Faith for the Week: Strengthened in the Inward Man
The Bridge - Faith for the Week is a moment to pause, reflect, and receive encouragement grounded in God's Word for the days ahead.
Scripture (ASV)
"that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;" — Ephesians 3:16 (ASV)
Reflection
Paul is praying for people he loves, and his prayer is worth paying attention to. He does not ask God to lighten their load or remove the hard thing in front of them. He asks that they would be strengthened with power, through the Spirit, in the inward man.
That phrase, the inward man, deserves a slow read. It points to the part of you beneath everything else. Beneath the schedule and the role you carry, beneath the version of you that keeps showing up and holding things together. It is the truest part of you, and it is the part that gets tired in a way a good night of sleep cannot reach.
Notice where the strength comes from. It comes through His Spirit, not through your own effort or your ability to finally pull yourself together. The Spirit does the strengthening, and He does it on the inside first, in the place your circumstances cannot touch.
The inward man is the part of you that your circumstances cannot reach. It can be held together even when everything on the outside is still unsettled. That is where the Spirit does His quietest and most important work.
Application
Instead of asking God only to fix what is happening around you, ask Him this week to strengthen the part of you underneath it.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, You reach the place in me that no one else can. Strengthen me there. Hold together what feels like it is coming apart, and steady me on the inside while I wait for the outside to settle. I am trusting You to do what I cannot do for myself. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Closing
The outside may still be unsettled today. The part of you He is strengthening runs deeper than that.
