Saturday August 29, 2015

Read  Phil 1:3-5, 2 Cor 6:3-10, 2 Cor 11: 22-28

At the end of a particular week, I decided to take Philippians 1:3 seriously and I counted the number of believers I’d given thanks for over the entire week. The number of people on my list was staggering, even overwhelming. How many did I have?  0!  I had zero people on my list!

I then decided to understand why praising God for other believers was such a low priority on my list. Life can get so busy and so chaotic... life can get so hectic that praising God let alone praising God for other believers becomes virtually impossible. We can get so caught up in our own worlds and our own problems and issues that we just don’t think about praising God for other believers.

And yet Paul praises God for other believers every time he prays. He says clearly in Philippians 1:3, ’I thank my God every time I remember you.’ Paul’s words here are not idealistic or filled with faint praise. Paul is describing his heart felt attitude towards the Philippians and his practice in prayer. We have no reason to take these words as exaggeration or non-literal.

So why does Paul praise God every time he prays? If you read yesterday’s passages and notes you’ll see why. Paul thinks about other believers as co-workers, fellow soldiers and sharers together in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, we can engage in chronological snobbery at this point. We can easily think that Paul had nothing better to do and that he had all the time in the world to sit and meditate for hours on God’s word – unlike us who are time poor and pressured 24/7 to get things done.  We can easily think that Paul led a blessed and charmed life and didn’t have the worries, the hassles and the pressures that we do.

Such thinking is at best self-justifying and at worst a demise into thick and foggy delusion. You and I will never be as busy or as harassed or as pressured as Paul was. The two passages from 2 Corinthians show clearly that Paul was a busy busy busy man. He had an eternal weight of pressure upon his shoulders, persecution from non believers and the burden of caring for the many churches he had planted Yet even so, he praises God for other believers every time he prays. Paul has time to praise the Lord and to rejoice in the partnership he shares with other believers.

Our issue is not a time problem. We share with Paul the same 24 hours in each and every day. Our problem is a conception problem. It’s rooted in the way we think. We don’t tend to think about other believers as Paul does and we tend to think of our own pressures and deadlines above and beyond anyone else. We tend to elevate ourselves and our issues to the utmost priority. In the brutish vernacular of the day, we tend to be selfish and self-centred!

Let me throw out a challenge to each of us. This coming week (Monday through Sonday) commit to praying each and every day and to spending at least ¼ of your prayer time in genuinely praising God for other believers. If you’re strapped for time, commit to unplugging the TV for the entire week and to logging off from all social media and all internet gaming sites for the entire week. Are you up for the challenge?

Prayer:

Using today’s Bible passage and notes write down points for

Adoration:

Confession

Thanks

Supplication:

· Pray that tomorrow’s service will be glorifying to God and an edification for the saints. Pray that God would powerfully be at work in the lives of believers and that non believers would be challenged to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

· There are several ministers in rural villages being supported by Shiloh Church Ministries. Pray that these men would be powerful in proclaiming the Word and that God would work through their preaching.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Why should we be praising God for other believers?

2. What does praising God for others do for the person praising God?

3. What things stop us from praising God for other believers?