. Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 4:15

I love the message translation of this prayer and before I share that, it's important to explain that the message translation is actually the Bible paraphrased. It's not at all meant to be an in-depth study and accuracy right. Its audience is contemporary readers and it uses really modern language and it uses idioms to create a dynamic version of scripture. So, that being said, it paints the coolest picture of the heart of Paul's message. So the message translation reads I ask him to strengthen you by his spirit, not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that, with both feet firmly planted on love, you'll be able to take in, with all the followers of Jesus, the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth, test its length, plumb the depths, rise to the heights, live full lives, full in the fullness of God. Verse 20 and 21 read God can do anything. You know far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams. He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us, his spirit, deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church. Glory to God and the Messiah in Jesus. Glory down all generations. Glory through all millennia, oh yes. So as I read this, I can't help but feel joy and encouragement literally bubbling up in my soul, and I hope the same happened for you when you heard this.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 6:15

When I read Paul's prayer to the church, I think about him in prison and see, paul had a very different vantage point than the young church in Ephesus. Paul knew a few things that they may not have, and I want to share those with you today. The first thing Paul knew was that God's plan for all people was to unite them into one family. It's a far cry from the division that today's social media algorithms like to make us believe. Right, god's plan for the early church is the same as his plan for the church today Unity among believers. We are brothers and sisters in this world. We're more alike than we are different, and Paul needs the people of Ephesus to know this back then, and I truly believe heaven needs us to know this today. Satan doesn't want unity, he wants division, because he knows that if he can divide us, he can make us fall right House. Divided can't stand, and so this unity among believers is a really important foundation to have, and I think Paul knew that right.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 7:38

The second thing I think Paul knew is that strength didn't come from accomplishments and it surely didn't come from status. Strength comes from the Holy Spirit inside our hearts. Furthermore, jesus doesn't want to just be invited into our hearts. He doesn't want to just pass through. He wants to take up residence and clean out every room in the home of our hearts. He wants to bust open locked and barricaded hearts. Open the windows, dust out the cobwebs. My friends, that can be super scary at first. Right, I know because I've lived it. It was a long, long time ago, but I remember inviting Jesus into my heart and I remember when he did the work of cleaning up the place. That happened and had to happen.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 8:37

When Jesus begins the work of clearing out our hearts, we must come face to face with our ugly, sinful words, thoughts and actions. Sinful words, thoughts and actions. But if we're brave enough to let this change take place in our lives, we get to access the fruits of the Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Side note, if you want to do a deep dive into this, go back to season three of my podcast, where I break down all of these in bite-sized, applicable form. Jesus wants to come in and transform our hearts, and just when we think we've been transformed and we've reached the level and this is who God wanted me to be there's another layer of that onion that's got to get peeled back in our lives. It's got to get peeled back in our lives. God will keep transforming us till he comes back or we die. Whichever happens first, he's going to keep transforming our hearts. We need to do the heart work and the hard work of letting him do it.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 9:47

Full disclosure, complete transparency in this safe space. My prayer recently has been around transforming my mind and my heart. I want an even deeper transformation and it's as simple as pausing and saying Jesus transform my thoughts. Jesus transform my heart. Jesus, take this way of thinking and change it completely from the inside out. Prayer changes things right. So we've talked about unity among believers. We've talked about our hearts, these clean hearts.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 10:25

And there's a few more things that I think Paul knew, that I want to share with you. Paul knew that I want to share with you. Paul knew the church in Ephesus didn't entirely grasp how loved they were and I can't help but pause and think. How many of us walk around knowing of course Jesus loves me, but like, do we really get how much? When he talks about how wide and deep and high and long the love of Christ is, it's mind-boggling. I wonder if sometimes we're a little bit like that early church, not entirely grasping the total, expansive love of God. He loves the world forever, to the point of a horrific death on the cross, all the way to heaven. He loved this way back then and he loves this way today. He loves this way on our best days, on our worst days and on the mundane somewhere in between days. God is totally and ridiculously smitten over you and I think it's important to dwell on that, to ponder that, to spend some quiet, reflective time on that.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 11:53

There's moments and days when we feel lonely or when we feel disappointed or when we're feeling down, and especially in those moments, that's when the adversary wants to come in and sneak in and whisper things in our hearts and in our minds right and whisper things in our hearts and in our minds right. But in those moments is when we stop and we can say, jesus, transform my heart, open my eyes to the ways that you love me. It's why gratitude journals that I talk about, probably to the point of nausea, right are like, so important. Keep a gratitude journal and the things you're thankful for. It's not just some Pollyanna act, it's something that actually literally changes your brain chemistry and it changes the game. Grasping the love of Christ, keeping it present in front of you, is one of the most important things that you can do, especially on the worst days and the valley moments.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 12:56

The next thing I think Paul knew that we need to make sure we know is the true power of God, just like the church in Ephesus, in our humanity today. We can't help but see the circumstances in front of us. It looks like many different things to many different people. It's the medical diagnosis, it's the family trials, it's the finances, it's the anxious thoughts, it's the struggling marriage, it's the you know next thing and the next thing and the next thing. If I go long enough, I'm eventually going to hit yours. They're the tangible, fiery darts that are thrown our way on a daily basis to try and throw us off course and distract us from God's purpose in our life, and the power of God isn't bound by any of it.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 13:54

God can and will do immeasurably more than anything we can imagine. Sometimes it requires us opening our so tightly grasped fists that we have on life and the plan. Trust me, I'm a type A. I am like all over this one right. Sometimes it's just telling God the desires, telling God what you want to achieve, and then see where he works, see where he opens the door and gives the yes, god can do immeasurably more, as long as it's in line with his will for your life.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 14:38

Our job is to do the digging and figure out what that is. Our other job is to actually believe, stand in steadfast, unwavering belief that God can do anything we can imagine. The same God that raised Lazarus from the dead is the same God that lives today. He's the exact same one. His power hasn't changed. We have to believe it. God can and will do immeasurably more than anything we can imagine. And the last thing I have to believe that Paul knew was that God didn't live in a building To the church in Ephesus. The massive temple is what symbolized glory, glory. The truth back then that still stands true today, is actually that imperfect, everyday, ordinary believing in Jesus, people are God's church. We are where he shows off his glory. It's not in a building. It's why it's said that our bodies are at the temple for the Holy Spirit.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 15:53

Friends, I think it's important to ask ourselves the question where in our lives are we making something outside of us to be the glory of God? It's a difficult one to ask because I think it really forces us to get our thoughts and our motives and our priorities in check Right. When I ask myself that question, I usually find one or few things where that is showing up in my life. What about you? It is important for us to remember that we are the dwelling place of God on earth. I heard it said one time that the Jesus in your heart might be the only Jesus that someone encounters. I don't know about you, but there's a heavy burden on my heart in that, because I'm human and I mess things up all the time. There are conversations and there are situations that I haven't handled correctly.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 16:54

There are parts of life that I wish I could get a do-over on, but I also know how big God is and that his love and grace covers all the places we come up short. Come up short, so show kindness and trust Jesus to work through you and me, and pray that even in our weakness and our shortcomings, people still see Jesus and just like the church in Ephesus. It's important for us to remember that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and Christ's love. It's important for us to remember that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and Christ's love. We can pray big, bold prayers and expect God to do more than we can ever imagine. We can borrow the courage of Paul and the early Ephesian church.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 17:49

Friends, think about where you need strength in your life right now.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 17:50

Where can you pray boldly about your life right now?

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 17:59

What parts of your heart need to be open and swept out by Jesus so the big, beautiful fruits of the Spirit can take root and grow? My loves, I want to end this episode praying over you, a prayer that's inspired by Ephesians 3, 16 to 21. Our good, good Father, strengthen my sweet listeners with the Holy Spirit so Jesus has space to live in their hearts. Space to live in their hearts, god, root them in your love. Help them to grasp the width and length and depth and height of your never-ending, redeeming love. God, fill them with your fullness. Jesus, do immeasurably more than all they can ask or imagine in their lives, according to your power at work within them. God, I pray to you. Be the glory in us and in Christ Jesus through all generations forward and back, forever and ever. Amen.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 19:10

Friends, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I know for me if I can be honest here it was an incredibly healing one to write and to produce. I dug into some things that brought some tears to my little mama heart, so I hope this had a profound impact on you too. Come back next time. We're going to throw more encouragement and more scripture around like confetti. Be careful If you get too close, you're totally going to get some on you and remember, per usual, there's always something to be grateful for.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo: 19:50

Ciao. Thank you for joining me, desiree Melfi-Bozzo, for this episode of Life Out Loud. I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment, tell me what topics you want to talk about and how you take your coffee. If you enjoyed what you heard, text a friend the link, share it on social media. Or if you're interested in becoming a supporter, beep up over to my webpage, lifeoutloudme, and sponsor a cup of coffee that keeps this podcast fueled Until next time, sweet listeners.