This is the fourth prayer in the prayer acrostic, F.O.L.L.O.W. C.H.R.I.S.T.
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L: Increase my Love!
- "9 This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:9-11).
Prayerful Observations:
Our ability to love comes from God. We receive it by asking for it. The verse also states that our ability to recognize excellence comes from this request for love (v 10). Sincerity and fruit of righteousness are also results of this prayer.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 also affirms that it is God who increases our love.
Having mentioned his prayer for increased love in Philippians 1:9, he admonishes them to love in Philippians 2:2. So, again we see the easy two-step process for making disciples: Pray (v 1:9) and speak the words of the Father as Paul did in 2:2. You can imitate this two-step process for yourself and for others.
Loving faith is the one commandment we have in the New Covenant: "This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded" (1 John 3:23). Many admonitions from New Covenant scriptures come from this one command. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said that all of the Old Covenant law and prophets depended on the command to love. So, much obedience is accomplished by asking God to increase our love.
In the New Covenant, we have been "discharged from the law" to "serve in newness of the spirit" (Rom 7:6-7). The subchapter titled "After Pentecost: From the Law to the Spirit" in the appendix explains this in great detail (subchapter A3).