BFF is now on Facebook! Please visit and join us in releasing God's powerful Word to our generation!
God's peace can help us live above anxieties as we learn to trust in Him!
The Bible Teaching Commentary on Genesis: The Book of Foundations
Commentaries that specialize on training the teacher!
Stepping Into God’s Love
Philippians 1:9-11
Practical Love
Philippians 1:9a
Four ways love can abound!
Paul J. Bucknell
The Bible Teaching Commentary
Philippians 1:9-11 Intro | Philippians 1:9a Practical love |
Philippians1:9b Discerning Love | Philippians 1:10 Righteous Love |
Philippians 1:11 Glorious Love | 1:9-11 Video |
Philippians Introduction
Purpose
Stepping Into God’s Love from Philippians 4:9-11 speaks about four stages of love: practical love, discerning love, righteous love and glorious love, the later being the final culmination of love’s purpose. The first stage, practical love from Philippians 1:9a, is discussed here.
1) Practical Love (Philippians 1:9a)
“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment” (1:9).
Paul’s thoughts of love all began when he reflected on what counted the most. He probably discovered this from his prayers and and by his reflections helps us see not only where we are at as His people but the way to reach the place God has appointed us to go.
These words are actually a condensed version of Paul’s prayer for the believers. They are things that can and should be. They are our inheritance.
Love needs to abound
He himself is sitting in a prison as he dictates his letter to the church in Philippi. He was willing to suffer so that those there in Philippi could know Christ. They were in Paul’s heart. He loved them. He gave themselves as Christ gave Himself.
God wants this very love of God to be born in their hearts. He says in verse 8, “For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”
He hears that their love, though good and lovely, is not quite where it could be. As we journey through the epistle here, we will discover relationship and other kinds of problems in the church at Philippi.
How does this love grow?
These stresses and difficulties become the very crucibles where God wants them to grow in love. Paul is urging them to gain a greater vision of God’s love. It is not a time to give up.
No doubt these thoughts came to Paul because he battled them left and right. Here he is unjustly sitting in a jail for who knows how long, the church leaders have a big problem between themselves, and he probably suffers from the dirty clammy prison. (We see this struggle work out in a different way starting in verses 12.)
The big question is does, “Does God’s love really work in this real world of mine?”
The apostle knows these truths work. They were working with him through all the difficult situations he had been in. They work for handling messy church problem. We see Paul's confidence in his prayer.
Paul's Prayer
Paul’s prayer transcends the selfish ‘give me’ prayer or the religious ‘do I have to’ prayer by remembering God’s ultimate purposes.
The clearer our theology, the more effective our prayers.
Emotions are to learn from theology rather than shaping our views from what we feel. Paul prays that the Philippian believers’ love might abound. It is clear from what he is saying that there is always room for love. This nature of love will be discussed in a moment, but let us first remember the context in which Paul is speaking.
Let these words of the apostle Paul be what inspires each of us.
Application
We need to be honest with our thoughts. If you are not being tested at the moment, then pray these things through for the times you will need them. God’s love is always greater, better and stronger than what we could find in the world. Seek to have a Christ-centered love that is shown in our very prayer lives. The very time we feel like love won’t work or that we can’t love any more, let our minds turn back to this call to abound in love.
Application
Right now, think of a brother or sister that needs God’s love to inflame them. Pray quietly for them as well as yourself as we proceed. We will see the development of love is much like that of a flower, each of the four stages beckon us to further extend our notion and life of love.
Click to continue 'Stepping into His Love' on Philippians 1:9b
Check out other quality BFF materials related to the above topics.
Ephesians 1:15-17 Free Bible Study Questions: Developing Our Prayer ...
Who is Paul praying for in Ephesians 1:16? How did Paul pray for them (Ephesians 1:17)? Who does Paul ask so that certain things would be done for the ...
Describing Quality Prayer in our Quiet Times
Describing Quality Prayer is part of a larger series on Restoring our Personal Devotions which deepen our understanding on practical praying.
2 Chronicles 6-7 Solomon's Prayer and Promise for Revival covers both the Lord's appearance to Solomon, his request and God's amazing answer to his prayer ...
The Development of One's Prayer Life analyzes how prayer develops at various levels of Christian living through The Flow including identifying what problems ...
Ephesians 6:18-24 ~ The Place of Prayer in a Believer's Life is part 2 of 4 of The Bible Teacher's Commentary on "What you Really Believe about Prayer" which goes ...
Psalm 63:1-11 - Six Aspects to Godly Prayers
Psalm 63 Throughout Psalm 63 we will observe this man's prayer. David's prayer life is an example of not just an okay or typical prayer life but a model ...
1 John 5:14-15 Three Keys to Effective Prayer introduces the whole concept of how wonderful a gift prayer is. As Christians we can pray. But do we?
This article is one of many waiting for you to read from the BFF New Testament Library - see below.
Or see BFF's Resource Center for purchasing this low cost Library along with BFF's quality training material. |
info@foundationsforfreedom.net
Scriptures typically quoted from the New American Standard Bible unless noted:
(C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1988