“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,” (Ephesians 3:16 NAS95)
God has shown me that Paul writes this out of his lived experience with God. That’s right, his lived experience. I long to see the nuances of my heart as Paul saw his own. He carried an awareness that God strengthened him in his inner man through the Holy Spirit. Paul could make that distinction — how subtle!
Maybe I need to say precise. As God kept me pondering how Paul could write this, I realized that God wanted me to see the same nuances. God wants me to see that living in the power of the Spirit’s presence in my inner man — where that quiet conversation or interaction occurs — my life would reflect Jesus and His kind of love (Eph. 3:17). Hmm?
Today that conversation still has its place, but much more development in attentiveness to the Spirit has occurred. Now I am getting to know the nuances of my interior. Other powers like affections or habits or attachments of heart that can distract me from God and can overcome me quite easily. Yet I have the option of listening and surrendering to the Spirit.
One of those powers concerns hearing strong emotions. In general, I want to mute powerful emotional expression in those close to me. This flows from being raised in an alcoholic home where emotions literally raged (both positive and negative). I carry an innate automatic fear of all of them. Yet God through His Spirit has been strengthening me to hear Him and stay in step with His kind of love.
I notice a silent voice saying to me, that’s not you, but another’s way of expressing their emotion. I love you and that other person. My wife has a much higher volume setting for her emotional expression, and it usually draws people in toward her. Unfortunately, until I started obeying the Spirit’s silent whispers, I often worked to mute my wife’s emotions. She felt unheard or discounted and unloved. Now I can surrender and rest because the Spirit strengthens me toward this habit of listening to Him over those other forces, even amid my wife’s strong emotions. I’m learning I don’t need to mute her emotions. I need to attend to the Spirit’s presence in me who loves.
All this occurs in my inner man. His kind of love expressing itself through listening to the Spirit.
For Reflection:
“Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” (Psalm 143:10 NAS95)
- How skilled are you at listening to the Spirit in your inner man and surrendering?
- What inner heart motivations or commitments create resistance to the Spirit’s silent speech?
