19th May 2025

19th May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 1:18b-26 focus v19)


Message (Alan Burke) 


It’s fair to say that I often feel pretty helpless in many situations. What I mean by that is that there is stuff that is going on in peoples lives that I want to fix and know I can’t, like when someone tells me that they have been red flagged yet its going to take months I want the power to make them get seen tomorrow, or when someone is engulfed in darkness and cannot see light I want to shake a magic wand and make them see the beauty of this day and the wonder of the Lord’s common grace. Do you ever fell like that, pretty helpless wishing you could do more for those whom you love and know? I suspect that you like I have felt like this many times. Today as we come to the word of God through Paul here in Philippines 1:18b-26 I’ve been confronted once more about the wonderful privilege that we have and how God uses it to fulfil his purposes amongst us and that is prayer. 


Here we are reminded that the Lord works through the prayers of his people. Look to what Paul says in v19 how through their prayers, ie the prayers of those in Philippi and the help given by the Spirit of Christ that what has happened to him will turn out for his deliverance. Now when Paul speaks of the Spirit of Christ he is speaking of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity that dwells in believers, that unites us with Christ. Paul elsewhere uses the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ to speak of the Holy Spirit (see Rom 8:9 and Gal 4:6).


The Lord uses the prayers of his people and the work of the Spirit within us to give us assurance of salvation, our assurance does not come in isolation from God’s people or God’s work within us. The Lord was using the prayers of the Philippians answering them, enabling Paul to persevere in the midst of all that he faced. While the circumstances he found himself in were enough to drive any normal person to lament, to have tears, be filled with grief, sorrow he Paul was able to rejoice because the he was being helped by the prayers of the people and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ to have assurance of his deliverance speaking of his salvation even in the midst of all that he faced.


The people prayed and God worked by his Spirit in Paul. Prayer in the life of the believer go hand in hand, prayer in the life of the church goes hand in hand. It is something that is so important for us. I may not be able to fix things, get someone who has been red flagged seen tomorrow or wave my magic wand for those engulfed in darkness who cannot see light all of a sudden see the beauty of this day and the wonder of the Lord’s common grace but the Lord uses my prayers and your prayers. God though used their prayers to enable Paul to rejoice, to have assurance of salvation no matter what happened him and he strengthen him in it all answering their prayers. We need to be a praying people, if we want to see God work we need to be at prayer, if we want to have assurance we need to be at prayer, if we want to be able to rejoice we need to be at prayer.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q87 What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
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