. . . HAS TO CHANGE!
We’ve been going through the letter to the Philippians in our church and, as one member of our preaching team,
I preached yesterday on how my life has to change IF Philippians can be trusted. If you wish, you can listen to the message in a few days here on this blog, or follow my entries for the next little while as I go over some of the life changes that must happen in my life IF I can trust the book of Philippians.
The first truth that jumped out at me from the pages of the book of Philippians was this:
I. My prayer life will be revolutionized (1:3-6) This passage in Philippians says, “3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Three specific truths grabbed me by the spiritual throat in this text:
(a) I will pray for others with JOY (v. 4)
(b) I will focus on partnerships (v. 5).
(c) I will pray for His continuing work in others (v. 6).
I really need to hear each of those truths. Many times I fail to pray for others. When I do, it’s not 
always with JOY! I need to think about how we believers partner with each other for the work of the kingdom. And I’m lousy at consistently praying for God’s continuing work in others. If prayer is more than simply talking to myself, if prayer is communicating with almighty GOD, then my prayers can be part of the process of others maturing in Christ. (TO BE CONTINUED)
Discussion Questions: (1) How might you put into practice those three aspects of prayer: praying for others with joy, praying for partnerships, and praying for God’s continuing work in others? (2) What verse or verses in the book of Philippians have challenged you to cooperate with God’s good work in your life? (please share those verses as you comment).
Dr. Larry Dixon
larrydixon.wordpress.com 