“To be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:16-17 LSB).

Paul prays in Ephesians 3:16-17 that our inner man will become strong, and this stronger inner man would lead to Jesus Christ living in our hearts by faith. This doesn’t mean that without a strong inner man and mature faith, Jesus doesn’t live in a Christian’s heart in any way, but that they’ll experience Jesus’ love in a small and limited way.

Is Jesus living in our hearts important? How does this important thing happen? By faith. Faith in our hearts will cause us to experience Jesus living in us. It’s good to define what Paul isn’t saying. He’s not saying Jesus will live in our hearts when we work harder or do good things to earn God wanting to live in us more. Paul’s prayer continues by focusing on us receiving, knowing, and experiencing God’s great love for us. Thus, when Paul mentions faith in verse 17, it’s a faith focused on God’s love for us, both in knowing it and experiencing this great love. The focus of faith isn’t our love for God but His love for us.

In verse 18, Paul prays that we know and understand how much God loves us, and in verse 19, he prays that we experience His great love. This is the context for Paul saying that Christ would live in your hearts by faith. Want Jesus crashing in your heart? Crank up the faith in His love-fest for you, not your imperfect obedience.

What, then, are ways to experience God’s love? The answer is to partake of His good promises, such as the gospel of Abraham (Galatians 3:5-14). The gospel of Abraham means baptism of the Spirit, miracles, increase, fame, wealth, and health. It means we ask and get the things we ask for. In fact, Paul continues in verse 20, saying God answers our prayers exceedingly, abundantly, beyond all that we can think or ask. This doesn’t mean God gives us something categorically different from what we ask, because by Jesus’ own teaching, that would be an evil father. Jesus says our God is a good Father, not an evil one. What Paul is saying here is like Jesus feeding the 4,000 and 5,000—there were so many extra baskets left over. This is what Paul refers to here. God will give you what you ask, but it’ll be excessively more of that good thing you asked for.

If you want Christ to live in your heart by faith, then live with your mind focused on His love toward you—not your love toward Him, but His love toward you. There is no risk of excess here. There’s never a point where you can go too far with this, because Paul says the true extent of God’s love is beyond our ability to fully experience. Finally, the result of knowing and experiencing the love of God is to have your prayers answered in an excessively great way.

If you see a person who is having their prayers answered with so many extra baskets of leftovers, they’re someone who knows and is experiencing God’s love; they’re experiencing Jesus Christ living in their heart in a powerful way, and by this, we know they have a strong inner man.

Paul’s praying for a beefed-up inner man to soak in God’s epic love, with prayers answered so big you’ll need extra baskets. Ditch the doubters, grab Abraham’s gospel goodies, and let Christ’s love throw a party in your soul.

If this isn’t you, correct yourself and become this person. Why not? Why not travel this road of strength when it’s focused on Jesus living in you, experiencing His love, and having your prayers answered in a super-abundant way? The only thing stopping this is your faith in His love for you. If that sounds awesome to you, then fully embrace it. It is yours for the taking. Let nothing stop you. And cast aside those who would hinder you in this grand adventure.