Philippians 1:9-11: How to Pray Aright

"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so 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." Phil. 1:9-11

As we take our final look at the first part of the book of Philippians this morning, we are going to discern how we ought to pray aright. How ought to we to pray? We surely know that there are great resources in scripture on how to pray, such as the Lord's Prayer or the prayers in Psalms. Yet, how often do we heed these teachings? How often do we actually pray rightly rather than offer empty phrases to God because of our ignorance and pride? Surely we ought to learn how to pray rightly.

From Paul's prayer to the Philippians in these short verses, I think there are three great things that we can learn about prayer:

Firstly, all prayer ought to be for the end goal of the glory of God. When we approach prayer, we must remember that it is a means to an end of God's glory, as is everything else. When we have finished praying, we must not think our Christian duty done, but rather strive to see how God might answer that prayer so that his glory may be known in all the earth. We surely pray to God our requests that we might be delivered from trial and given strength for the day, but how often do we remember that we pray these things for God's glory, and not our own? Do we pray these prayers for our own comfort, or that God might be praised more and more? Do I pray for my glory, or God's glory?

Secondly, all prayer ought to be centered on the heart. In the prayer above, Paul firstly prays for the heart of the Philippian church before he prays for anything else, in order that they might love (that is, an affection and yearning of the heart). Often, we pray for peoples' actions. Although this is good, we must remember that peoples' actions will never change unless we also pray for their heart. Even in our own lives, we so often pray that we might not sinning without praying for our hearts to stop wanting that sin in which we desire. Rather, we ought to pray like Paul did, that our love may abound, that is, that our hearts may be filled with the adoration and worship of Jesus above all else.

Lastly, all prayer ought to be holistic. God has created for us both hearts, minds, and bodies, and Paul prays for all of them. He certainly starts with the heart, but he does ot stop there. He continues to pray for discernment and knowledge (that is, the mind), followed by prayers for purity and righteous fruit (that is, the body's actions). Paul does not neglect that fact that both our hearts, minds, and bodies need redemption from sin. We ought not only to love the right things (although it always starts there), but we ought to also think about and do the right things, all for God's glory, amen!

So, how have your prayers been lately? Have they been empty and dry? Well, consider taking some advice from Paul, and pray for the purpose of God's glory, starting with the heart, and continuing to our whole being (and the entire being of others, as this entire prayer was not for Paul, but for this brothers and sisters in Christ). I hope that we would learn to pray better each and every day. Amen!