Welcome to Week Five of our Ephesians for Families Bible Study: The Love of God. Last week, Paul explained God’s plan to bring everyone into His family. This week, Paul slows down to pray, asking God to help His people truly grasp how deep His love is, a love the gospel reveals so clearly. If you are just joining us, Week 1 covers Paul’s background and why he wrote this letter.
Note for Parents: Read the Bible passage and the devotional thoughts on your own first, and feel free to highlight and make notes as you go. Then gather your family for the Bible study. This week is a three-day experience. On Day One, your family reads the passage together and talks about it. On Day Two, you memorize a key verse with a fun activity. On Day Three, you review the verse, try a short activity, and pray together.
Bible Focus
Bible Passage: Ephesians 3:14–21 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.“
Devotional Thoughts
Big Idea: God’s love is bigger than we can imagine, and His Spirit helps us live in it every day.
In this week’s study, Paul ends the first half of Ephesians with a heartfelt prayer. After writing about the mystery of God’s plan and the unity of His people, Paul pauses to pray that believers would truly grasp the greatness of God’s love.
The Love of God
In this passage, Paul prays that believers would fully experience the greatness of God’s love.
Paul prays that the Holy Spirit would strengthen us in our inner being so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. Paul also prays that we would understand the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love, which surpasses all knowledge. This prayer looks back on everything Paul wrote up to this point in Ephesians. Jesus redeemed us through His blood; He chose us; He predestined us; He marked us with His Holy Spirit; and He made us alive in Christ. Jesus told us about His love, and He demonstrated it in everything He did for us.
God’s love is greater than anything we can imagine, and the Spirit empowers us to live in that love each day, rooted and grounded in it, so that it overflows in our relationships and actions. God shared His love in Scripture for our transformation and for our information. His love compels us to love each other.
Paul wraps up this section by reminding us that God can do far more than we ask or think, inviting us to trust Him fully and experience the fullness of His presence in our lives.
Family Bible Study
This study is set up as three short days, but you can fit it to your family’s schedule. Do one day at a time through the week, or work through all three in one sitting. These questions are meant to start a real conversation. Feel free to reword them for younger kids and let older ones sit with the harder ones a little longer.
Day One: Study the Bible Together
Read Ephesians 3:14-21 together.
Paul describes God’s love as having breadth, length, height, and depth. What do you think that means? Can you give an example of God’s love in your life?
Paul prays that Christ may dwell in our hearts. How can we experience God’s love in our hearts every day?
Paul says the Spirit strengthens us from the inside. How does God help you love others or do what is right?
How can we show God’s love to our family, friends, or neighbors this week?
Day Two: Memory Verse
Ephesians 3:19 (ESV): “To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Fun Family Memory Idea: Use Motions. Repeat the verse together while doing the motions. For “love of Christ,” hug yourself or stretch your arms wide. For “surpasses knowledge,” point to your head, then spread your arms out. For “filled with all the fullness of God,” stretch your arms upward as if God is filling you up.
Pray Together: Thank God for giving us the Bible to teach us about His love, and ask Him to help us love the people around us.
Day Three: Family Activity: Living in God’s Love
Start by reciting Ephesians 3:19 together, using the motions if you like. Then ask each family member what they learned about God’s love this week and how God’s love showed up in their life. Give everyone a chance to share briefly.
Sticky Note Activity: God’s Love in Action. Give each family member a small slip of paper or a sticky note. Have everyone write or draw one way they can show God’s love this week. Collect the slips and place them on a bulletin board, the refrigerator, or in a basket where the whole family can see them.
Prayer
Thank You, God, for teaching us more about Your love this week. Help us to live in Your love and show it to others. Give us the strength to put into action all the love You have put in our hearts. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Explore More Ephesians Bible Studies
Week 8 – Put On the Armor of God
Discipleship Cliff Bible Studies Hub
Continue Your Discipleship Journey
Bible study is one way to point your kids to Jesus. For simple ways to do it in the middle of an ordinary day, read Everyday Ways to Point Your Kids to Jesus. Looking for more Bible studies, devotionals, and practical tools? Browse Family Resources at Discipleship Cliff.
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