Burning Bush Blogs
Equipping Men with Biblical Knowledge and Leadership Skills
Category: Group Study
Thread: How to Pray for Other Believers
Post Topic: Praying for Believers’ Love to Abound
Post in Thread: #2
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Scripture: Philippians 1:9-11
Key Verses:
Philippians 1:9-11
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Series Note
Have you ever wondered how to better pray for brothers and sisters in Christ? Of course, we can pray for their immediate needs – health concerns, employment issues, relationships, etc. But how do we go deeper? How do we pray for their spiritual needs; their spiritual growth?
Paul gives us four examples of prayers for spiritual growth of specific believers in his letters to the churches at Colossae, Philippi, and Ephesus. This series studies how Paul structures those prayers and how we can apply this structure to our own prayers.
If we dig a little, we notice a pattern in the prayers –
- What Paul prays for these believers
- How he expects God to answer
- Why God’s answer will profoundly impact these beloved partners in Christ
Observations
Context
The Apostle Paul wrote Philippians from prison in Rome. Among his faithful companions, Paul makes special mention of Timothy, and one of Philippi’s own, Epaphroditus. The church at Philippi had sent Epaphroditus to Paul with a care package, and Paul mentions in chapter three how Epaphroditus had been at the edge of death in Rome. It is to this beloved group of believers that Paul writes this letter.
Genre
Philippians is an epistle—a missionary letter to Paul’s most faithful supporters.
Group activity (answers are just below)
Study the passage together and list what you think Paul is praying for these believers. Then pick out the How and the Why:
Verse 9 What type of love does he pray for them? _________________, _______________
Verse 11 How _______________
Verse 10 Why ______________, _______________, ___________________
Verse 11 Ultimate Why __________________________________________
Compare to what our bloggers came up with below.
What Paul prays for the Philippians:
- Abounding Love.
- Love full of insight and knowledge.
How he expects God to answer:
- Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ (v11).
Why God’s answer will profoundly impact these beloved partners in Christ
- Be blameless for the day of the Lord (v10).
- Full of discernment.
- Life of purity.
- Ultimate why (v11) – to bring glory to God.
Discussion
- What does the phrase abounding love mean to you?
- I envision a spring bubbling over with clear, cold water, the banks of the stream unable to contain the refreshing liquid.
- Have you ever known anyone like this? Their love is just contagious, warming everyone around them?
- Why does Paul connect love to knowledge/insight? Why is it important to have love full of insight?
Interpretation
Imagine
Abounding love, without insight:
Julie’s heart ached for her friend. She pressed the phone tight to her ear. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you? You just got out of the hospital, after all.”
“Oh, I can take care of myself,” Carla said. “The physical therapist will be here in an hour. I have everything I need.”
“Well, please give me a call if you need anything. You’ve always been there for me when I needed you. I want to be there for you too.”
“You’re a great friend,” Carla said. “I promise I’ll reach out to you first. But don’t worry about me.”
Julie plopped into a chair after the phone went silent. They’d had a nice talk. Carla appreciated the conversation. But something nagged at Julie. Was there more she should have done?
Abounding love, with insight:
Julie waited for a while after knocking. A curtain fluttered. Footsteps scuffed inside. Finally, the door swung open. Carla stood before her, wearing a nightgown and leaning against a walker.
“Julie!” The smile on Carla’s face stretched as far as the east is from the west.
Julie lugged in the bag. “I pre-made a few meals for you. All you have to do is heat them up. I’ll put them in the refrigerator.”
“Wow, you didn’t have to do that.”
Julie waved a hand. “It’s nothing. You’d have done more than this for me. Do you have some time to talk?”
“Absolutely! I’d love that.”
Takeaways
Paul wanted the Philippians’ lives to be transformed. We want the same for those we are praying for. How can abounding love transform lives? We can have all the love in the world, but If it isn’t paired with discernment, it often misses the mark.
- Verse 10 tells us that when we have abounding love, we are more discerning.
- Abounding love is magnified when combined with knowledge/insight.
- Insight enables Christians to identify needs and address them. How much more impactful will the love of our brothers and sisters be if it is targeted toward the deeper needs of others?
Paul also wanted the Philippians to live pure lives, blameless for the day of Christ. Paul says that this brings glory to God. When we are living in abounding love, we don’t have time for self-centeredness. This is why verse 11 closes by talking about the glory and praise of God.
- The ultimate result of abounding love is the glory and praise of God. This is our primary purpose on earth – to bring HIM glory.
- Don’t we want this for ourselves and for those we pray for?
Discussion
How often do we get frustrated and our love wanes because we are not discerning the pain behind another’s actions? When we stop to listen, and allow God’s love to permeate us—then love can abound.
- From where can we obtain the gift of knowledge and insight? Connect your answer to the Colossians prayer we studied.
- Have you ever considered asking for insightful love? Not simply just love on its own?
Correlation
Greatest Love
Matthew 22:37-40 – 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Discussion – As you read Jesus’s greatest commandments, it’s clearly abounding love. We think of this love as loving our neighbors.
- Who else deserves our abounding love?
- Does this affect your perspective of Paul’s request for the Philippians, and what it means?
- If we have abounding love for Christ too, can you see how we will be blameless the day Jesus returns?
Love for others glorifies God
John 13:34-35 – A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
When we have abounding love, this passage makes it clear that two things are happening:
- Everyone will know we are Christ’s disciples.
- This results in our ultimate why – Christ being glorified.
Application
Generic Applications
Pray for abounding love, full of insight and knowledge
Sample Prayer (customize it for yourself or your group):Our Father, fill “name” with abounding love, full of insight and knowledge. Allow that love to bubble over so that all will know they belong to you. May they develop discernment and knowledge in their relationships with others and with you, all to your glory.
- What an impact our little group could have if the abounding love of Christ overflowed in all of us. Let’s agree to pray for Christ to develop an abounding love, full of insight and knowledge, in one other person in the group at least once a week.
Personalize it
Can we really abound in love for someone without knowledge and insight of that person? Can we abound in love for God without knowledge and insight of God? Can we do either without a personal, vibrant relationship?
Let’s resolve to develop more intimate relationships with God, studying his Word and praying for each other, so that we can develop a more insightful, abounding love for God and for our neighbors.
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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