In God’s plan, His dispensation, the main thing is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. The dispensing in chapter three of Ephesians is deeper and more intimate than that in chapter one. In Ephesians 1 we have a sketch of the dispensing. But in chapter three the dispensing of the Trinity is deeper, more particular, and more intimate. We can realize this because of Paul’s prayer in this chapter.
Paul, the leading steward, prayed for the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. First, he said that he bowed his knees to the Father (v. 14). This means that he appealed to the source. He bowed his knees to the Father that He would strengthen the believers with power according to the riches of His glory through the Spirit into their inner man (v. 16). Our inner man is our spirit regenerated by and mingled with the Spirit.
The Spirit through whom the Father strengthens us is in our spirit. Not only is He dwelling in our spirit; He is even mingled with our spirit. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God.” The word “witnesses” is very significant. The Spirit is with our spirit. This indicates mingling. Our inner man is a wonderful mingled spirit. This corresponds to 1 Corinthians 6:17: “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” How can we be one spirit with the Lord? It is only by the Lord as the Spirit mingling Himself with our spirit. The divine Spirit has mingled with our human spirit to become one spirit. This is wonderful! The Father strengthens us through the Spirit into our inner man.
What does it mean to be strengthened through the Spirit with power according to the riches of God’s glory into our inner man? Let us consider our experience. Many times we Christians became bothered, puzzled, or even disappointed. The more we look at the environment and the more we consider our situation, the more we feel that we are poor and that we cannot go on. We may feel that we would not go to a meeting until something great happens to revive us. The more we think this way, the more we are weakened. The more we think this way, the more we remain in our subtle, deceiving, and even deceived mentality.
Suppose, when you come home from work on Friday evening, you are depressed and disappointed. It has been a poor day; nothing has gone well. When you come home, you are unhappy with your wife and children. Even your room does not seem pleasant to you. The more you consider your situation, the worse it seems. At such a time you need to remember Paul’s word: “I bow my knees unto the Father...that He would grant you...to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” Then you should declare, “Satan, get away from me! I will enter into my inner man.” If you turn to your inner man, you will be stirred up and strengthened. If you go on to pray for a few minutes, you will be strengthened even more. This strengthening even swallows up your physical weakness and tiredness.
I encourage you to practice in this way. Never say that you are weak, or that you are tired, no matter how you feel. Sisters, when your husband comes home from work saying that he is tired, you should charge him not to say that he is tired, but to bow his knees to the Father that he would be strengthened with power into his inner man. When you say you are tired, you are in your old man, your outer man, your mentality. You need to be strengthened into the inner man. Do not remain in the outer man. You may be tired, but He is not tired. He who lives within you is much stronger than you. He is never tired. He would strengthen you into the inner man.
In the phrase “into the inner man,” the word “into” is very significant. To say that we need to be strengthened into the inner man indicates that we are not in the inner man, that we live mostly in the outer man. When a brother tells his wife that he is tired, he is in the outer man, in the mind, living according to his physical tiredness. Therefore, he seeks pity from his wife. Sisters, do not sympathize with your husband. When he says that he is tired, encourage him to bow his knees to the Father that the Father would strengthen him with power through the Spirit into his inner man.
When you say that you are tired, you are outside of the inner man. You have an inner man. Why not stay there? Why stay in your tiredness? You need to practice bowing your knees to the Father that He would strengthen you into your inner man from your tiredness. Even when we are sick, we need to pray that the Father would strengthen us from our sickness into our inner man.
We may also use married life as an illustration. Many times married life is not sweet; instead, it may be somewhat bitter. Our married life can be sweet and happy only when we are strengthened into the inner man. Sometimes after her husband has gone to work, a sister may begin to consider how he has been treating her. Perhaps last night he was unhappy with her, and this morning he said she was wrong in certain things. Then she may begin to consider whether she is wrong or right. The more she thinks about these things, the more darkness she will have within her. This indicates that she is in the outer man, in her mentality. The only thing that can help in this kind of situation is to be strengthened into the inner man. She should not stay in her mentality, her mind, her thinking. If we are in such a situation, we need to be strengthened from our thinking into our inner man and turn to our spirit and pray. If we practice this in every situation, we shall be strong Christians. Through this practice the divine dispensing has a way to infuse us with all the riches of the Divine Trinity.