Every time
I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray,
I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners
in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until
now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work
within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when
Christ Jesus returns.
I pray that
your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in
knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand
what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the
day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the
fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus
Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God. Philippians 1:3-6, 9-11
Paul may have been an Apostle and a
Traveling Evangelist/Church Planter, but he most certainly had a pastor’s
heart. His prison epistles[1] read like the longing of a “pandemic
pastor” who wants desperately to be able to see his people face to face, but
must settle for waiting and praying for them.
Both waiting and praying involve abundant levels of trust. And those two qualities are both connected,
each being dependent upon the other; they are also severely tested during times
of separation.
Paul was sitting in a dank, smelly,
mold-brewing jail; his body was in Rome, but his heart was elsewhere, stretched
from Rome to Jerusalem, and all the way to Heaven. His heart held fond hopes and relationships
in Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and beyond. And, so, the Apostle prayed for Christ’s
loved ones.
Paul’s prison prayers
included thanksgiving for all the memories and faithfulness of God’s
people. They also were petitions for
God’s grace to continue the work in the people, so their work for God would
continue, and grow!
Paul’s prayer was priority-minded,
asking God to grow a garden of love in the hearts of the churches he’d founded,
so they would focus on what really matters, living their
lives in such a manner as to bring the filling of God’s Spirit in them, the
righteous character of Jesus. This is
the real holy grail for believers – growing into the likeness and
love of Jesus. This is what brings glory
to God.
Like a shepherd, Paul ached for his
sheep. And in that aching heart prayers
developed and were delivered to the throne room in Heaven. Many answers flowed. Paul could hardly wait for the mailman to
find out how things were going.
Sometimes, when I sit at my desk praying,
writing, studying, and just thinking of the flock I serve, along with the many
relationships among family, friends, and neighbors, it is like sitting with
Paul, aching for loved ones, praying their lives are being brought-forward in
Christ, strengthening, even in a time of great testing and change.
To tell the truth, for me, it feels like
bleak mid-winter in the heat of late summer.
But even now, in the wake of millions suffering around the world from
the pandemic virus, and the other pandemics of violence, homelessness,
hopelessness, and more, the promise of a new day is just as strong. Falling leaves eventually give way to new
growth. And this time will pass. The changes it brings will be painful to some
– welcome to others.
And in it all…God is good!
And in all
you experience…God is unendingly and overflowingly GOOD!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have
a blessed day in God’s light!
Title image: Rembrandt's St. Paul, via Wikimedia Commons W Unless
noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For another post on Philippians 1 see: A Pastor's Prayer and Together
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