“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16–19)

This prayer of the apostle Paul applies to us as well as “to the saints which are at Ephesus” (Ephesians 1:1). Paul directs his prayer “unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (3:14), and he requests both that “Christ may dwell in your hearts” and also that the Holy Spirit would strengthen our “inner man.” We know elsewhere that Christ is at the right hand of the Father in heaven so that the Holy Spirit is the person who actually indwells our bodies as believers (Ephesians 1:20). And yet, because God is a triune God, if the Holy Spirit indwells us, so also must “the Spirit of Christ” or else “he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

But the prayer doesn’t end with Christ dwelling in our hearts. He further prays that “ye might be filled with all the fulness of God,” and thus the Father is there too! When we accept Christ, we accept also the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the three are one, and God in all His triune fullness thenceforth lives in us.

The Lord Jesus Himself prayed essentially the same prayer. “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth . . . and my Father will love [you], and we will . . . make our abode with [you]” (John 14:16–17, 23). What a priceless privilege and responsibility is ours as believers that our triune God of creation, redemption, and direction is with us always! HMM