Welcome back to all of you; it has been a while since I have posted something so I am excited to share what God has been reinforcing in my life lately. Within our church we have been trying to intentionally place a greater emphasis on prayer, both individually and corporately. Of great focus has been the structure and posture of our prayers. We have been using the ACTS model as a useful mnemonic for our prayers: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. What God has been emphasizing to me though is not so much the structure of the prayer but the simple importance of doing it. There is the obvious aspect of obedience and expectation that is an implied part of being a Christian but that oversimplifies what happens through prayer.
In His wisdom, God has led me to anchor down in the book of Philippians for my quiet times recently to demonstrate the multi-faceted importance of prayer. This book is often referred to as the book of joy because of how many times Paul uses the words ‘joy’ and ‘rejoice’ throughout it. As I have been reading and re-reading it, I have discovered the words ‘pray’ and ‘prayer’ are used quite frequently as well. Through the prayers found in this book God has shown me “4 A’s” of prayer that inform us what prayer to our heavenly Father offers.
- Attunement to spiritual things: At the very beginning of the letter Paul prays,
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)
Paul is writing to a church that is experiencing persecution from outside and within, and he understands that without an understanding of spiritual things this church will be in big trouble. Left to their own devices, purity and blamelessness before Christ would be impossible. It is the same for us…we need the God’s knowledge and depth of insight to be able to do real Kingdom work effectively. Prayer involves asking for and receiving spiritual wisdom to live according to His purposes.
- Acknowledgement that God’s plans supersede our own: Paul follows up this prayer focused on the Philippians with a request they focus one back towards him.
“…for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:19-21)
Paul is in prison at this point and his future is no longer in his hands. His prayer echoes the trust in God’s plans that Jesus taught His disciples in the Lord’s Prayer (your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven). Even more than that though, he is acknowledging that either way, God makes an excellent choice! If Paul dies, he gets to go to Heaven and be with Jesus; if he lives then God will use him powerfully to continue building up His church. It is helpful to see that trust in God’s plans causes Paul to rejoice…can we say the same when we face uncertainty?
- Alignment toward God and others: The famous exhortation to prayer that is found in 4:6-7 is rooted not in self-fulfillment, but rather in church unity. Paul has just finished asking two prominent church members to put aside their differences in the name of church unity and he then moves back into rejoicing.
Theologians describe unity as an attribute of God and it entails all of God’s attributes being in harmony with each other. This is what Paul is praying would take place in the Philippian church. His instruction is that the church would also pray in this way so that the individuals could come into alignment with God and fellow-believers. Conflict is disharmony… it is war, not peace. Twice in this section Paul promises that God’s peace would be present if the church would pray and act in this way. Throughout the letter we see Paul’s personal prayers and desires are rooted in presenting a unified body of believers to Jesus at the last day.
- Activation to move into action: In chapter 3 Paul talks about how he considers his old life as garbage compared to knowing Jesus. The life he leads as he writes this letter is one that he identifies as, “pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” He then exhorts the Philippians to see things as he sees them, “All of us then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God would make clear to you.”
This prayer, or asking of God, is explicitly to be able to follow Paul’s example as he is following Christ’s example shared in chapter 2. Essentially there are 2 options: pray to be able to follow Christ’s example or pray to receive the desire/understanding to be able to follow Christ’s example (which will then lead into option 1). Both prayers are prayers of obedient activation for the Kingdom.
Prayer is certainly more than these 4 things but the letter to the Philippians is an instructive one. It is a short letter so it can easily be read in one sitting but also deep enough that hours could be spent in each section. I would encourage you over the next week or two to make reading this letter a part of your personal devotional time. Not to strip it apart but to simply read it from start to finish and then let the Holy Spirit speak to you as you pray.
Prayer is a step back into the pre-Fall relationship between God and man; a relationship built on intimacy and trust. If we fast-forward to the end of Scripture, we read the final pages of Revelation show this relationship is permanently restored. So, prayer in the present day is an opportunity to relate to God as we were meant to and practice how we will eternally do so in Heaven. Blessings to you all!
