How Paul Prayed
by A. Gene Veal

There were problems in the church at Philippi. Paul is going to address those problems later. They were bickering, backbiting, gossiping, and worst of all there was a party spirit, especially among the women. There are those that had been with Paul from the very beginning that were snapping at each other. Each one wanted to be the most prominent. It was bad news. He will speak directly to their situation.

Now how do you come at people when you are going to rap their knuckles for their faults. He begins by praying for them, but in praying for them he says he does so with great delight. I want us to study this because it teaches us how to handle relationships. You can not pray for someone until you can pray for them with great delight. It isn’t a matter of Paul coming before God and saying, "God, you know what an awful mess they are making of it. Their whole Christian life is now distorted, twisted, fouled up because of what they are doing."

He could have said that, for indeed that is what they were doing. Instead, he comes to God for them with great delight. He has a certain pathway of meditation. He looks at them in a certain way before he begins to pray for them. I think that is the key to Paul’s praying.

I want you to look at these verses with me.

Verse 5 - "in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now"

Verse 6 - "for (or in light of that) I am confident that He Who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus"

Verse 3 - "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you"

What is the "remembrance" that he has of them? The "participation" and "good work" begun in them is what he is rejoicing over and what caused him to give thanks.

Verse 4 - "always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all"

So looking back on the way things had been, confident in a God Who continues His work to the end, he rejoices over them and prays for them.

"Participation" - to share in fellowship - it does not mean you just attend the same church. It means that you share the same vision. You have been caught by that vision and you both share in that vision. The word is used in business to describe a "partnership." (It is used in the gospels regarding the fishing business Peter, James and John were in together. They had the same vision - fish.)

From the very first day they shared in Paul’s ministry. They put their money where their mouth was. They didn’t just say "we are with you and we will pray for you." They made sure that there was enough money coming to him that he did not have to go out and work to earn his bread.

So Philippi was one of the only churches that stood behind him. (See IICor. 8:1-5) There was a bond of love. (See Acts 16) Lydia, the Philippian jailer and his household, etc. He says, "I haven’t forgotten that." He says when he remembers their love, when he remembers that work of love, he knows God started that work. That wasn’t a human invention. That wasn’t done by Paul’s words. GOD DID THAT!

Remember, we studied before how that Paul was led by God to Philippi. Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke were four foot weary travelers. They don’t look too impressive. When they came through the great gates of Philippi, I doubt anybody saw them walk in. They were just insignificant men.

Yet Paul said it wasn’t only us. There was another member of the party. There was Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke and a fifth member of the party. God Almighty walked through the gates when they did. He said it was God Who "began a good work" in them. "I didn’t start that work, it was God Who did." But wait - we already know where Paul is coming from when he says this. He did not mean there was Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke and a fifth member - God. He did not mean that.

He meant there was Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke and in them was a living unity with God. You see the difference. So it was Paul who preached. It was Paul that Lydia heard as he sat on the river bank and expounded the Good News. It was his mouth, the sounds that changed her life came through his voice box. It was Paul. But as he says on down in another verse - FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST. For him to come to Philippi was for Christ to come. Christ came to those people IN the persons of those four evangelists. For them to be there was for HIM to be there. That’s the way God works. The way He works IN US.

Let that sink in. When you pray, keep this in mind. It is revolutionary. Many times when we pray we say, "God, do such and such" as if God will do it outside a human body. God has chosen that when He comes to a situation, He will be there IN human beings.

So when you go to the prayer meeting and say, "Pray for my neighbor that she will come to Christ" I hope I know what you mean, but I have a suspicion that you might mean something else. You might mean that you are going to sit in your house and God will do it.

It says of Lydia - "Whose heart the Lord opened."  I just got through hearing Paul speak. If I could analyze what was going on there I would have said it was because of certain things that Paul said that she believed. And that was true, but God was in his words. God was in every inflection of his voice. God spoke to that woman through Paul. Paul was just being natural.

We have to forget this dualism. The only way I can really forget it is almost the reverse of what I have just said because it is so much a truth that Christ is in me and that Christ ministers through me - and so true of you that Christ is in you, that He works through you. The "two" have become "one."

ILLUSTRATION: When someone thanks you for being a blessing to them. Forget being proud of your humility by saying, "It was the Lord." Of course, we know that. Think of the coffee illustration. The water and the coffee are called "good coffee" as if the water was the coffee, the water is so much one with the coffee. Be so used to knowing that Christ is in you that you can boldly say, "It is God Who began a good work in you" and yet you know it was your words that were spoken. And get that image of your self.  On the job, Christ is in you and you don’t have to think about it. You just have to BE your new self.

It is God Who began a "good work" in you. It is good. When God does something, it is good. Remember where you first read this. Genesis chapter one - when God made everything that He made and He saw that it was good, God said, "It is good." It was God’s pronouncement concerning the first creation. "It is good."

What do we mean by "good?" It is like a teacher marking a paper "good." That means there is an absolute somewhere - in the teacher's mind or in a text book and the student has satisfactorily come up to that absolute. The paper has in it everything that the absolute demands, therefore the paper becomes a reflection of the absolute and you can check the paper as "good."

God made all that is and wrote at the bottom, "It is good." But wait. Where is the absolute? Where is the text book that God has to check to see that its all O.K.? He is His own absolute. The Scripture says there is no one that is good, "no one good but God."

So when God said it was good, He was saying, "It fits my perfection. Look at that creation and you will see Me." Look at creation and you will see the goodness of God. You will see the power of God everywhere. You will see the wisdom of God. Tomorrow morning the sun will be up right on time because you will see the faithfulness of God. These attributes of God you can see, but there are certain things you will never know if that is all you have.

When God re-created you and made you the NEW CREATION, He checked it and said, "That is good." You demonstrate before angels, demons, and men the grace of God and the mercy and the long-suffering of God and the loving kindness of God - something the old creation cannot demonstrate. (See Eph. 3:10) But you are a reflection of the absolutely good Creator and the absolutely good Re-creator. He writes at the bottom of your life, "It is good." Not because you struggle to be good - because then He would have to write, "That is bad." It is "good" because the GOOD ONE HIMSELF is within you. You are a reflection and a demonstration of the mercy and the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Now," said Paul, "I am convinced this good work that He began, He will continue until the day of Jesus Christ" God is not experimenting. God did not start something with you to "see" if it would work. God does not build a road that leads no where. None of His works are half finished because He Who has begun it will complete it. HE WILL, not you.

Do you see where Paul is coming to now? Remember this is the foundation to get him to praying correctly. This is the pathway of his meditation so he knows how to pray rightly. He is stating that he remembers the love that he has seen in their life. "I know God started that and when God starts something, He is going to carry it on."

"The news I have about you right now is bad news, but I am going to pray with delight. I know God began this and He is going to finish it. It isn’t that I have to try and convince God to pick you up again - He’s never let you down. You may have made mistakes, but God who began the work is the God Who continues it and the God Who will finish it. That’s my confidence as I pray for you." THINK ABOUT THAT!

So it isn’t that he is saying they don’t have faults. He will address them in a moment, but in His prayer he sees right through their faults to the God Who started the work and therefore to the God Who will finish it. And in that confidence he can rejoice and approach his prayers with rejoicing.

It is of great importance that we know exactly what these men of God prayed in the Bible. They prayed a lot more than we have record of, obviously, but the Holy Spirit chose to leave some of their prayers for public viewing. That would suggest that those prayers are of vast importance.

You can teach yourself to pray by studying the prayers of Paul and others in the Scriptures. Go through the New Testament and mark all the times Paul prayed for someone. Then you will have a prayer about which the Holy Spirit is saying, "Study this." It will teach you how to pray. (See Eph. 1:17-20; 3:14-19; Col. 1:9-12) If you learn these prayers you will have enough for a life time of prayer.

Here Paul tells us exactly what he prayed. It is very simple. Not long, but to the point.

Verse 9- "This I pray- that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment." That’s it. That’s his prayer.

Verse 10 is the result of that - "so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. "  The actual prayer is verse 9. Re-read it. Take that and pray it for yourself. Go back in your life and see all that God has begun and get excited that He is not going to eventually get bored with it. He is going to keep it up. Pray this for yourself and your neighbors.

Love is its subject. "That your love may abound more and more." Notice he does not pray that they will get love. If Christ lives in me, there is infinite love right there. Right? Paul just assumes that love is there. His prayer is based on that assumption.

In the new birth we become one with God. The words the Bible uses are almost frightening. They are so powerful. In First John chapter three (read the whole chapter and chapter four), John says God’s seed abides in you. The word for seed is the same as "sperm." It is like saying God’s genes are in you. There has entered into us a life that wasn’t there before. That is what he is saying. We have been invaded by Divine Life. We are now a living unity with God. John said, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." That is the whole general context of his letter.

You really do have His life within you. We are not playing games when we say you are sons of God. We mean it. The ETERNAL-UNBEGINNING SON by the Holy Spirit lives IN us and we became sons (small "s") That’s really something. And that God is love. That love has been put inside of us. Divine love - God’s love - self giving love. (See Rom. 5:5)

John 3:1 - "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us ...." One meaning of "behold" is "look with amazement."

ILLUSTRATION: Go to Alaska and see hanging in the midst of the ice a beautiful flower that is only known to grow in the tropics. And you would say, "Behold!  Look at that foreign flower growing in Alaska. What is it doing here in this ice?" John is saying the same thing. A FOREIGN KIND OF LOVE.

So He Who is love lives within us. Paul now prays that that love may "ABOUND". Abound, meaning bubble forth, to flow like a spring. So He Who is within Paul now prays there will be a bubbling forth, a flowing out like a spring from the Philippians.

ILLUSTRATION: John 4 - Jesus spoke of a well of water springing up within. John 7 uses the same imagery - the Holy Spirit would be like a river that would flow out of us. So this new life is like a well inside us that bubbles.  But then He spoke of something further, saying it would be flowing out from us like a river. Paul is praying for this flowing forth of love.

ILLUSTRATION: The rock in the desert that was struck by Moses quenched the thirst of 2 or 3 million people. I strike you with the rod of Scripture and out flows this water of life. I use Paul’s "stick" of prayer before writing this and prayed that God’s love would abound, gushing forth. That He Who is your life may be evidently seen as your life in every way.

EXAMPLE: IICor. 5 - "The love of Christ constrains me." "Constrains" is a medical word, probably borrowed from Dr. Luke. It describes a person who is under the control of a high temperature, so high that you are hallucinating under its power. He is praying that same thing will be true of them.

People say, "I want to love the Lord more." Or "Do I love the Lord enough?" How much more? How much is enough? The more you struggle to love God, the more you struggle to love others, the worse it will get. You got along with your neighbor until you tried to love him and that was the trouble. The more you concentrate on yourself to try to live a life like Jesus, you get nothing but trouble. Once you realize He lives in you and once you realize He took that initiative, you will be free to love.

I John chapter four says that this is how we know how to love, by understanding His loving us. When you ask, "Do I love Him enough?" the answer is "No!" But when you forget about yourself and how much you love Him and turn your whole attention to the love that He has for you, you will find that love springing up without you trying. Do you see what I am getting at here? A Christian life is God centered, not man centered.

I accept the fact that I am weak and I cannot DO. So I look at God and understand what He has DONE. And as I contemplate Him and His work, I find that "His love is shed abroad" within me and that love then rises. God loves His love.

Did you ever think about that? God is delighted with Himself. And as His love is shed abroad in me, that same love rises within me and I find myself caught in the divine circle of love - God loves me, puts His love within me, and in me He loves His own perfections. And so we go on and so we go on .....

It is not a matter of turning inward. Analysis is paralysis. It is a matter of realizing all He has done in you and for you. Pray this prayer and then go and live naturally. Watch what happens. You will be amazed.

No doubt the love of God was in them. No doubt about that. Their heart was not the problem. Their problem was their head. So it is with most of us. Our problem is mental. There is no problem with our heart, our heart is all right, but it is our head that always gets us into trouble.

We are devoted to God, but we are very short on an enlightened mind. When that is the case we will go one of two directions. We will either go into an intellectual information gathering, a kind of loading of our religious gun, so we can defend our religious position - OR we search for the perfect religious experience that makes us feel superior to our past level and others’ levels.  We try to encourage others to be like us as we seek more and more "spiritual" experiences thinking those experiences will equip us. NO! He has already equipped us. We must discover what He has done, discover His love in us and then we can love as we are loved.

Those who go mindlessly into assorted experiences create questions as one reads the Word and compares those experiences with Scripture. If you ask them about it, they say, "You have to take it by faith. You must believe." It is as if the best way to live the Christian life is to use our eyes watching their experiences and not our minds reading the Word of God. It is as if the best way to live the Christian life is to have a lobotomy.

The Scripture says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind" not the removal of your mind. Our heart is fine the moment we are born again. It is our head that needs updating. These people had great need and he prays not only that their love may abound, springing forth like a river, but also he said, "in real knowledge and discernment." So it isn’t just "love," it is love with all real knowledge and discernment.

What is "real knowledge?" I will call this an advanced knowledge of God. I hate to say that because that sounds as if there is an elite group, some that have advanced knowledge. I don’t mean that. There is not an elite group in the Body of Christ. You are in and you are in by the grace of God, so you have nothing to boast about. You can’t be elite.

But, of course, as you go on in God you do know Him better than you did the day you first came into faith. That is what I mean. It is a knowledge that goes on. It has in it the idea there is a decisive revelation. God broke in. God opened your eyes. God showed you Himself in Christ. That was the beginning.

Now you go on from there. So you have eternal life. Remember Jesus defines it in John 17 - "This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom thou hast sent." Or Jeremiah 31 - when he describes the new covenant he says, "every man shall know me." The word "know" means this intimate knowledge. It doesn’t mean to know about, it means to know. It is a knowledge that goes on to know and to know.

So now you are bringing your head with your heart. You know God in your heart and now your head is catching up and you are knowing Who He is and you are knowing what He is like and the way He acts and the way He speaks and the way He does.

Abounding love must go hand in hand with that kind of knowledge of God that advances. If it doesn’t you are going to have trouble. It is not enough to say, "Well, I just love God." I’m glad. All newborns into the kingdom just love God. If we are going to be anything and know the lifestyle described in the Scripture, the abounding love must be accompanied with real knowledge.

A fanatic - a real fanatic does really love God with their heart, but they have no lights on in their head. The result is that love is never properly made manifest. The fanatic is the pain, the nuisance. You know they are sincere, you know love is there, but they have no knowledge.

ILLUSTRATION: If real love is that water gushing out, real knowledge is the channel in which it flows. If the water just gushes out you have a flood, but if it has a channel it is power.

Some are so in love with God, they run here and there with this new thing they found.  They never realize this new thing contradicts the other new thing they found before. They don’t really understand it. They haven’t tested it with Scripture and time. They don’t know if it "works" in life, but there they are gushing it out on everyone they meet. It is like trying to think with your tongue.

EXAMPLE: Cushi and Ahimaaz - runners in IIKings 18. Ahimaaz out ran Cushi but he had no message to deliver. He was all blow and go and no show. The slower runner had the message.

EXAMPLE: The sons of thunder - James and John went to get lodging for Jesus and they couldn’t get any. They came back and their prayer request was to call fire down to burn them up. "Let’s make them a heap of ashes to prove how much we love you." We are so in love with Jesus but we don’t know what spirit we are following.

EXAMPLE: Peter, out of love for Jesus said under no circumstances would he allow Jesus to die on the cross. That was love, but it was without knowledge, so much so, Jesus called him Satan. That was ignorant love. Love without knowledge.

EXAMPLE: Peter used a sword to whack off the ear of one man who came for Jesus. He did it in love, but Jesus healed the ear and let them proceed according to God’s will. He loved Jesus so much he tried to kill some one. I don’t think he was aiming at his ear.

The people who have love and knowledge are not so quick to speak. They are a lot quicker to see God at work. They can see God in the stillness. They know there is a time to speak, but there is a time to shut up. Love walks in knowledge. When this person worships he is not only saying, "Praise the Lord." This person knows God and has a fuller perspective to worship God not only with the heart but with their head in knowledge. Mind and heart makes worship full with peace and contentment.

He prays for them not only to have knowledge but to have discernment. You could call it perception or discrimination. It means to make the right decision. This word is Wisdom in the book of Proverbs. It is doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time. Standing at the crossroads, knowing the right choice to make. The ability to separate the important from the unimportant.

Love by itself gets caught up in needs. Love gets involved in everything, going here, going there. Love can be like a chicken with its head cut off. You need discernment to make choices of what you will get involved in and what you won’t. If not, you reach a thing call spiritual burnout. "Be still and know that I am God." There is a time to say "No" and a time to say "Yes." We do not order our life by the pressure without, but by the stillness within.

Love in a single channel is POWER. This is love that is knowing God and is advancing in the knowledge of God - love that has discernment and wisdom - that will not settle for anything that is not important but walks in the importance of God’s will and purpose. Now you are grown up, now you don’t have the problems Philippi was having because it was a love without boundaries, without discernment, without knowledge.  That caused all their problems.

Love one for the other - the love of God in the channels of real knowledge and discernment caused them to grow-up and walk in God. So I want you to go and pray this prayer for yourself and for everybody else that you pray for, because we all need it. You can never over pray this. You can pray it many times a day and every time you pray it you may sense a greater understanding. 

Now understand what you are praying and forget about some answer. Just keep praying it and you will realize a whole new dimension has been placed in your life and a new kind of wisdom entering into you.

SO PRAY AS PAUL PRAYED. IT IS THE RIGHT PRAYER. IT IS ALWAYS CORRECT TO PRAY. IT IS A SPIRITUAL PRAYER TO PRAY AS PAUL PRAYED.

Click here to read article on The Nature of Prayer.

Click here to read how George Mueller prayed.

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