PHILIPPIANS 1:3-5

“I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day till now,”

TO PONDER

Well, we cant gloss over this verse, it cuts to the chase.  Are we fully in partnership in the gospel with our community of believers?  Can we pray with joy for us all,  because we are  in partnership with each other?  

Do we pray for each other, naming them before God?   Privately and together?  Do we pray with joy over our members, asking blessings for them from God?  Do we lift them up when they struggle.  Do we know when they struggle because we are in close partnership with them?   Do we nurture and draw new contacts into this partnership of community that points to the love God has for them? 

I should stop asking questions now.  In the end, prayer for others, naming them, draws us out of ourselves into something larger.  Joyous prayer gives us hope, unveils our purpose, brings us into  partnership, with God and people.  Joyous prayer includes a deep listening to the Spirit of God within us as we ponder the people we are  praying for and leads us to want to know them more. 

PRAYER: Jesus, bless us as consider our community, some of them small but intimate.  Grow us into true partnership of caring for each other, for those that don’t know you yet, and those who have forgotten about you.  Amen 

Today's devotion written by Bard Niczynski, LifeWay Illawarra