Take Me Deeper: A Prayer for the Gospel to Reach Our Hearts
There is a difference between knowing something is true and living like it is true.
Many of us know the language of faith. We know that God is our Father. We know that Jesus loves us. We know that the Holy Spirit empowers us. We know that the gospel is good news.
But Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 reminds us that it is possible for the truth of the gospel to remain in our heads without fully taking root in our hearts.
That is why Paul prays the way he does.
In Ephesians 3:14–21, Paul gets on his knees before the Father and prays an extravagant prayer over the church. He is not praying for people who are brand new to faith. He is praying for mature believers — people who already know the truth, but still need the truth to go deeper.
This is not a starter prayer.
This is a prayer for every follower of Jesus.
Paul is asking God to take what is true about the gospel and plant it deep into the control centre of our lives.
The message is simple: Lord, take me deeper.
Paul begins by bowing his knees before the Father.
That posture matters. In Paul’s context, this was an intense and unusual expression of prayer. He is showing the weight, urgency, and importance of what he is about to ask.
Then he prays to the Father.
That word can become so familiar that we forget how astonishing it is. Through Jesus, we are brought into the same kind of closeness, access, and relationship with the Father that Jesus has. We are not standing outside. We are not distant guests. We are welcomed in as sons and daughters.
If we truly believed that, we would pray differently. We would live more boldly. We would bring everything to Him — not as a last resort, but as our first response.
Then Paul prays “according to the riches of His glory.”
In other words, Paul is not drawing from human strength, discipline, wisdom, or ability. He is praying from the inexhaustible wealth of who God is. What Paul is about to ask would be impossible if it depended on us, but it is possible because it depends on God.
Paul’s prayer has five movements.
First, Paul prays that we would be strengthened in our inner being through the Holy Spirit.
This is not just about becoming emotionally tougher or spiritually more disciplined. Paul is praying that the deepest part of who we are — our thoughts, desires, emotions, decisions, fears, excuses, limitations, and hidden places — would be strengthened by resurrection power.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is needed to strengthen the inner life of a believer.
Our inner being is not usually revealed on Sunday morning while we are worshipping. It is revealed on Monday morning in traffic. It is revealed when the email comes in at 4:30 on a Friday. It is revealed when your child presses the exact button they know how to press. It is revealed when your spouse says it in that tone. It is revealed when pressure, conflict, disappointment, fear, or temptation rises.
What comes out in those moments shows what is living at the control centre of our lives.
No amount of information can transform that part of us. That is why Paul does not simply pray for better teaching. He prays for deeper power.
God does not call us to try harder. He calls us to receive His love deeper.
Second, Paul prays that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith.
This is more than Jesus coming alongside our plans to help us succeed. Paul is not asking that Christ would be a visitor in our lives or a partner in our personal ambitions. He is praying that Christ would dwell down deep — permanently, fully, and as Master.
Christ does not want to simply visit the living room of our hearts.
He wants access to every room.
Our relationships.
Our calendar.
Our devices.
Our bank statements.
Our habits.
Our desires.
Our thought life.
Our private pain.
Our hidden sin.
Our secret closets.
Paul is praying that we would be strengthened enough to surrender every part of ourselves to Jesus.
The question is not simply, “Have I invited Jesus in?”
The question is, “Where have I still kept the door closed?”
Christ will not truly dwell at the centre of our hearts while we insist on staying in control. So Paul prays that the Holy Spirit would strengthen us to trust Jesus deeply enough to let Him rule and reign in every room of our lives.
Third, Paul reminds us that we are rooted and grounded in love.
This is not something we earn our way into. It is already true for those who are in Christ.
Love is the soil we grow in.
Love is the foundation we stand on.
Not weak love. Not sentimental love. Not temporary love.
The love of the Father who sent His Son.
The love of Christ who gave His life.
The love of the Spirit who reminds us of what Jesus has done.
This love is the foundation of the Christian life.
But there is still more of that love to experience.
Many of us know the sentence, “God loves me,” but that truth has not yet reached the deepest parts of our hearts. It remains information instead of transformation. We know it theologically, but it has not yet reshaped our fears, our security, our relationships, our identity, and our obedience.
God is not done revealing His love to us.
There is more security.
There is more transformation.
There is more freedom.
There is more depth.
Fourth, Paul prays that we would have strength to comprehend the love of Christ.
To comprehend means more than to understand. It means to grasp, seize, and lay hold of something.
Paul prays that we would be strong enough to take hold of the breadth, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ.
The love of Jesus is not unknowable, but it is inexhaustible. You can know the ocean by swimming in it, but you will never empty its depths.
That is what the love of Christ is like.
There is always more.
Whether you are young or old, new to faith or decades into following Jesus, there is more of the love of the Father for you to experience in Christ.
But Paul knows there are obstacles.
Some of us carry pain from childhood.
Some of us have internal tapes telling us we are unworthy.
Some of us are haunted by past mistakes.
Some of us are facing circumstances that make us question God’s love.
Some of us are angry because God has not acted the way we thought He should.
Some of us have believed the enemy’s lie that our sin disqualifies us from relationship with God.
That is why Paul is on his knees.
He is asking God to do what only God can do: make us strong enough to press through every obstacle and lay hold of the love of Christ.
Fifth, Paul prays that we would be filled with all the fullness of God.
This is one of the boldest prayers in Scripture.
Paul is not praying for a small spiritual boost. He is not praying for a minor perspective shift. He is not praying that we would cope better with life while continuing to live self-directed lives.
He is praying that the living God would fill us with Himself.
We cannot earn this. We cannot manufacture it. We cannot create it by our own effort. The only thing we can do with the love of Jesus is receive it or reject it.
Paul’s prayer is that we would receive it.
Receive His love deeper.
Receive His power deeper.
Receive His presence deeper.
Receive His rule deeper.
Then Paul closes by reminding us that God is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or imagine, according to the power already at work within us.
The power is not far off. It is already at work in those who belong to Jesus.
Like emergency gear left in the bag, we may know it is available without ever practicing how to live from it. But Paul is praying that what we know would become what we live. That the gospel would not stay zipped away as theory, but would be brought into the centre of our lives as reality.
So the prayer this week is simple:
Father, take me deeper.
Strengthen the part of me that still fights for control.
Teach me to trust You with every room of my heart.
Root me deeper in Your love.
Help me grasp the love of Christ.
Fill me with the fullness of who You are.
Lord, take me deeper.
The sermon said there is a difference between knowing something is true and living like it is true. Where do you see that tension in your own life?
Paul prayed this prayer for mature believers, not just new Christians. Why do long-time followers of Jesus still need the gospel to go deeper?
Pastor Daniel used the image of “untested bear spray” to describe truth we know but have not practiced. What truth from Scripture do you know intellectually but struggle to live from?
Paul prays that we would be strengthened in our inner being. Where do you most need the Holy Spirit’s strength right now?
The sermon described Christ dwelling in every room of the heart. Which “room” of your life is hardest to surrender to Jesus?
What does it mean that we are already rooted and grounded in love?
Paul prays that we would grasp the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love. What obstacles can keep people from experiencing God’s love deeply?
The only thing we can do with the love of Jesus is receive it or reject it. What would receiving His love more deeply look like for you this week?
How can the prayer “Lord, take me deeper” shape the way we approach this new ministry year?