Hee! My pastor used the word "splendid"... ^_^
Tell ’Em
I thank my God every time I remember you.
~Philippians 1:3
Interesting way to begin a letter, I’d say. Right out of the blocks Paul tells the Christians in Philippi: “Whenever I think of you, I thank God for you.”
I’ll bet Paul’s words encouraged them. “Man, the Apostle Paul thinks about us! And whenever he thinks about us, he’s glad. He thanks God for us! Wow!”
Paul prayed for the Philippians. He thanked God for the Philippians. And he told the Philippians of his prayers for them. He knew it would encourage them.
Paul often did this:
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the Gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times (Romans 1:8-10a).
I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:4).
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers (Ephesians 1:15-16).
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you (Colossians 1:3).
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing (2 Thessalonians 1:3).
I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers ( 2 Timothy 1:3).
I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers (Philemon 4).
Paul is a good model for us. I imagine you pray regularly for certain people in your life. Make sure they know of your prayers. Quite likely, they will be deeply encouraged to know you care and to know you pray.
The Best Request
And this is my prayer: That your love may abound more and
more in knowledge and depth of insight.
~Philippians 1:9
What a splendid thing to pray for people: That their love would abound!
In fact, in light of the biblical emphasis on love, in light of Jesus teaching us that the two greatest commands are to love God and to love our neighbors, and in light of the strong message of 1 Corinthians 13 that nothing is quite so important as love, what could be a more important thing to pray for people than that their love abound?
We all pray for people. Sometimes there are very specific requests. “Lord, please give Tom a job.” But quite often we pray generally, regularly, for people. What do we pray?
Start here. Start with the main things. Pray that their love would abound.
“Lord, fill Tim with love. May Tim grow in his love for you and for people.”
“Father, please expand Susan’s heart. May her heart grow, her heart for you and for people.”
“Lord, I pray for my family the fruit of the Spirit. Fill us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness.”
“Father, may we, as a church, love you with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love our neighbors as ourselves.”
“O Lord, expand my love. May it abound more and more!”
“Father, pour out a spirit of love on this church. Fill us with love!”
Nothing is more important than love. Not to God anyway. In our intercession for people, a great act of love in itself, let’s follow Paul’s lead. Pray that love would flourish and multiply and run wild!
These daily e-mails are written by Jeff Wells, Sr. Pastor at WoodsEdge Community Church.