Phillipians 1:3-11 - I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.
Paul just keeps on feeding me precious words of wisdom. He must really love these Christians…his words are uplifting…encouraging…thankful. Paul…sitting in chains…tethered to a guard in Rome 24/7...chooses to write letters of encouragement and faith to the Church at Philippi where he met Lydia. Paul…chooses to pray and encourage these Christians…where he and Silas traveled on their 2nd missionary journey. Paul wanted these sweet friends in Christ to know that God is available to us 24/7…in all our joys…problems…and life hurts.
I love the part that says…he will carry out his good work in you…till it is completed. It is very comforting to know that God is not finished with me. And I am very glad he will never stop working on me till I am finished. God works on me every day…through the reading and careful study of his word...through my prayers…through the many people he sends to be my friends and support. I will join in Paul’s joy that God has blessed me so with the ability to read…with friends that will be honest with me…with the wonderful tools of technology that allow me to research and deepen my understanding of what I read.
I also love Paul’s prayer. His prayer should be my prayer…every moment of every day. I should hunger for a love like Paul’s that longs for a deeper understanding of who God is … longs for the insight that will help me find his purpose for my life… able to discern what is best for me in any given situation… filled with the fruit of God’s love.
Paul’s deep understanding of God allowed him to be joyful in all situations…in the next few verses of this wonderful chapter he begins to explain to us how our sufferings sometimes advance the gospel…how our trials are not always tests of our faith…or discipline form God…but opportunities to show the world who we belong to! Remember that Paul is under 24/7 guard…a fresh new soldier is chained to him every 6 hours. And Paul has the opportunity to share Christ with him. Don’t you just love the irony of Nero’s decision to watch Paul so closely. Reminds me of those great verses in James 1:2-4, “ Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Lord…thank you so much for allowing Paul to write these words of wisdom…these words that push me to chase after more and more knowledge of you…these words that tell me that even my suffering and pain is not always meant for me only. Help me this day to really soak the magnitude of Paul’s words into my heart….and allow you to teach me more than my brain can hold about your love. Help me to learn so much about you that it overflows into every crevice of my world. Help me to count everything that happens today…pure joy…because it will help you bring me to completion in you! Amen.
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