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I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1: 3-11)
May this be a tremendous Tuesday for you, dear Friend! I pray wonderful blessings and outcomes in your life! I thank God for you, your life, the blessing you are to me, and to so many. May our prayer be that God would increase the influence we have on those who need to know Him more today and all days.
Yesterday I made and shared a video with you and with YouTube. My prayer is that the video would remind us of the power there is in prayer. We as a people of faith were once known for the prayers we lifted up and the answers to prayer that we would receive; but like many things, prayer got placed on a back burner or forgotten all together, neatly and conveniently hidden behind clever excuses. Time not spent in prayer opens time with our enemy, the enemy of God. Time spent in prayer close that time off for the truly important to be in our lives. Today's passage is part of a revelation to readers in a church that their founder was thinking and praying for them. In these words, Paul shares how much he thinks and misses the people with whom he had shared Jesus and His words of life and salvation. Paul understood that he just started a work that will not be complete until we see Jesus. This is Advent work. This is preparation work. This is work that requires the presence, power and peace of God's Holy Spirit. It is an invitation for us to take our prayer time seriously. It also adds to the list of people and problems for which we are praying; pray for those with whom you worship and work God's word. Pray for the preparation work to be complete at the right time. May the foundation of Jesus on which all believer's lives are based receive the sturdy and strong beams to hold us faith, hope, joy, and peace. And may the covering be Christ's love. Can you pray that for your loved ones? Then, you certainly can and should pray that for the leaders and members of your local church.
Paul wrote today's passage from the prison in which he was being kept. He had the time to pray and write and he took advantage of that time to bless those whom had blessed him and his work. He closes today's passage by praying that love in his fellow believers would "overflow with the knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best." How many people are praying for you with this same request? I confess I need all of you to pray for me for the same request; that my daily chores and expectations just brim with love for all people and that same love would bless my heart and mind to know what is best for me and for those around me. (think driving stress in the traffic in your area! Boy, do we need prayers!) Pray that today be a day when you and I draw closer to being the person whom Paul says will "be pure and blameless." I'm still a ways off; your prayers will help me be better today than I was yesterday, and tomorrow even better. Let us take seriously the harvest of more righteous and blameless people that comes as we share the good news of Jesus' love.
PRAYER: Loving Father, help me to make time to pray like I should. May my prayers bless others as I remember them and their needs. Help me to pray for my church, the leaders, and members, that they may truly grow in their love and wisdom for You and Yours. May I learn to better manage my time to be the servant you called me to be. May our blessing be love to overflowing with wisdom and grace. This I pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share this devotional with someone who may need it!
Eradio Valverde
A book that blessed my life and ministry is The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordero. An ideal gift for someone who would like their faith increased! Here is that link: https://amzn.to/2E0JefN
