Today’s I Am Not Alone verse, Ephesians 3:17, is a part of a section labeled in my ESV Bible Prayer for Spiritual Strength. It covers the following verses.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians‬ ‭3:14-21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This is a prayer for strength and power through the indwelling Holy Spirit that we will be able to fully grasp the width and length and height and depth of the love of Christ and then be filled with the fullness of God. It’s also a reminder that the One who lives within us is able to do abundantly more in and through our lives than we are able to ask or think, through His power that is at work within us.

When I think of the love of Christ, the first thing that usually comes to mind is 1 John 3:16, which says, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” Christ’s willingness to lay down His life to make a way for us to come to Him in repentance, receive forgiveness for our sins, and be restored to fellowship with our heavenly Father should remove any doubts we have about His love.

‭But Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf began long before His sacrificial death on the Cross of Calvary. Have you ever considered what Christ, fully God and fully man, gave up just to come to earth and become a human being like us? I love this quote written by William Dyer, a godly pastor in London during the late 1600s. In his book Christ’s Famous Titles, he wrote:

“Christ uncrowned Himself—to crown us!

He put off His robes—to put on our rags!

He came down from heaven—to keep us out of hell!

He fasted forty days—that He might feast us to all eternity!

He came from heaven to earth—that He might send us from earth to heaven!”

On this Thankful Thursday, let’s take some time to reflect on the immense sacrifice Jesus made in coming to earth to fulfill the most familiar promise of Scripture to most of us as believer’s in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus isn’t the only One who loves us with this amazing love. He is a perfect reflection of the perfect love of the Father, expressed in another John 3:16, this time the Gospel of John.

“”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”