some quick thoughts concerning 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.

I'm guilty - first some confession (it's supposedly good for the soul) - because for some time now - at least three weeks - I've only picked up and read my Bible during Sunday morning worship. So today, after several well-meaning thoughts, I realized that the only way I was going to "pick up" a Bible and read it while it is still called 'today' would be if I went online to www.BibleGateway.com, and, well, read.

So I thought I would "open" to the apostle Paul's letter to the Christians in Roman colony of Philippi. One only need read the first several verses to get a true sense of just how much Paul loved these brothers and sisters in the faith. When I read these words, I feel encouraged. And something else... I want to pray like this. I want to pray like this for the Christians I know; for the Christians that I've met; for the Christians I've done ministry with; for the Christians that I read or hear about through news articles, emails, or conversations. I want to regularly pray with this kind of passion, and mean it.

I know what it's like to pray with this kind of passion and purpose. When one so prays in the very Spirit of God, there is no care for time, and no temptation to want to bring it all to an end. In the end, it's about praying in love, God's love, that is the very power that first brought us into such a relationship as we have, first with God, and second with one another. I thank God for these writings. I thank God for pouring His Holy Spirit out upon and into Paul, and for Paul's joyful obedience, even in the midst of persecution and pain. May we pray with such love and thanksgiving, even as we praise the God who made all of this possible.

Go ahead... pray Paul's words above... just insert one or more names of fellow Christians, brothers and/or sisters in the faith, whom you give thanks for everytime you think of them... go ahead and pray for them right now... I am.