THURSDAY June 27th
Because we have been looking over the last few weeks at the two prayers that Paul has made for the Ephesian believers, over the next two devotions I will take us to another of his references to prayer which he made in Philippians 1:3-6.
‘I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.’
We know that Paul was a man who prayed, but, he was also a man who praised, and we see here that he was also a man who believed in partnership with others for the sake of the gospel. As he pioneered churches, he also put a presbytery in place to shepherd the churches, but in doing so, he didn’t walk away from them, and forget about them, he remained in partnership with them.
That is one of the reasons why we have so many New Testament books that have been written by Paul. He cared for the churches he planted, so much so that he kept in touch with them, either through visits or by the means of letters, which although addressed to a particular church, may also have been read to others as well.
In the verses today he writes to remind them that he prays for them, and that he appreciates the partnership that they have in the gospel. In the verses that follow you will see how he also says that he holds them in his heart and that he yearns for them all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
This is how the body of Christ should be, mutual care and affection in Christ for one another, and not by having a close group we readily and easily and perhaps always relate with, at the expense of others, but for everyone who makes up our local church family, for we are joined together by the Spirit, and we are partakers together of the same grace (verse7).
Now, we are all familiar with verse 6, ‘And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ’, and as I pastor at Emmanuel, be it through my leadership or preaching in the services or through the means of these devotions, as I challenge or encourage it is because my prayer also is that ‘he who has begun a good work in each of us, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. What I desire for myself, is what I also desire for each one of us, that we will ‘run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith’, ‘For you (we) have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.’ (Hebrews 12:1-2, Hebrews 10:36-39)