6/17/2024 0 Comments My Prayer for You
When you read the prayers of Paul, which populate his letters to the churches, you get a sense of his affection for those he's writing to. And, in the overflow of that love, he prays for them with joy and hope and delight, which probably increases the love and affection all the more.
Anyone who commits themselves to praying for another person, also opens their hearts to increased love and affection. Such is my experience when I pray for you, the people who have connected with X242. Often, of late, my prayers have included Philippians 1:4. "I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best, so that you will be found pure and blameless on the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness which is yours through Jesus Christ, to God's glory and praise." There are other prayers that we can pray for an increase in faith, or strength, or stamina. Those are good prayers too. But this prayer has captured my attention and imagination. What does it mean for love to "abound more and more"? Without giving it much thought, we might imagine it as an increase in good feelings about God or about others. That's wonderful when that happens. But Paul prays (and I've been praying) that it would abound "in knowledge and depth of insight." That's different. It's more mature than feelings. What would it mean for your love to abound more and more in knowledge? What would it look like for your love to keep on increasing in depth of insight? To increase in knowledge is to apply yourself to adding information you don't yet have. That can be information about love itself, as a quality you're trying to embody, that you don't yet do as well as you want. And it can be about whoever it is you're trying to love, be it God, or your neighbor, or your enemy. Do you relate to God as someone you're still getting to know? Are you still learning who he is, what he's like, how he sees things, and why he does what he does? To continue to seek his face, to seek his heart, to seek his mind about things, is to apply yourself to a love that is abounding more and more in knowledge. And this will deepen your insight about who he is, and how you can best love him. The same is true for people you're trying to love. And I don't mean just people who are hard to love. The people who are easy to love. Are you applying yourself to knowing them, like who they are, what they like, how they see things, and why they do what they do? I'm not saying we should try to read them like a text book, but learn to see them, to feel what they feel, and think what they think -- not to model yourself after them, or to manipulate them in any way, but to simply know them, so you can love them well. And then learn to do that with the people who are hard to love. To do this will deepen your insight about who they are, and how best you can love them. Finally, to increase in love about love itself, memorize that part of the love chapter people read at weddings. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." When you're tempted by impatience, remember that "love is patient." When you catch yourself being unkind, remind yourself that "love is kind." And in doing this, your love will abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. And as you keep on doing that, the Holy Spirit will be inspiring in you the answer to my prayers. "I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best, so that you will be found pure and blameless on the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness which is yours through Jesus Christ, to God's glory and praise." (For another application of this thought, check out this week's teaching.) Amen. Specific Prayer Requests
We left Sarasota yesterday morning. Our travels have been uneventful, but I threw my back out, so am laying low for a day. Tomorrow we head north, stopping in Charlotte and then to our campground for a week in the Shenandoah Valley. Please pray specifically for the following:
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AuthorRoger Shenk is the pastor of X242, a network of microchurches. Archives
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