unrest in the world. God gives to the individual believer in Jesus Christ perfect peace. Yet, even as we trust God for our salvation from the penalty of sin, we must also trust Him for victory over sin. This brings the peace that passes all human understanding (4:6, 7). Do you really know this won derful peace of God, or are you filled with anxiety? If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour, you are sim ply staggering through life with no hope, purposeless as far as eternity is concerned. You need to trust Jesus Christ completely! Notice that grace always comes before peace. The order can never be re versed. If you lack the tranquility of soul that the Bible offers, then come to know the grace of God as expressed in the Lord Jesus Christ. INTERCESSION One of the most beneficial things for our spiritual growth is to note the Scriptural prayers which are re corded. We find the intercessory life of Paul illustrated for us in Philippians 1:3-5. In his mind, real ities always came before the phys ical although he was not insensitive to the material needs of the Philip pian believers. He is thankful above everything else for their fellowship in the Gospel. Human possessions and attainments may be wonderful but they are only incidental. It is interesting that the first words of Paul's prayers always involve thanksgiving (Romans 1:8; I Cor inthians 1:4). Paul knew men's hearts. Unfortunately too many of us live a great deal of life in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. We all fall far short of what God would like us to be. But Paul also was
acquainted with the grace of the Lord through Jesus Christ. In this he gloried. He knew that God had provided for our salvation, as well as for our constant and continuing growth in the Christian life. Do our prayers follow this particular pat tern? Our prayers should be spir itual, filled with thanksgiving. We ought to thank God for Christ, for His love, for the Holy Spirit, for the freedom of worship and a whole host of spiritual things. Frequently we fail to thank Him for these things. One of the standards by which we can measure our matur ity in prayer is the proportion of time spent asking for material things and the time spent simply rejoicing in the Lord. Paul was most thankful for these Philippian believers and their fel lowship in the Gospel (verse 5). When we speak of fellowship to day we generally mean nothing more than comradeship. In Paul's day it was a far different matter. The Biblical use of this word means being caught up into a commun ion created by God between peo ple who are living together in Jesus Christ. Paul is supremely thankful for the share of the Philippians in the work. Thus they were united not only on a social level but also by the commitment of the truth in the Gospel. The church at Philippi was largely Gentile. All of the names associated with it are of that background. There was the jailor, the former slave girl who had been delivered of an evil spirit, and a business woman, Lydia, who traded a purple cloth from Asia and was a convert to Judaism. Apparently there was little to bind these people togeth er by social and worldly standards.
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