And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3;17-18 NIV

I find God often allows me to see a truth in His Word, and then He shows me in a real-life situation what it means. I went through an incident with my daughter that became one of the most vivid learning experiences of my life. That day, I witnessed God’s love and forgiveness worked out in my life in a very practical way.

As I was preparing to go to work one morning, I gave my teenage daughter, Debbie, the assignment of picking up peaches which had dropped from a tree in our backyard. When I came home that evening and discovered that she hadn’t done it, I went into her room to discover why not. Debbie’s only response was, “There were bees out there.”

To this day I don’t know why, but that answer seemed totally unreasonable to me, and I went into a rage. I totally lost my temper and blasted Debbie with everything I had. I ranted, and raved, and yelled, and made a total fool out of myself.

A few minutes later, I was in my own bedroom, feeling guilty and embarrassed. What do you do in that situation? Well, I got down on my knees to pray. I started to ask God for His forgiveness. “Oh Lord, I have been really stupid. Please forgive me.”

For some reason my prayer rang hollow that day. In my heart, it was as if God were saying, “Bob, I have already forgiven you. What do you think happened at that cross 2000 years ago?” In light of all I had been learning about the finality of the cross, I realized that I was asking God to do something that He had already done once and for all.

My prayer then took an unexpected turn:
“But Lord, I am so sorry for losing my temper.”
“Are you really sorry, Bob?”
“Oooh, Lord, I am sorry!”
“Then go tell Debbie.”
I nearly choked – “I’m not that sorry, Lord.”

The struggle went on in my heart for the longest time, but I finally heard loud and clear what God had been teaching me for many months. “Don’t you see, Bob, that the problem is not between you and Me? You have insulted My daughter, Debbie, and she’s in her room crying. The problem is between you and her. If you love Me, then go be reconciled to her.”

That day I discovered what the power of the Holy Spirit is. It took no power at all for me to ask God for His forgiveness—that was easy. But it took the power of the Holy Spirit, several angels, and a few mules thrown in to get me to go to my daughter, whom I had really hurt, to tell her I was wrong and to ask her for her forgiveness!

After my internal struggle, I went back to Debbie’s room and said, “Debbie, I’m sorry. I acted like a man who doesn’t even know the Lord. Please forgive me, and let me share what God has taught me through this experience.” Soon, we were both crying and hugging one another. The problem was not only solved, but God brought us even closer together than before.

What do we need power for? To understand the love of Christ! And what is the result of knowing the love of Christ that “surpasses knowledge”? We will be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”! There is an answer, a practical explanation of what it means to be filled with the Spirit: To be filled with the Spirit is to be completely filled with the knowledge of God’s love and grace in Jesus Christ. To be filled with the Spirit means God’s love and grace reaches out to others through me.

Excerpted from Classic Christianity by BOB GEORGE. Copyright © 1989 by Harvest House Publishers. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.