Ephesians 3:16-19 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.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Important points I wrote down from Beth Moore.  And random thoughts of my own.

All excess is rooted in emptiness.  We have completely forgotten what moderation is.  Satan uses or excess to control us.

Everybody is born with a spirit looking to be filled with something.  Christ fills that.  We are as filled w/ Christ as we are willing to surrender to him.  We can quiet the spirit but we are always saved.  We are not getting filled by Christ because we are filling ourselves with everything else.

Confess.  We can humble ourselves or God can humble us. 

Speak concerns to him, empty yourself before him and wait for him to fill you up.

Being anointed is being so filled with the holy spirit it overflows from us.  Not that it is poured over us.

Just how high is the love of God? How wide? How long? How high?

How high? Psalm 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.

You can change the way you feel by changing the way you think.  This is one of many reasons why scripture memory is very important. 

Zephaniah 3:14-17 Sing, O Daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O Israel!  Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!  The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy.  The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.  On that day they will say to Jerusalem, "do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.  The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  he will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

God is telling his daughter sing over me rejoice before me.  Dance with me! 

How wide? Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 

This does not give us a license to sin but license to change.  You get to change, and be different.  Do not let the people in your life keep you from that change.  It is our right as children of God. 

Matthew 7:2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

You can tell how much someone has been graced by how much they grace.

How long? Psalm 103:17 But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their childrens children.

Psalm 18:16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

Psalm 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure...

Romans 3:23 ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 3:14-15 "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name."

Ephesians is written by Paul around 60AD.  Paul persecuted followers of Chirst before having an encounter with God.

In these verses I think Paul is relating to the people of Ephesus as his family acknowledging they share the same Father.  I think he is also acknowledging how big God, our Father, is.  Paul is showing humility and submission kneeling before his Father.

He is sending his prayer to the Ephesians.  This isn't a "hello guys, its me Paul" letter.  This is "I am on my knees for you and this is my prayer."  I often feel the urge to write out my prayer for people I am wanting to connect with or thank or encourage.  I stop myself because I think, well thats not going to be well recieved or whatever.  My thoughts often turn to prayer when I journal.  It feels natural and I think it felt natural to Paul as well. 

Acts 17:24-18 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens!  I see that in wvery way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.  Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.  The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  'For in him we live and move and have our being.'  As some of your own poets have said, "We are his offspring.'