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

Paul began a request within his prayer with this verse. He asked for one thing in this prayer—power.

that He would grant you,

God is in the business of granting or giving us something. It is not so much that He would give us riches but that we would be strengthened by the riches that we already have. God wants us to live in correspondence to our position in Christ. First we understand our privilege in Christ, then we apply those privileges to our experience.

according to [norm or standard] the riches of His glory [His glorious riches],

God gives to us according to the standard of His riches from His glory. He does not give to us according to the norm of how we live. God gives according to the norm of His wealth, not ours.

“Glory” indicates that these riches belong to God because of who He is. They are His innately.

to be strengthened with might [powerfully strengthened]

God wants the believer to be strong enough to resist temptation. He will use the Spirit of God to infuse strength into the “inner man.”

through His Spirit

God strengthens us by means of the Spirit.

in the inner man,

The “inner man” is the believer’s innermost being. God strengthens us by His Spirit in our true selves. Many Christians never arrive at strength in their inner man because they do not appropriate the privileges they already have to their experience. This is spiritual poverty. Growth in Christ is necessary for development in Christ. As we utilize principles from God’s Word, we will grow in Christ. It will nourish our inner being (2 Co 3:18; 4:16).

PRINCIPLE:

The more the strength of applying God’s Word increases in our innermost being, the more sin decreases.

APPLICATION:

We take great care of our outer man, our physical person. How much more should we care about our inner man, our spiritual life? Paul said that the inner man needs to be “renewed day by day” (2 Co 4:16).

The believer’s inner spiritual life can get old in the bad sense; it can lose its vitality with God. The soul can reach a point of enfeeblement where there is no more dynamic in Christian living. Only the Spirit of God can give us a fresh infusion of strength to change us from apathetic Christians to energetic believers full of spiritual life.

If a pauper were to give us something according to his wealth, that would not be much. However, if a billionaire gave according to his wealth, that would be something. If, however, a rich man were to give us five dollars, that would not be according to his wealth. God does not give to us according to our standards but according to the standard of His enormous riches. God empowers us with that kind of riches. He gives to us according to His riches and not meagerly out of His riches.

Christians already possess spiritual privilege before God. It is sad that many live their day-to-day lives without appropriating that privilege. We are rich but we live in shabby rags spiritually.