February 11, 2005

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:3-5

Paul’s love for his co-laborers manifested itself through his prayers. Scripture teaches us that Paul thanked God for them and that his prayers were for all of them.

The author of Hebrews 3:13 writes, “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

One of the most powerful and profound ways that we can “encourage” one another is to pray for one another. We can spur one another along in our journeys with Christ by letting each other know that we are boldly approaching the throne of grace on behalf of one another.

I imagine for Paul that there were at least two benefits of his consistent prayer life for the believers in Philippi. First of all, by faithfully praying for them it would have reminded Paul of what God was doing through them. God was working faithfully through the Philippians and Paul was a recipient of that work. The church at Philippi had supported Paul financially. And as Paul prayed for them he would have been reminded that there would not have been any support or any growth in the church at Philippi had it not been for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The second benefit of Paul’s consistent prayer life would have been the increased depth in his relationship with the Philippians. When you genuinely care for someone you want the very best for them. Paul’s desire for them to experience the very best God had for them manifested itself in his prayer life for them.

Have you ever had someone come and tell you that they were praying for you? How did it make you feel?

Have you ever just begged God to work in the life of someone you cared deeply about? How did that impact your relationship with God and with that person?

As a church and as a community, we need to be consistently coming before the Lord through prayer on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ. As we do so God will answer our prayer according to His will and thus receive glory for Himself, and at the same time there will be a deeper level of intimacy within the church.