Day 1
"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).
My Prayer
Yahweh, my Heavenly Father, thank You for this scripture.Y I praise You for the power that is in it. I thank You for what You will do through it (Isaiah 55:11). Please reveal its meaning to our minds (Psalm 119:18). For all who read here, please lead them to pray this page with me...
My Father, I call the prayer of Philippians 1:9 the Endorsed Prayer of Love.4.3e It is a prayer that was prayed by Paul, and we are supposed to imitate Paul (1 Corinthians 11:1). So, this prayer has been endorsed by You.
I once thought that it was up to me to love more. The harder I tried the more I failed. I didn't know that I was trusting in myself for obedience. But according to Your word, our ability to obey comes from You through prayer.4.3f We receive greater ability to love by asking for it. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 also affirms that You are the one who increases our love.
"May the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another, and toward all men"
So, I ask You my Lord... on behalf of all who read here... that You would multiply their love 1000 fold and 1000 fold and 1000 fold again and again and again... to the praise of Your glory... that Your name be lifted higher and higher and higher!
My Lord, I see in verse ten that greater love enables us to "approve the things that are excellent" (v 10). So, our ability to recognize excellence comes from this request for love. Yes my Lord, love sees a different path for each moment. Love builds life into others. "Sincerity" is also a result of this prayer (v 10). You have told us in 1 Corinthians 13:3 this:
"If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don't have love, it profits me nothing."
Evidently Father, seemingly great and selfless deeds can be performed without love... being done as a selfish work of flesh, without sincerity, without profit and without reward.
Your Son gave us one commandment in the New Covenant: Loving faith.
- "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 Your 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 You to increase our love.
But I am not under law:
"whatever things the law says,
it speaks to those who are under the law...
you are not under law."
Romans 3:19, 6:14
In the New Covenant, we have been "discharged from the law" to "serve in newness of the spirit" (Rom 7:6-7).A3
But You have placed us under the command to love in the New Covenant. And love is received by prayer. The Holy Spirit reminds us to love (John 14:26). We either yield to the Spirit or resist the Spirit.
If we resist the Spirit... if we resist Your Holy Spirit's reminders to love... how can we walk by the Spirit?
In this passage, Philippians 1:9-11, You revealed one of the Endorsed Prayers... The prayer is "Make our love abound more and more." Thank you for revealing this in Your word! For, how can we walk by the Spirit, if we don't know how to pray?
Heavenly Father, teach us the prayers that scripture has taught us to pray. By Your Spirit, lead Your children to click this link: "How to Pray: Introduction to the Endorsed Prayers".
You deserve all praise!
Amen.
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About this Devotional
You are reading the Walk by the Spirit Daily Devotional Series, which is subchapter 3.7 of the free, online book Fellowship with God in the Sixth Path. In the Walk by the Spirit Daily Devotional, readers learn how to how to walk by the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit is one way the New Testament describes fellowship with God, the subject of this online book.
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