Intercessory Prayer

All throughout my Christian life I have appreciated knowing that someone was truly praying for me. When I have experienced difficulty, the comforting thought that someone was praying for me soothed my soul. When I was a teenager, our church had a wonderful program that connected the senior women with the teens. They were known as our "spiritual grandmothers." My spiritual grandmother, Marguerite Johnson, always let me know that she was praying for me. And I believe with all my heart that this dear saint did pray for me regularly. I may never know how God answered those prayers that she offered up on my behalf, but I'm certain that there were times I was strengthened in my faith knowing that Mrs. Johnson was on her knees for me.

Paul was a spiritual father to the church in Philippi, and here in Philippians 1:9-11 we find him earnestly praying for them to be outstanding followers of Christ. Unpacking these few verses, we immediately discover what Paul was praying - that they would increase in their love for one another because of what they believed. Knowing Christ the way that a believer ought would only provoke one to live as Christ. Paul elaborates on how Christ lived later on in this letter, but the essence is that Jesus came to serve and love all people no matter who they were, disregarding their socio-economic status, their gender, their race, their religion, whether thief or model citizen, murderer, adulterer, or disciple - Jesus' mission was the sacrifice of His life to give life to those who did not deserve it. Paul hoped that the Philippians would understand this and be compelled to live similarly.

But in order to understand this, we MUST not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). We need to be reminded of Jesus' way of life and His desire for how we should live our lives through the help of the Holy Spirit. We MUST be in the Word of God, thinking it over and meditating upon it as we sit and walk and lie down and rise up. When we know the Word of God and understand what we are to do, we are well equipped to evaluate and test not only good and evil but what is better and best. After all, why would we want to exert our energy and efforts on less productive things? Paul wanted the Philippians to be invested in what was excellent so that their lives would be genuine and pure - in essence, that they would live lives of integrity. This is the fruit of what righteousness produces in the life of one who is diligent about living like Jesus. And the righteousness that bears such fruit comes only from and through Christ. His righteousness was imputed to us on that glorious day of salvation - He took our rags soiled with sin, washed us clean, and clothed us with His royal robes of righteousness. Strangely and ironically and illogically, it really is all for His glory and honor. Praise be to His name.

In college, we learned about the heady, hearty, handy man. This little guy was to remind us of the importance of incorporating the whole person in what we planned, be it a Bible study or a retreat. Paul seems to be praying for the whole person in this section - the heart in verse 9, the head or mind in verse 10, and the hands in verse 11.

This is a great prayer in which to use when praying for other brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact, pick one person or a few people and spend some time praying this very prayer for them.

I’ll end with a beautiful song that seems to capture what these verses are about.

Compelled By Love
Bryson Smith and Philip Percival, 1997 Plainsong Music

Compelled by love, Christ left His Father’s glory.
The Word took flesh as man He did appear.
The Son of God took on the role of servant
And emptied all to bring salvation near.

Compelled by love, Christ heralded the Gospel.
“Repent, believe; the Kingdom is at hand.”
Despite His call, Israel failed to follow.
They turned aside, despised the Son of Man.

Compelled by love, Christ set His face to Zion.
He gave His life, nailed to the tree in pain.
Though without sin He took our place in suffering
To set us free from all our guilt and shame.

Compelled by love, Christ will return in glory
And all the earth will join in endless praise.
But until then we go to all the nations,
Compelled by love to share the news of grace.

Tomorrow I’ll pass along some questions from the next few verses. It seems that it’s best for me, given my schedule and the “little” interruptions, that I “assign” a reading and then some questions and then the following day offer a response. Writing takes a good chunk of time as does studying to prepare questions and their responses. Hope that works for you all.

Blessings to you through God's grace and peace.