you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
He is talking about the love of God and said we need to be rooted and grounded in it. And that we need to comprehend its breadth, length, height, and depth.
We are not being invited to let our imagination roam and start defining the breadth, length, height, and depth.
Paul is just telling you there are dimensions to the love of God that are available for believers to comprehend. There is no other length, depth, or height to chase more than this. No other dimension of the right spiritual experience is covered by this one.
And there is really no end to this prayer's relevance.
Paul is saying the love of God should be more than a theory but should percolate the whole of our being.
Using the plant analogy, we should be rooted in it. That means it give sus stability. And using the analogy of a building, we are not going anywhere from it; there is no escaping it. It defines us.
It is what everything that has to do with the believer is all about; it is the basis of God giving up His only Son for us. It is what should form and color our perception of God. It is the sound that should fill us.
We cannot escape the imagery of stability that Paul communicates through this language.
He clearly does not want them to be moved. Instead of being moved from discouragement, be stable in the love of God.
And why do we need to be rooted if not because of Satan blowing winds of discouragement?
That we need to be rooted means that it should percolate our being. It is not just the soil; it is the sustenance. It is not just what we start with; it is also what we continue with. There is no graduating from the love of God to us in Christ Jesus. It should shape our view of God, our perception of reality.
Paul used the word "comprehend" to refer to our thinking process. If we are going to be discouraged, our thinking process has to be hijacked by a darkened understanding of God. Paul does not want that to happen; hence, he says we need our thoughts dominated by the love of God. That is what we want.
“Comprehend” is being informed and having that fact embedded in our being. It goes beyond facts into being real in our being as part of the new life in Christ.
He said it is about us knowing the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:19). That is what it means for Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith.
Jesus also prayed about love in John 17
The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me. I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.”
After praying for a while, Jesus landed on Love. We have love mentioned five times. We will pick a few.
You have loved them just as you have loved me
We need to know that God loves us as He loves Jesus. Is that not amazing? How do we even begin to comprehend that? But that is the essence of Paul's prayer, and he said we need the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit within for that to happen.
Know that all God did was motivated by His love for us in Christ Jesus.
And Jesus prayed that the love with which the Father loved Christ be in us, and that He himself be in us.
In a way, this is what Paul's prayer mirrors: the unvanished love of God, which, if you're trying to get what it means, we are told God loves us as He loved Jesus. And it should be more than being informed; it should transform us; it should be the basis of a new us.
It's not saying you should do something with it; it is saying you should comprehend it. He is not saying you should repay God. No, just comprehend it.
Glory to God.