"14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Ephesians 3:14-21
The third thing for us to note in Paul's prayer in these verses is that first of all there must be apprehension in grasping the facts of the situation. Until this takes place, there can be no movement forward in the Christian life. Then, next, there must be aspiration after the blessing of which Paul speaks. The well-known words [Mendelssohn's oratorio] 'If with all your hearts ye truly seek Me, ye shall ever surely find Me' are as true here as elsewhere. The aspiration has to be with all the heart. Then comes appropriation: we lay hold of what is offered us in the grace of the gospel. And when we do, there is realisation of all this in our experience.
As to the prayer itself, the reference in 13 to 'tribulations' may be linked with 3:1, but the whole passage holds together, for involved in the preaching of the unsearchable riches of Christ are the tribulations of a faithful life. For Paul, imprisonment was part of the cost of faithful discipleship; and he does not want the Ephesians to be discouraged at the thought of his sufferings, but rather see more deeply into things, and realise that this was something which in the sovereignty of God was furthering the work of the gospel. The greatness of the cause was such that Paul was more than willing to suffer for it. Indeed, it was 'their glory' - that is to say life and blessing came to them through the apostle's travail. The way in which the unsearchable riches of Christ 'get out' to the world is through the 'door' of tribulation in the believer. A distinguished missionary once said, 'Blood of our own must attest our faith in the precious blood of Christ, if we would share and show forth the victory of the Cross'. Few words could be truer to Paul's inner meaning than these.