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. (Philippians 1:6)
The apostle Paul’s confidence in and for the faith family of Philippi’s life in Jesus was not that they where sharp enough to figure out the riddles and rhythms of holiness nor determined enough to fulfill their vision of wholeness. Certainly Paul desired his sisters and brothers in Jesus to mature in their character and aptitude for holiness and wholeness, “to be pure and blameless” when the Kingdom was in unobstructed view (1:9-10). Still, Paul’s joyous certainty was not contingent on the ebbs and flows of his friends faith, but in the surety of the effective and eternal efforts which his friends where caught up in.
So this week, let us pray with a similar confidence for and with one another, partners in the gospel and fellow finishers because of Jesus.
Father, with joy I come before in remembering my sisters and brothers in Jesus, those in our faith family and beyond whose lives are joined to mine in our apprenticeship to our Master. What I am sure of, that Your good work in them, for them, and with them will be worked until they are fully the good You have made them to be, may such surety strengthen their hearts, steady their minds, and satisfy their souls.
Spirit, you are my witness, that I yearn for my faith family with the affection of Christ Jesus. And so I pray, Father, that your love may abound more and more in and through their daily cultivating of life that they may be ever maturing in knowledge of You and discernment of Your ways so that their labors may be participation in everything that is excellent, and so that they may be holy and whole in Your Kingdom come and will done on earth as it is in heaven.
May their lives, and mine, bear the fruit of ones who relate rightly to You, themselves, others, and earth; through Jesus Christ and to Your glory and praise.
This I pray, with confident joy. Amen.