Encouragement – 19 October 2009

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.  Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer.  I find myself praying for you with a glad heart.  I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present.  There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

It's not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you.  My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality.  You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece.  All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God.  He knows how much I love and miss you these days.  Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!   

Philippians 1:3-8 [The Message]

Wouldn’t it be great to receive a letter like this! “Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.” Someone thinks enough of me to write such a thing.  Someone thinks enough of me not to have the slightest doubt about what God is doing in my heart and life!  What a lift for my day!

A friend of mine phones or calls regularly with the latest woe – but it is clear God has been doing wonderful things in his life.  He is so changed in the short time I have known him.  It is easy to tell him he has no need to worry, because I know it is absolutely true.  And when Paul writes this letter, shackled and in prison, he is not concerned about his own troubles, but thinks of the way those new young Christians at Philippi are growing and tells them “I love and miss you”.  He is absolutely convinced that God is at work in their lives!

Wouldn’t it be great if Paul told me that?  Obviously the gracious Holy Spirit thought so too, so this letter is delivered to you today – because it is to us, to you and me – from a Friend who loves us.  If God has begun a good work in you then today, read this and know there is not the slightest doubt He will keep at it!