Precious Memories Lead to Prayer


Philippians 1:3-11
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all; making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Over the holidays I had the joy of having my daughter and her family home for Christmas. When my granddaughter (age 4) awoke each morning she would come out to the living room to snuggle with grandma while the rest of the house still slept. I would make certain I was sitting there waiting for her, for those were precious moments! She would just sit with me quietly, watching the dawn break through the deck doors and I would pray. In those moments I would review with God how precious this child is and how grateful I am that He put her into my life. I would ask God to bless her with a strong body, mind, and especially a strong faith. My heart was moved to pray for her and I could do nothing less. This is the way that Paul prayed for his “churches” and this prayer for the Philippians is particularly poignant.

Every day we are asked to pray for people who are sick, lost, hurting, or are facing struggle. Sometimes those prayers can overwhelm our time with God and we forget to spend a few moments reviewing with Him the joy we feel when we think about the precious people in our lives. But Paul stands again as an example of how to live a life in God’s presence. He takes the time to thank God and experience yet again the joy that those relationships bring him. Those kinds of prayers bring peace to the whole day.

We are in a challenging time right now. There seems to be little to celebrate or joy to experience. But that is simply not the case. God is still in control and still moving through our lives to accomplish His good and perfect will. Each of us have people and circumstances for which to thank God. Each of us have reasons for genuine joy. I generally start my prayers with the praise and worship of God followed by the long list of things I must thank Him for. Then I lift up my petitions to His throne. But maybe it’s time to end my prayers with expressions of joy for all the people in my life who cause me to remember His great love and faithfulness. That is a long list of friends and family and even the length of the list alone is cause for joy. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.” (Phil. 4:4)

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