How Should Christians Pray in These Challenging Times?

Philippians 1:3-11
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 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.

7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may 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.

In this age of social media, the impact of your thinking and action as an individual, intentionally or not, is bigger than you could ever think of, whether for good or bad. This is true especially when you are in a position of influence, say you’re an adult, a father or the head of a nation.

Yesterday, as I started my day, I happened to stumble with a devotional video made by a fellow pastor. What he did caused me to take the passage he selected and as I usually do in my study of biblical text, I went to Biblearc and started phrasing it. In just a matter of I think 10 minutes, I was able to make a draft of this current article that I am now updating. The draft of course is raw and rough; it needs to be polished, reviewed, and edited.

In updating this article, I am thinking of including insights taken from the historical context of the letter, immediate literary context and word study, and of course, to arrange it homiletically and apply it to our current situation. The problem is time. I think I can’t make it even in an hour or two.

Our passage is about prayer. Specifically, it is about the prayer of the apostle Paul. By studying this passage, we somehow see a glimpse of the apostle’s character by the way he prayed. His prayer is characterized by gratitude, joy and spiritual concern for the welfare of the saints at Philippi. Know that when the apostle Paul wrote this letter, he was imprisoned for the sake of the gospel. What worst injustice could a political regime commit than considering it a crime and to imprison someone who actually preach about the righteousness of God? Is such injustice sufficient enough for the character of Paul’s prayer to change? That instead of being grateful, joyful and concerned for spiritual welfare of the church, Paul should stop praying, start whining, and do social justice activities instead?

Christians who still affirm that the Bible provides the norm for faith and life should take the word of God as their model in shaping their prayer life even in a time where there is widespread injustice. Since this is the case, let us take then the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:3-11 to guide us how we should pray in these trying times.

1.    Pray with thanksgiving

Regardless of the situation around you, whether the government is overreaching its power, the institutional church conspiring in silence in what you perceive as rampant injustice in the land, and the academe is actively propagating ideology that undermines life, freedom and prosperity, still the character of your prayer should not change. Just like the apostle Paul, even though his imprisonment is unjust, still this did not prevent him from offering thanksgiving and to remain joyful while suffering in prison. In this same letter, he commanded Christians at Philippi not to “be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:4). He also reminded them that regardless of the conflict in leadership that you experience in the church, do not forget to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). I think this is a good reminder for us in this time where there is too much negativity about the economy and anxiety about the future of our family.  

The apostle’s attitude of thanksgiving in his prayer is caused by his remembrance of the saints at Philippi. Perhaps, he had a good memory of them and that’s why every time he remembers them, he could not help himself but thank the Lord.

Despite the current crisis caused both by COVID-19 and the lockdown, still there are so many things we should be grateful for. We should be grateful that we are still alive and the needs of our family are being provided. We should be grateful that our companies or schools are still in operation and we still have a job. Does this mean that we are being calloused and we are closing our eyes in the midst of all the wrong things that are happening in our society? No, as Christians, we should not close our eyes to the ugly realities of life, but we should see beyond all of these and must maintain our vision that God is still sitting on His throne, reigning despite of the contradictions that we see around us.

2.    Rejoice

Second, regardless of what is happening to you and around you, you should still rejoice. This attitude will also reflect in your prayer. Paul’s prayer is not only full of thanksgiving; it is also full of joy. The reason for such joy is due to the partnership of the saints at Philippi in the ministry of the gospel. This church provided the financial assistance for Paul's mission. This was his supporting church. Paul called such partnership as good work and it is God Himself who began such good work in them and this truth guaranteed the completion of such good work. Amen!

The mind of the apostle Paul was so focused about his life’s mission, to propagate the gospel. And he even rejoiced in his unjust suffering just to fulfill this mission. In fact, for the apostle Paul, the intention of the preachers themselves are secondary; the primary thing for him is that the true gospel of Christ is being preached. And even in such kind of situation, the apostle Paul rejoiced! He said:

“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice” (Philippians 1:15-18).

Reading the above passage reminds me of the modernist controversy in PCUSA in the 1930s. J. Gresham Machen was at the center of that controversy. Many PCUSA ministers at that time could not understand Machen’s decision to establish the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions while there was already an existing one. In the eyes of Machen, the existing Board for Presbyterian Missions was no longer fulfilling its primary task due to the influence of liberalism. Machen could not rejoice in such situation. Perhaps, the intention was noble, but in the eyes of Machen, the existing foreign mission board was no longer preaching the gospel of Christ.  

Considering the immediate literary context, part of the character of Paul’s prayer was its spiritual focus, the growth of knowledge in Christian love. Such growth will give a church discernment. Looking at Machen’s story, was he becoming unloving by refusing to tolerate the modernist gospel? I don’t think so. Machen like the apostle Paul was convinced that love must grow in knowledge and such knowledge will give you discernment whether the gospel that is being preached is the gospel of Christ or not. If it is not, then no matter how noble the intention is, we cannot rejoice. If it is, just like the apostle Paul, we rejoice regardless the motives are true or not.

The elements of gratitude and joy in Paul’s prayer were so strong for the church at Philippi was in his heart. In fact, the apostle was confident to call God as his witness that his love for the saints at Philippi is the same love that Jesus has for his Bride. 

3.    Pray for discernment

Lastly, Paul's prayer was spiritually specific. The primary focus of his prayer for the Christians at Philippi is for their love to grow in knowledge. In this prayer, we are safeguarded from two spiritual diseases that afflict mankind of all ages, including Paul's generation and our time. When people think of love, they usually contrast it with the mind. They don't appreciate the idea that true love can actually grow in knowledge. I see libertines of today guilty of this offense by misusing the language of love. They use it either as a license or excuse to justify their immoral lifestyle.

Another common disease of mankind, which I think scholars are most prone too is what the apostle Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 8, a knowledge void of love. Such knowledge puffs up; it is proud, arrogant and boastful. It looks down on people. But in Paul's prayer, we see that love is not blind and true knowledge only grows in the soil of love. Thinking people who suffer betrayal are prone to fall to this second kind of disease. 

The reason why the apostle Paul focused on the growth of love in knowledge is because it is only by this that Christians at Philippi and in all ages can have discernment of what is best, pure and blameless. And by having this, we will become productive in Christian life. And we learn four things here about Christian productivity: 

  • One, Christian productivity is a result of the kind of love that is growing in knowledge. 
  • Two, Christian productivity is the spiritual outcome of thinking holy thoughts. 
  • Three, Christian productivity comes through Jesus Christ. 
  • And four, Christian productivity is to the glory and praise of God.

Amen!

After reading and reflecting on Philippians 1:3-11, as Christians, we should pray like the apostle Paul in this time of crisis. Our prayer should be characterized by gratitude and joy and should be spiritually specific focusing on the continuous growth of knowledge in Christian love. It is only by recovering this kind of prayer that we can see productive Christians in these challenging times.

 

Note: I am thinking of studying further the meaning of the phrase “filled with the fruit of righteousness” and will later include such study in updating this article.


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