Introduction: A minister [of a large church] was praying at the bedside of a dying woman. “Wait a moment,” she said, as he started to rise from his knees. “I want to pray for you.” Very tenderly, she prayed with her hands upon his head. “For ten years, ever since you became my pastor, I have offered that prayer for you ever morning and night,” she told him.
The minister went away with tears in his eyes and a strange warmth in his heart. He had known that this woman was sweet-spirited and true, but he had never guessed that he had a place in her prayers day and night. “I wonder how many of my six hundred members pray for me,” he asked himself.
Let us remember others in our prayers even as we want others to remember us. (Illustrations of Bible Truths # 501)
Transition: Read Philippians 1:1-8. As we examine Paul’s prayer for his friends in Philippi, we learn how he prayed for his friends and how we can better pray for our friends.
First, we learn to
1. Pray Often for our Friends (v.3)
A. Paul prayed for them at every remembrance.
(1) Paul was a man of prayer.
(a) He prayed for the Romans without ceasing (Ro 1:9), and did the same for the Ephesians (Eph 1:16).
(b) He prayed for the Colossians always (Col 1:3).
(c) He prayed night and day for the Thessalonian believers (1Th 3:10), and he did the same for his preacher friend, Timothy (2Ti 1:3).
(2) When the Holy Spirit brings another Christian to your mind, pray for that person.
(3) It is good to use a prayer list as you pray each morning. This will enable you to be faithful in praying daily for your friends.
(4) Paul often requested that the Christians pray for him (1Th 5:25; 2Th 3:1). This is our request as well. When we leave, we will continue praying for you, and we ask that you continue praying for us.
B. Paul included them in every prayer (v.4).
(1) He said, “always in every prayer”. That is an amazing statement, yet the Holy Spirit inspired it so we know it is true.
(2) If nothing else, this ought to motivate us to pray more and to include our friends in our prayers.
(3) Prayer is not a waste of time. It is not just talking to yourself. It is communicating with our Creator and Saviour. Let’s pray often!
Next, we learn to
2. Pray Thoughtfully for our Friends (v.4-5)
A. Paul prayed with thanks for them (v.3).
(1) He thanked God for them.
(2) I don’t know about you, but I must admit that I often forget to thank God for my friends. I pray for many friends, but I seldom think to thank God for them.
B. Paul prayed with joy for them.
(1) He had joy in his heart when he made supplication for his friends in Philippi. He pondered the friendship he had with them and the many times they had helped him and this gave him great joy.
(2) He thanked God for their fellowship in the Gospel. The word “fellowship” refers to sharing. They had shared his burden for evangelism from the very beginning. They helped him, supported him, and prayed for him.
(a) Lydia trusted Christ and then opened her home to the missionaries.
(b) The jailer trusted Christ and then tended the missionaries cuts and fed them a meal.
(c) The Philippian congregation had gifts sent supplies and perhaps money to Paul on more than one occasion (Php 4:16).
C. Paul prayed with certainty for them (v.6)
(1) He was confident that God had begun this good work in them.
(2) He was confident that God would keep them faithful at this good work until Christ returned.
(3) Though opinions differ as to what the “good work in them” was, the context strongly implies that Paul was not speaking of their salvation, but of their fellowship in the Gospel, that is their support of evangelistic outreach and missions.
(4) Truly, sharing in the mission heartbeat of God is a good work that we must not neglect. There is no greater investment of our time, energy and money than the work of spreading the Gospel.
(5) Paul thanked the Lord for the partnership of the Philippian church, and he was confident that God, who had begun that good work in them, would keep it going until the day they met Jesus Christ.
Finally, we learn to
3. Pray Compassionately for our Friends (v.7-8)
A. Paul had them in his heart.
(1) They were his spiritual children, and they were dear to him. Thus, he said that it was “meet” or literally righteous of his to think that of them because he had them in his heart. Why?
(2) They stood by Paul while he was in prison for preaching the Gospel. They were not ashamed to associate with him.
(3) They also helped him in the defense of the Gospel and in the confirmation of the Gospel.
(a) They defended the Gospel that Paul had preached among them when people spoke evil of it.
(b) They also confirmed, established or strengthened the Gospel in the hearts of young believers.
B. Paul longed after them.
(1) He called God as his witness that he longed after them in his inmost being because of Jesus Christ.
(2) He said that his inner feeling was great. By this, we can see that Paul truly loved those new converts.
C. We too ought to pray compassionately.
(1) When you pray for other Christians, do you pray thoughtlessly, just mentally ticking their name off your prayer list? Or do you pray for them from your heart?
(2) It is true, we are not as close to some Christians as we are to others. At the same time, we ought to ask God to help us pray with more genuine compassion.
(3) In a few weeks, when we depart, we will continue to pray for you and I trust you will continue praying for us. It is normal in time to lose our closeness, but we need to uphold each other in prayer in the years to come, even when memories fade.
Conclusion: Paul prayed for his Philippian friends often, thankfully, and compassionately. His example is a good standard for us to adopt in praying for our friends.
The Philippian believers shared fellowship in the Gospel with the Apostle Paul. This good work they accomplished through prayer, friendship, accommodation, visits, financial and material aid, and through defending and confirming the Gospel. These are things that each of us can do. If you are not yet directly involved in supporting missions, praying for the lost, defending the Gospel, witnessing to the lost, and building up fellow-believers, there is no better time to begin than right now.
