Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment...
In Reason #37, we saw that God will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. If the Holy Spirit is given in answer to prayer, it follows that all His fruits also come in the same way. Accordingly, we are going to look through the Scriptures and see what instances we can find where it is clear that fruits of the Spirit (listed in Galatians 5:22) come in answer to prayer.
We have already seen in Reason #11 that prayer is a means by which we may know the peace of God, which passes understanding.
In our text today, Paul prays for the Philippians that the love that they already possess may abound in knowledge and discernment, to approve the things that are excellent and to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.
Love is foundational in the Christian faith. God is love, the Scriptures tell us. Love to God and love to our neighbor is the fulfillment of God's Law. Love is the reason God sent Jesus into the world to die on the cross. Love, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, is that without which all other gifts and graces we may possess are empty and meaningless.
Unbelievers have no love for God and no pure and unselfish love for their neighbors in their hearts - rather they have a principle of enmity and hatred. Believers, on the other hand, do begin at conversion to demonstrate this selfless love and it overflows to one another, to our neighbors and even to our enemies. Why? Because the Spirit of God is working in them the same kind of perfect love Jesus demonstrated in His own life.
Paul tells the Philippians that he is praying, not just that they might have more love, but that it might abound still more and more in them! If they are being fashioned in likeness to Christ, this will happen. If they know Christ better (real knowledge) this will happen. If they have discernment to identify and choose good instead of evil, this will happen. These are all signs that the Holy Spirit is producing His fruit in their lives, foremost of which is love.
Do you want to abound in this supernatural love that we have been talking about? Paul tells us the Spirit will give us this love in answer to our prayers. Jesus told us that if we ask, God will give us the Holy Spirit. So here, surely, is a reason to pray this week at every opportunity - to be able to abound still more and more in this amazing love, to the glory of our God!
