Praying for Believers - LOVE!

Each Monday morning our entire staff here at the Gaylord E-Free church gathers together for an hour of praying for our church ministries, our church family and each other. Starting last Monday I am taking the first few minutes of this time to lead us in looking at the prayers the writers of Scripture prayed for other believers. I started yesterday with Paul's prayer for the Philippian believers in Philippians 1:9-11. We looked just at verse 9 this week as Paul prayed that their "love may abound still more in real knowledge and all discernment." Paul is speaking of agape love. In other words, it is a love that is active, not merely emotional or physical. From this verse we see three specific ways to pray for for other followers of Jesus when it comes to love.

First, pray that their love would be DIVINE! The fact that Paul said "I pray" that your love may abound shows us that the origin of Biblical love is divine. The Apostle John would say the same thing in 1 John 4:7 when he says, "love one another for love is from God." So we need to pray for each other that our love would be a love whose origin is divine.

Second, pray that their love would be DYNAMIC! Paul prays that their love "may abound." This is a word that means to flood or to overflow. It is the idea of excess and it is written in the present tense. Paul is praying that their love would continually abound, continually overflow. So let's pray for other believers that their love, whose origin is from God, would overflow in their lives.

Third, pray that their love would be DECISIVE! Paul prays that their love would abound in two areas. First, that it would abound in "real knowledge." Real knowledge is the knowledge found in the Word of God. He also prays that their love may abound in "all discernment." This is the application of God's Word. Biblical love grows when we know and apply the Word of God to our lives. That is why Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Love and obedience to God's word are inseparably linked together.

So this week I will focus my prayers for other believers I know in this way. I will pray that they would demonstrate in an overflowing way a love that comes from God and which is grounded in a real knowledge and application of the Word of God in their lives.

Be sure to read my other blog entitled, "Hope for Hurting Pastors" at www.hurtingpastor.blogspot.com. You can leave a comment at either blog or email me directly at skdistler@gmail.com.