Imagine walking onto a car lot where every vehicle used to be out of your price range. But this time, you pull out your credit card—and suddenly the salesman is smiling. Your financial position has changed, so what was once inaccessible is now available to you. As Pastor Jonathan put it, yesterday’s roadblock is not today’s freeway. Spiritually, the same should be true: a changed status should lead to a changed walk. Once Christ has given you a new position, you should be operating with a new power. Yet many believers still drive past the car lot, never realizing they have the spiritual position, power, and access to own what God has made available to them. In Ephesians 3, Paul gets on his knees to pray that we would stop living below our means and start living in the power God has already provided.

Paul kneels in prayer because he doesn’t want the church to be anemic when it should be alive, or formidable in appearance but feeble in performance. Believers who were bought with a high price and given Ephesians 3:12 should approach God freely and confidently. So Paul prays that God would grant us a “Kingdom Grant.” A grant isn’t a loan you repay, and it isn’t a wage you earn. It is an intentional endowment from a higher authority for a specific purpose. In other words, God does not fund our convenience; He funds His commission. If we find ourselves not operating in power, it may be because we are trying to spend His power on our own projects instead of His glory.

This power is delivered to the inner man so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. The Greek word for “dwell” means to settle down permanently and be completely at home — not to visit like a hotel guest. Christ will not make Himself comfortable in a cluttered house, so the Spirit scrubs the walls of our souls until Jesus has Lordship in every room. The evidence that He is at home is in the life of the believer is love, forgiving freely, serving humbly, and overcoming evil with good. And while the grant is free, we still have a part to play by walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) and practicing spiritual disciplines.

The treasure is already yours. The riches have already been granted. But your surrender is the key that will unlock the experience of God’s power at work in your life.

Getting Started

  1. What is the best “upgrade” you have ever made (a car, a phone, a home) that made you wonder how you lived without it?

  2. Many of us own something powerful that we barely use, like a gym membership, a fancy kitchen gadget, or a phone full of features we never touch. What is yours?

Let’s Get Personal

  1. Pastor Jonathan said, “A transferred status should mean a transformed walk.” Where do you see the biggest gap between who God says you are and how you are currently living (for example, anxiety instead of peace, unforgiveness instead of grace, fear instead of confidence)?

  2. A Kingdom Grant is given for a specific purpose: God funds His commission, not our convenience. Is there an area where you may be trying to spend God’s strength on your own projects, such as your image, your comfort, or the applause of others?

  3. Your heart is a house where Christ wants to be at home in every room. Which rooms are open to Him on Sunday morning but closed to Him on Friday night? What clutter might the Holy Spirit be asking you to clear out?

Take the Next Step

  1. Galatians 5:16 says, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” What is one spiritual discipline (prayer, scripture reading, fasting, worship) you can commit to this week to stay connected to the Spirit’s power?

  2. What is one area of your life you need to surrender fully to Christ this week, and who can you ask to pray with you and hold you accountable?

  3. Love is the evidence that Christ is at home in your heart. Who is one person you can forgive, serve, or speak grace to this week, even if they don’t deserve it?

  4. Want to go deeper? Take a look at the following passages: Ephesians 1:13-14; 2:10, 19-22; John 14:26; 16:8, 13-14; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:13, 16, 26; 12:21; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Galatians 5:16, 22-23; Philippians 2:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Renew Your Mind

“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,” — Ephesians 3:16