Over the past week, we have been reading through Paul's letters to the Philippian and Colossian churches. In Philippians 1:9-11 and Colossians 1:9-12, we see two examples of Paul's prayers for these communities of believers. From these, we can see some common themes, and can take away some things that we can pray for our church, as well as for other churches.

In the passage from Philippians, Paul writes, "And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." We can see that he is asking for the Lord to provide:

1. knowledge
2. discernment, so the church will know what is excellent, and
3. that their lives will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ

In the passage from Colossians, Paul writes, "we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience and joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." Here we see that Paul is asking that the Lord would give the church:

1. knowledge of God's will
2. spiritual wisdom and understanding, so they will be able
3. to bear fruit in every good work to honor the Lord, and
4. to increase in knowledge of God

The common denominators here are that Paul is asking for the Lord to provide a few things for the church, so that they would be able to grow and live in a certain way. In both cases, we see that Paul asks God to give the church knowledge and spiritual understanding (wisdom, discernment, understanding). The result of this should be that the churches will therefore bear the fruit of righteousness in their lives, as an outworking of the righteousness that Christ has given to us through the work of His life and death (as apples come from apple trees, and oranges from orange trees - so righteousness comes from believers who are made righteous by Christ. The fruit does not make the tree, but the tree makes the fruit).

This is something that each of us can and should pray for every community of believers, especially our own community of Fellowship. May the Lord give us knowledge and spiritual understanding, and may we bear the fruit of righteousness which honors Him in every way. While it is a simple prayer, it has profound meaning for our belief, our understanding, and our actions as the body of Christ. Pray for the Church. Pray for your community of believers.

In the Son,

Bill Horn
FBC Worship & Arts Pastor