Ephesians 3:14-18

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

To continue in Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, look at verse 18. It’s so easy to just skip over little words, but Proverbs 30:5 tells us that EVERY word of God is pure, so let’s look at the word with.

The word with, as in with all the saints, is the word SUN (pronounced like soon). It means with, but it means in the sense of physically gathering together, being in the company of, or sitting together with. It’s so easy today, in these days of technology, to simply take in the word of God by yourself, either through tapes or CDs or even the internet. But Paul’s prayer is that they will gather together to take in the Word of God, and comprehend these four aspects of the plan of God together.

It’s important to gather together and have fellowship with believers who share your same priorities. Look at this passage where Paul tells them more of the benefits of being together:

Colossians 3:16

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

But notice that even in that verse above, the word of Christ has to come first. Just like in Paul’s prayer that we are looking at, the strengthening has to be the first priority. But the writer of Hebrews warns us not to forsake gathering together:

Hebrews 10:23-25

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;

24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,

25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

There is great encouragement and stimulation in gathering together with fellow believers.

Don’t forsake it!