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Pray With Joy

               In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 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. (Philippians 1:4-6)

                Can you imagine anyone saying this about you? Or about your home church? Let’s start with a definition. What would someone praying with joy look like? Did Paul dance around the room clasping his hands to his chest, just bursting with positive emotion over what the Philippians were doing? Maybe. Did he sit, looking up with a beatific smile? Maybe. Or, maybe he looked forward to praying for them because he’d heard good news.

                I pray through a list of people on an almost daily basis. Some are individuals I name. Others are groups of people I know. Some are groups of people I don’t know. I can’t say that I exactly pray with joy. I want to pray for them. Of course, they aren’t generally part of my team, and they aren’t necessarily doing something for the team. If they were on my team, so to speak, and scoring, or preventing scores, it’d be easier to feel joy.

                Paul seems to have had two reasons for joy with the Philippians. First, they’d partnered with him in the gospel. Secondly, God was at work in them. I know that when I pray for groups, I often pray that God would bless them through me, and me through them, but I don’t tend to think in terms of joy. I think in terms of responsibility, or perhaps love (doing good to them or wanting good for them) but not about what great things God is doing in their lives, not how special they are to me, etc.

                I think I believe that God is working in your life (and mine) but I can’t say there’s a positive sense of confidence. In fact, the more I think God is working in your life, at least if it seems to be headed in a direction I’d like, the more I think I’m jealous. She knows Scripture, he can pray like a warrior, they’ve overcome ___. What’s wrong with me? The reality is that I can’t see myself objectively.

                Attitude. I need prayer about my attitude. 

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