- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
- Messages
- 17,520
13 November 2007
Philippians 1 v 9-11
This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love; that you will see the difference between good and bad and will choose the good; that you will be pure and without wrong for the coming of Christ; that you will do many good things with the help of Christ to bring glory and praise to God.
How can we pray for other Christians and for ourselves?
Paul unwittingly gives us a great pattern for prayer here. I'm sure he's praying from the heart and that's what we should be doing too but sometimes it helps to cunningly pinch other people's prayer ideas to shape our own! We can take four things from Paul's prayer here that are always good to pray for ourselves and for others...
Love with knowledge and understanding - Paul wants his readers to really know each other deeply and when they do, he knows they'll need some understanding to cope with each other's weaknesses. Real love knows and understands people.
Knowing good from bad and then choosing the good - Remember the W.W.J.D. wristbands? "What Would Jesus Do?" They're a great reminder but knowing what Jesus would do is one thing - Actually doing it is often the hard part!
Purity and innocence - Be careful with this one! Christians are people who have already been forgiven and cleansed in God's sight so there should be no guilt. What Paul's asking here is that they stop doing the wrong things they've been forgiven for.
Good work for God - Paul prays that his readers' lives and work will bring huge glory to God and that people would be caused to praise God more because of them.
Father, please help me to love others, to really know and understand them. Please help me to know good from bad and then to have the strength to choose what's right. Thank you for your forgiveness. Please help me to ditch bad habits and to get into good ones that please you. May my life make you smile and my work point people to you. Amen!
Written by Dave Pegg
Philippians 1 v 9-11
This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love; that you will see the difference between good and bad and will choose the good; that you will be pure and without wrong for the coming of Christ; that you will do many good things with the help of Christ to bring glory and praise to God.
How can we pray for other Christians and for ourselves?
Paul unwittingly gives us a great pattern for prayer here. I'm sure he's praying from the heart and that's what we should be doing too but sometimes it helps to cunningly pinch other people's prayer ideas to shape our own! We can take four things from Paul's prayer here that are always good to pray for ourselves and for others...
Love with knowledge and understanding - Paul wants his readers to really know each other deeply and when they do, he knows they'll need some understanding to cope with each other's weaknesses. Real love knows and understands people.
Knowing good from bad and then choosing the good - Remember the W.W.J.D. wristbands? "What Would Jesus Do?" They're a great reminder but knowing what Jesus would do is one thing - Actually doing it is often the hard part!
Purity and innocence - Be careful with this one! Christians are people who have already been forgiven and cleansed in God's sight so there should be no guilt. What Paul's asking here is that they stop doing the wrong things they've been forgiven for.
Good work for God - Paul prays that his readers' lives and work will bring huge glory to God and that people would be caused to praise God more because of them.
Father, please help me to love others, to really know and understand them. Please help me to know good from bad and then to have the strength to choose what's right. Thank you for your forgiveness. Please help me to ditch bad habits and to get into good ones that please you. May my life make you smile and my work point people to you. Amen!
Written by Dave Pegg
