Abounding Love (Philippians 1:9–11)

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
– Philippians 1:9–11

This is yet one more place where we have a Spirit-inspired prayer that we can just pray straight over each other and others around us. It’s a little bit shorter than the prayers we see like this in Ephesians.

So I want to lead us in two ways. One, I just want to pray this prayer over you and your life today. So I will just intercede for you. And I want to encourage you just to receive this and to say yes and amen to this in your own life.

And then I’m going to lead us to pray it together over other people in our lives. And then that will lead us to pray it over people around the world, specifically today, the Shirazi people of Tanzania, that God would answer this prayer in this people group of over 750,000 men and women, and children. So let’s do it. Let’s pray straight from the word over each other, over others, and over the nations.

So Philippians 1:9. Oh God, I pray these words over every brother and sister in Christ who is listening right now. You know everything that’s going on in their lives. You are with them right now. You’re for them right now. So it is my prayer that their love may abound more and more. Oh my God, I pray that their love today for you and for others would abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.

God, I pray that you would give them knowledge and discernment so that they may approve what is excellent, so they may live for what is excellent, so they may know and discern and spend their lives today for what is excellent. That they may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Oh God, I pray that over them, that they would be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.

I pray for the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus to mark their lives today, all the way until that day, to your glory and to your praise. To the glory and praise of your name, oh God.

And now we pray this over other brothers and sisters in Christ in our lives. God, we pray together as we picture names and faces right now that their love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that they may know and discern and approve and spend their lives today for what is excellent.

That they may be pure and blameless today, tomorrow, the next day, and the next day all the way until the day of Christ. The day would be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ today and tomorrow, and in increasing measure every day until the day they see you. To your glory and to your praise. God, we pray all this for the glory and praise of your name.

And God, we unite our hearts and minds in intercession for people around us today, who we know and will interact with, who don’t know your love and are not ready for the day when they will stand before you. Oh God, we pray that you would help us to share the gospel, the good news of your love for them in Jesus with urgency today. We pray for boldness to share the gospel with people around us today.

A Prayer for the Shirazi People

And God, we pray for the Shirazi people of Tanzania. We intercede for this people group of over 750,000 people, with no known followers of Jesus among them.

Please, oh God, cause the good news of your love in Jesus to spread to them. Raise up your Church in Tanzania and other places to spread your love to them. That they might be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus. That they might be pure and blameless for the day of Jesus to the glory and praise of your name and the good of their lives for all of eternity.

We pray all of this straight from your Word over each other, over others who know you, others around us who don’t know you, and over the nations. In Jesus’ name we pray your Word. Amen.