Philippians 1:1-11

1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ,To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul opens his letters like all his others, with a prayer of grace and peace from Jesus.  It’s important to note that grace always comes before peace because there is no real peace until you receive the grace and forgiveness of God.

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.

God will not leave us to ourselves, once we have received Him, He will continue the work in our lives, teaching and guiding us to do that which is pleasing to Him.  It is not us that have to do the work of spreading the Good News, Jesus, who is in us, does it and through His grace, allows us to partake in the blessings.

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.

This is a great example of a prayer that we can offer for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  What a wonderful thing that we can do for one another, to be able to ask for more of the Spirit in our lives and for more of Him.

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God is awesome.