A Prayer for Wisdom
Submitted by Debbie’s
Dad
And this I pray,
that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 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. Philippians
1:9-11 (NASB95)
In today’s
verse, Paul opens his epistle to the believers at Philippi, dear friends he had not seen for a decade and yearned to see again. Paul was about 800
miles away, in a Roman Jail in chains. Yet he wanted the believers at the
churches in Philippi to know how he loved them and how he prayed for them.
In the verses
preceding these 3 verses, Paul tells them he thanks God whenever he remembers
them and joyfully prays for them constantly (verse 3). Paul has them
in his heart and affectionately longs for them (verses 7 and 8). He even considers
them co-participants to share the Gospel message (verse 5).
After those
introductions, He tells them what he is praying for them in verses 9-11—he
prays for three things:
First, He Prays for Abounding Love in Wisdom
Paul prays
that their love will abound (overflow) because of their growing personal knowledge (Greek epignosis,
a much-used word in the New Testament) of God, and their insight [Greek aisthēsis - this is the only use of
this word in the New Testament) into His Ways. This is true wisdom – to know God and his ways! The world will know us
by our love – a love founded in wisdom – knowing God personally and knowing His
ways.
Next, He prays for Fruitfulness.
This love
will enable us to discern the best things to do and live sincerely and
blamelessly. We will be tested, and we must determine what to choose, how to
respond, what to avoid, what will glorify God, and what will grieve Him.
This is a lifelong challenge to remain sincere and pure in all we do. As
Paul emphasizes – “until the day of Christ.” And this life will produce
righteous fruit (most are listed in the well-known passage in Galatians 5:22–23.
Finally, He prays for the Best Result.
The goal of
this kind of wisdom, love, and discernment is the glory and praise of God. Our
lives can produce 2 results of eternal value: 1) we can glorify God or
reveal His character in our lives, and 2) we can bring praise to God by
our life- redeemed from sin and willfully living in His love, discernment, and
righteous living.
The Essence of His Prayer
Looking at these
three elements of Paul’s prayer in reverse, we see that he was praying for a
result (God’s glory) by means of their pure, blameless, and fruitful life – all
based on the wisdom of knowing God and the discernment of His ways.
Paul’s prayer applies to us too as we grow in wisdom, abound in
love, bear spiritual fruit, all to the glory and praise of God.
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