"... strengthen you ... in your inner being ..."

Reading Ephesians 3:14-21

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being..."

In this passage and throughout this letter the riches of God are applied directly to "the inner being" or "the heart." These passages do not provide a recipe for material prosperity or even for physical well being. Certainly there are a multitude of references to God's interest in our material and physical condition. God loves and cares for his whole creation, both physical and spiritual. Notwithstanding this fact, it is not material deprivation or physical disability that most deeply threatens us. It is the emptiness of the "inner being" that cries the loudest. Our most glaring pain is our inner pain where we experience abandonment, feeling unloved, uncared for, unappreciated, and hopeless. Mighty resources are required to sustain the human spirit, which lives in a world that is under judgment, that is cursed, and that waits and is longing for a complete redemption.

The "glorious riches" of God are aimed at "strengthening you ... in your inner being." Paul recognizes this when he makes it the heart of his prayer for the Ephesian believers. Yet, when we pray, it is so often the physical and material that we cry out for, which only shows that we really don't know our own needs or God's character very well. If all we see is the physical and material we are only looking at the surface of our need. To call on God to help us deal with how our life context is pressing on our "inner being" is to begin to move more deeply into the wells of his "glorious riches." Through this prayer we begin to "taste and see that the Lord is good." Through this prayer our heart may become awash in love, acceptance, meaning, and hope. This is one of those things that does not come to us unasked: "You will seek me and find me when you search for me with your whole heart."