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Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:9-11 is a challenge to move forward in our spiritual growth. The fact he looks at some very godly Christians and prays for more for them – more love, more knowledge, more godliness, more glory to God – is a challenge to never be satisfied with mere maintenance in our discipleship, or the Christian status quo, or with a half-hearted mediocre life. (It’s interesting – and profoundly helpful for believers down the centuries – that Paul not only prayed for the congregations he knew, but that he told them exactly what he prayed for them!)
There is already *so* much to be thankful for at Luke’s at four – and yet we pray for more, that we will move BEYOND where we are and on into maturity, and that it will be to God’s great glory.
There is much more on Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:9-11 in Don Carson’s excellent book, A call to spiritual reformation. This is seriously one of the best Christian books I’ve ever read. And an important one if Carson’s opening salvo is at all on target: ‘What is the most urgent need in the church of the Western world today? … The one thing we most urgently need in Western Christendom is a deeper knowledge of God. We need to know God better.’ (p11, 15). I remember that it was a challenge getting to the end, but I knew the book was feeding me meat. And it has forever influenced the way I pray since I first read it almost 15 years ago.
The book is basically a study of Paul’s prayers, as they occur in his various letters. The content is rich (it always is with Don Carson, the man with two brains!) and full of both deep reflection on God’s word as well as insightful application into the human heart. For example, in discussing Paul’s prayer that Christians would pursue what is excellent (Philippians 1:10), Carson writes: ‘Perhaps some practical examples will help clarify Paul’s prayer. What do you do with your time? How many hours a week do you spend with your children? Have you spent any time in the past two months witnessing to someone about the gospel? How much time have you spent watching television or in other forms of entertainment? … Has your compassion deepended over the years, so that, far from becoming more cynical, you try to take concrete steps to serve those who have less than you do? … At what points in your life do you cheerfully decide, for no other reason than that you are a Christian, to step outside your “comfort zone,” living and serving in painful or difficult self-denial?’
The other highlight of the book are some of the topical chapters interspersed throughout. Chapters like ‘Excuses for not praying’ (too busy, too dry, too bitter, content with mediocrity), or ‘A Sovereign and Personal God’ addressing the deep theological questions around whether prayer really changes things if God is just working out his eternal plan. And there is the very down-to-earth opening chapter, ‘Lessons from the School of Prayer’ that was deemed so good that Matthias Media made it into an appendix in their bible study book on prayer Bold I approach.
But most of all, the book urged me to use Paul’s prayers in my own prayers, to not just pray for a Christian friend that God would bless her and help her (good, but bland) but rather that God would grant her power to grasp how wide & long & high & deep is the love of Christ. When I first read the book many years ago, I made up a one-page summary so that as I worked through my prayer diary praying for family, friends, churches, camps, missionaries & more, I could let the priorities of Paul’s prayers shape my own. No doubt God has used those prayers to bless others powerfully, but in following Paul’s example he has also blessed me profoundly.
Some resources:
Extract from the book on IVP’s website
Dave’s one-page summary of Paul’s prayers (PDF 447K)
And to finish with Paul’s words, and God’s:
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. – Philippians 1:9-11 ESV
Dave
