Paul’s prayer for the Philippians
Phil 1:3-5a, 9-11, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel... And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Once again, Paul writes whilst in jail. He is an unusual prisoner who forgets his chains and suffering to strengthen the churches through letters, instruct them, exhort them and intercede for his spiritual children and the Body of Christ. He was a prisoner, but the Gospel and his ministry were not. His greatest desire was for the Philippians to be pure, blameless and filled with the fruit of justice for the day of Christ; but for this to happen, they needed to grow in love. They were not cold though; their love for the Lord and the brethren was well known; but apparently, it had some flaws and was also their main weakness. So, Paul prays for their love to grow in knowledge and all discernment (all intelligence, Darby). He prays for their love not to be merely a blind affection, but intelligent and discriminative; based on an enlarged view of divine things and in proportion to the proper value of things. He prays that they should not disperse themselves, but focus on the good and right thing. Paul said that the Romans were zealous for God, but without intelligence (Rom 10.2); one can also say that the Philippians loved without intelligence.
A married woman who spends her days in church, cleaning, praying for the brethren, exhorting the sisters and evangelising the neighbourhood; but who left home without minding what her family will eat or her husband who will love to see her when he comes back from work, loves without intelligence. A wife who takes the money needed to run the house for a week or a month and gives it to the church for whichever project without her husband consent, loves without intelligence. A woman, who attends every meeting in her church while her husband is against, loves without intelligence: there is a divine order. When a child who still lives with his/her parents spends their days in the church instead of doing their chores, or attends an all-night vigil before going for their final exam in the morning, loves without intelligence.
Paul also realised that for his greatest desire for the Philippians to be accomplished, they needed to be filled with the fruit of justice; i.e., everything that testifies that they are truly righteous before God. It is the mark of favour in the life of a believer; these are the works of faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. God swore by Himself, and promised to multiply and bless his seed and bless all the nations of the earth because of him (Gen 22:16-18).
Drawing from this prayer of Paul, let us also pray for ourselves and for our Beloved in Christ that our love will grow in knowledge, that we will always discern the best things, and that we may be filled with the fruit of justice.
Phil 4:19, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
It is a wish, a prophecy, a promise, but for me it is like a prayer; it is the response of Paul’s heart to the generosity of the Philippians. They had fully met his needs and he was in abundance. In return, he also wants his God to supply all their needs, not parsimoniously, but according to His riches. Can you imagine that? However, this prayer does not concern everybody. It is pointless praying it if you know you do not actively support the Gospel. It is pointless praying it if you give parsimoniously in church. It is pointless praying it if your hand does not open to meet the needs of brethren. It has to do with the law of sowing and reaping: it is a just return of things. You can only ask God to supply ALL your needs if you supply the needs of those that He puts in front of you and if you contribute financially to advance the cause of the Gospel. He gives the seed to THE SOWER and not to the storer or the spender. Let us note that the promise concerns our NEEDS and not our WANTS. Indeed, we often desire things that we do not actually need. A second or a third car, a tenth pair of shoes, a fourth or fifth meal… God will not help us to become more materialistic than we are already: He takes care of our NEEDS.
Have a wonderblessed week in CHRIST JESUS.
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