3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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.
Paul begins his letter to the church at Philippi with thankfulness for those God put under his care as well as those who partnered with him in the ministry of the gospel. He wrote this letter from prison & he will go on to later say that his imprisonment is for the sake of the gospel and that his partners in ministry share in the grace of Jesus with him.
When was the last time you thanked the Lord in your prayers for those who have partnered with you, or for you, in the gospel? When I read this, I was first convicted about my own prayer life. Even if I regularly thought about these kinds of relationships, would there be any room for thankfulness in prayer due to my constant asking for things?
In another letter, Paul told his readers to imitate him as he imitated Christ, so the first lesson we can take from this passage is to imitate Paul by making room in our prayer lives for thankfulness & gratitude. A second lesson is for us to be mindful of who these people are in your life. For me, the list is too numerous to count, but one circumstance comes to mind.
The local church where God called me to ministry is very different from Ridgecrest and I’d like to think I’ve grown a lot since then. I’m not even in the same type of ministry I thought He called me to then, but the fact remains that leaders there invested in me in a way that put me on the path to where I am now. God could’ve gotten me here however He pleased, but He chose to do it that way & that’s something for which I will always be grateful.
He began a good work in me when He called me into ministry & knew as I grew that the type of ministry would change as He opened something completely unique for me.
There are several responses we should have to a passage like this, but here are two. Think about the partnerships you’ve had in your spiritual life. Who are these people & what kind of part did they play in your life? The second response, if you can’t think of anyone, is to ask God to show you. They’re there, you might have just missed them. Ask Him to help you keep records of what He’s doing in your life & how.