Skip to main content

Prayer

            And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may 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. (Philippians 1:9-11)

It's the time of year for traveling, so I’m going to take the easy way out and just move forward in Philippians rather than trying to find a different passage to write about in advance. I generally try to get blogs written in advance when I’m going to be traveling, so I only have to share them with social media and e-mail recipients.

I noted recently that it’s on my heart to seek God’s vision (or assignment) with regard to the places I live. I want to know what God wants me to do next year in Florida, and more immediately, what He wants me to do in Erie this sprimer (spring & summer.) In general, I know He wants me to trust Him more, but this is what Paul is writing about here. His prayer for the Philippians and our prayer for one another should be that our love may abound, that we may learn and gain wisdom, and that we may be pure, blameless, and filled with the fruit of righteousness.

As I was talking to the person I mentioned yesterday, I shared a couple of the directions I’m feeling led with regard to my fall/winter residence next year. One has to do with praying more – alone and with brothers and sisters in Christ. The other has to do with art. I’m not sure what I will be doing next year, but I want to be disciplined enough about it that I can focus on – effectively  - God and art.

But that’s not where I feel led for the spring and summer. For the next six months, while writing will still be a major focus, the vision has more to do with learning (which includes gardening) and growing. In both those, this prayer seems to be one that I can pray for myself and pray for you, and which you can pray for me.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more