June 27, 2015
Ephesians 3:16-17a
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
The Sixth Day Exercise
Bringing us Up to Speed. In case you are just joining us, each week we share in an exercise called “The Sixth Day Exercise.” As Genesis 1 has it, God created human beings in his own image on the sixth day. Genesis 3 shows us the desecration of the image of God in our race which has only compounded itself across the centuries. It’s why the Image Bearer himself, Jesus Christ, came. His life, death, resurrection and ascension reversed the curse of sin and death and created a pathway whereby our broken race could be made gloriously whole again; restored to the Creator’s intent. Paul put it this way:
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:22.
Given we were made on the Sixth Day, it makes sense that we might stop and assess how it’s going on the long journey of being “remade” on each successive sixth day.
Now for Today’s Guidance. On the last “Sixth Day” we explored the way people prayed for one another in the New Testament. I find these days so many of our prayers are consumed with “keeping us safe.” That’s fine. I just don’t see much of that in the New Testament. The preoccupation of the New Testament and the prayers contained therein center around people growing in the love, grace and power of God. The concern is for becoming truly mature followers of Jesus.
Consider this text in 2 Peter 1.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:3-9
That was Peter. Contemplate the growth process outlined in that text. Today’s prayer comes from Paul. Note the similarities between v. 3 and today’s text.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
Whether we are broken and at the bottom or on the road to recovery, the “image of God” is the deepest identity we possess. As Jesus Christ, THE Human Image Bearer of God, comes to dwell in our hearts through faith, the unique imprint of God’s image becomes progressively restored in and through our lives. It’s about being strengthened with power through his Spirit in our inner being. That’s the prayer.
So what if we prayed like that for ourselves? “Heavenly Father, from your glorious riches, would you strengthen me with power through your Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith.”
What if we prayed for our spouses like that? Our Children? Our friends? Our leaders? Our enemies. . . . ?
It’s a Sixth Day Prayer for sure. Spend some time working through and meditating on the intricacies of this prayer. Do you have a sense of your own “inner being” or your “inmost self”? The prayer explicitly outlines the process of Christian transformation. The key to growing mature is participating in the work of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life. That’s why the Sixth Day Exercise matters. It’s a weekly “check-in” a simple way to pay attention.
So are you ready for the exercise? Four self examination questions + Four demographic questions. It’s completely anonymous, but you get to see the aggregate results from the larger group who does the exercise.
DO THE SIXTH DAY EXERCISE HERE.
SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD, FALL AFRESH ON ME.
P.S. Join the Daily Text Fasting Challenge. It’s 40 days, one day per week at a time, over the next 52 weeks. It’s a food only fast. Begins after supper on one day and ends at 4pm the next- 2 meals. Liquids fine. Fasting goes better together. I’ll send you a short weekly encouragement email if you register.– sign up here.
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J.D. Walt writes daily for Seedbed’s Daily Text. He serves as Seedbed’s Sower in Chief. Follow him @jdwalt on Twitter or email him at jd.walt@seedbed.com. Get the Daily Text delivered to your inbox fresh every morning. Subscribe HERE.