Thankfulness and Prayer
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Christ Is Preached
12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: 16 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; 17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
To Live Is Christ
19 For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. 25 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, 26 that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.
Striving and Suffering for Christ
27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
More On The Book of Philippians
The Book of Philippians is a very powerful book because in it we see some powerful truths about God and His dealings with us through the teachings of the Apostle Paul.
It is in this book that we learn the all familiar text when Paul said that he learned how to abase and to abound and then said that he can do all things through Christ that strengthens him.
Sometimes in our own lives, we don't know what to focus on, what to think about or how we should proceed in traversing the winding road that we sometimes face in life, but the Apostle Paul reminds us that God shall supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory by the risen Jesus Christ.
As you read Philippians 1, may you be filled with knowledge and the assurance that God is with you and His grace is indeed sufficient for you!
I'm reminded of one scenario when The Lord wanted me to pray for a man.
I didn't want to. I really didn't want to, but over and over the Lord told me, "Go, and pray for Him"
Why didn't the Lord use someone else?
For some strange reason, it seemed as if it always came down to Him asking me to do it. It had to be about ten minutes of resisting the Lord, in my mind, that I finally relented. Now thinking back, I should have done it from the first time that He asked me to pray. But, I was growing in the things of the Lord. In fact, I still am.
You see, we are not alone, and just as the Lord could speak to me to pray for that man, the Lord can speak to you in your times of need, and the times of need for others and bring swift change and deliverance as you let Him do what He wants to do.
God is awesome!
Sometimes in our own lives, we don't know what to focus on, what to think about or how we should proceed in traversing the winding road that we sometimes face in life, but the Apostle Paul reminds us that God shall supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
I'll also share another story of healing.
A lady asked me to lay hands on her and pray for her to be healed, so I prayed and laid hands on her. She had a cold that would not go away. She would cough and cough. She said that she knew it was an attack of the enemy.
I didn't think too much about it until 3 weeks later when I was speaking with the same lady again. I asked her, "How is your throat?"
She said to me, "Prophet, from the time that you prayed for me, I haven't coughed since. I even went to my doctor and he noticed that I wasn't coughing anymore and so he asked if I was taking the medicine that he gave me. I said, no," she said. " God healed me, a prophet prayed for me."
The rest is history. All Glory to God for healing her! He is Healer!
And God will heal others through you if you would only believe in Him, Trusting in His Word. May we continue the works of the Lord Jesus, knowing that He is with us, and He shall supply our every need.
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For more from the book of Philippians: Philippians 1 Philippians 2 Philippians 3 Philippians 4
