This is an entry about the OIL conference in review. I don't believe that I learned much in terms of pure knowledge or had any of my doctrines radically changed, but I do believe that I had my heart changed in many areas that were in need of reformation.
First of all, my views on praise were changed drastically. Being at KCM amd being bombarded by ideals of Christ-centeredness on a daily basis are definitely a blessing, yet in my sin and pride I was able to distort those ideas. When looking on every praise song we sang at the conference, my eyes were very critical, always questioning the credibility of the praise around me, asking for more "Jesus" in every line of each song we sang. I was greatly discouraged after the second morning worship but found solace in the fact that at least my peers felt the same way. As evening worship rolled around, I was looking for any familiar song to which I could praise the name of Jesus with and was also being let down in such a way that I felt like leaving for home right then and there. However, that's when I saw title Reign In Us by Starfield on the overhead projector. I rejoiced in my heart. Hallelujah, I get to praise God now! I sang the first verse and pre-chorus and chorus very contently. "Yes, Mighty One, you reign in us!" But then it occurred to me to start reading the lyrics a little more closely. To my astonishment, I found very little hints of the explicit Gospel except for the name "Lord Jesus" in the pre-chorus in a song that I really liked and would recommend to anyone. Then conviction hit me and made me aware of my pride and judgment this group of believers. The mere unfamiliarity of these songs had hindered me from worship of the true God who sent his only Son to die on the cross, taking the wrath that was meant for me, but then rising again to give me hope to join him in heaven. I looked on each song afterward with new eyes. After conferring with Henrik, he exclaimed, "Yeah the songs looked different for some reason!" I can only surmise that it was the Holy Spirit's intercession, opening our eyes to our pride but then pointing us to true worship of Jesus Christ, our savior.
Secondly, a peculiar thing happened before this enormous revelation I received on the second night. Though I did not particularly like any of the songs that we were singing during worship, I admitted that there was nothing fundamentally flawed with them that conflicted with my doctrine. You could in fact praise God with these songs if you were in the correct heart of worship, whatever that means. So when I decided that I would simply not sing a song because I deemed it "unworthy" of my praise to God, I would sit down in my chair and pray. I prayed to God that each person in the room would have the correct heart of worship to praise God with what I found out later were a plethora of Hillsong and Chris Tomlin songs. And then it hit me, once again, or rather, once before. I was actually praying for people. God was working in me, despite my pride of criticizing the song selection, to give me a heart for others, truly concerned about their worship towards God. It has been my biggest prayer since the end of the conference that I would not lose this incredible gift of prayer that God was gracious enough to bless me with. In fact, that same second night of worship ended in a time of prayer. I prayed for a certain amount of time with my eyes closed and when I opened them, I saw Willis walking around. He asked me if I wanted to pray together and then followed with, "What time is it? Eleven?" It was midnight. I don't know how long we had been praying for but it was incredible!
My last face-pwnage came during the last message giving by none other than Dr. Carson, preaching on the parable of the talents (Luke 19:11-7). Now, I was very excited for this message, having undergone two huge mind-crushes already (and praying to God that they would be genuine transformations), but this was actually a parable that I had questions about and wasn't able to interpret any satisfactory meaning on my own. I do not have the faculties to summarize Carson's message point by point and deliver every blow of truth that Carson preached from the Word of God that morning, but the biggest thing that broke my jaw in half was the emphasis on God's kingdom in the eternal sense. For the last year, I had been driving myself with 1 Cor 13 and its whole emphasis on love which 1 John 3 confirms. However, I had been wrapped up with love in the worldly sense. In a "Ghandi" sense if you will. Being a nice guy a good role model (point towards Christ), and in fact, I wanted to turn my evangelism towards something that agreed more with this. I felt that cold evangelism was ineffective and thought I might do something else that would catch people's eyes in a different way. Going off of Matt 5:14-16, I would do something like give umbrellas out when it was raining and have little Christian notes attached or something. But this is such a round-a-bout method. Instead of giving them an umbrella, why not give them Christ? Instead of working so hard to make myself into the image of Christ to point them to Christ (not that this is bad in itself), why not just give them Christ? I did not save them but Jesus Christ did. I now discovered why it was so hard to give up my life to God and that was because I was not living my life with the idea of furthering his assets, which is exactly the ideology of the last servant whom the master condemns in the parable.
So that's it. I will be attending next year. It was pretty awesome.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Bitterness
It's hard to forgive your brother.
It's hard to forgive your brother when he called you out in public.
It's hard to forgive your brother when he called you out in public when you were supposed to be the leader.
It's hard to forgive your brother when he called you out in public when you were supposed to be the leader and you believed you were working extra hard to serve those who you were leading.
It's hard to forgive your brother when he called you out in public when you were supposed to be the leader and you believed you were working extra hard to serve those who you were leading, even sacrificing yourself in doing so.
Except when Jesus Christ was the one who sacrificed himself.
Except when Jesus Christ was the one who sacrificed himself for those he was working extra hard to save.
Except when Jesus Christ was the one who sacrificed himself for those he was working extra hard to save when they desperately needed a savior.
Except when Jesus Christ was the one who sacrificed himself for those he was working extra hard to save when they desperately needed a savior, yet was crucified and publicly condemned to death.
Except when Jesus Christ has forgiven me.
Praise God for the gift of forgiveness. Praise God for the gift of salvation.
It's hard to forgive your brother when he called you out in public.
It's hard to forgive your brother when he called you out in public when you were supposed to be the leader.
It's hard to forgive your brother when he called you out in public when you were supposed to be the leader and you believed you were working extra hard to serve those who you were leading.
It's hard to forgive your brother when he called you out in public when you were supposed to be the leader and you believed you were working extra hard to serve those who you were leading, even sacrificing yourself in doing so.
Except when Jesus Christ was the one who sacrificed himself.
Except when Jesus Christ was the one who sacrificed himself for those he was working extra hard to save.
Except when Jesus Christ was the one who sacrificed himself for those he was working extra hard to save when they desperately needed a savior.
Except when Jesus Christ was the one who sacrificed himself for those he was working extra hard to save when they desperately needed a savior, yet was crucified and publicly condemned to death.
Except when Jesus Christ has forgiven me.
Praise God for the gift of forgiveness. Praise God for the gift of salvation.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Spectra
My cat always follows me around, meowing, rubbing up against my calves. She wants me to pet her or scratch her head. Basically, giving her attention in general is kind of what she lives for. However, I'm busy sometimes. I have to go to work, I have to go to school, go hang out with my friends. She can't understand why I have to leave the house or that I want to sleep in sometimes (instead of being clawed in the face).
I feel like the owner-pet relationship is very similar to one that we practice with God. In our walk, we often-times enjoy reveling in God's wondrous plan and all that He has in store for us. God is happy to bring us joy and peace, yet His goals stretch much further than ourselves and I feel like I've forgotten that at times. God is not only concerned with edifying myself, but the entire world, all of the elect. If I continue to pray selfishly, God please let me get this job, please let me get this A, please let this girl be the one, etc, then I will be very much like my cat. I will keep calling out for His attention and not understand that His existence and being are on such a different level that I cannot even comprehend.
He has much more planned in the masterpiece of Creation than my lowly life. I pray that my heart is one that yearns to pray for others, realizing the depth of God's grace not only for myself but for all the elect that were, are, and are yet to come.
I feel like the owner-pet relationship is very similar to one that we practice with God. In our walk, we often-times enjoy reveling in God's wondrous plan and all that He has in store for us. God is happy to bring us joy and peace, yet His goals stretch much further than ourselves and I feel like I've forgotten that at times. God is not only concerned with edifying myself, but the entire world, all of the elect. If I continue to pray selfishly, God please let me get this job, please let me get this A, please let this girl be the one, etc, then I will be very much like my cat. I will keep calling out for His attention and not understand that His existence and being are on such a different level that I cannot even comprehend.
He has much more planned in the masterpiece of Creation than my lowly life. I pray that my heart is one that yearns to pray for others, realizing the depth of God's grace not only for myself but for all the elect that were, are, and are yet to come.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Late Night Prayer
The last four updates I've tried to write have all been collecting dust in the digital drawer of the Blog-spot dashboard. I guess I really didn't think I had much to say about anything or I thought that anything I thought of wasn't worth sharing in the end. Tonight, it's 1:48 AM and I'm in a small town named Sayre in Pennsylvania where my cousin, aunt, uncle, and grandmother live. My father and I visit them every so often but I'd be lying if I told you that I enjoyed the visits. I'm bored a lot of the times, just surfing the internet on my Mac (pretty much what I do anyways) and I can't be with my friends to do anything fun with.
However, God has a plan for us all. Each time He's sent me up here, I've been bitter. Every time my father asked me if I was free to go to see my grandmother, I was hesitant. This was only because I was unaware of the glory of God and His willingness to use me. A lot of us, I think, have been a little cautious when we hear things about praying and then witnessing instant healing or just modern day miracles from God in general. What we would call the "Charismatic" view turns a lot of Christians off because they feel that things like tongues just freak them out.
I'm still a little hesitant but I have prayed for gifts of the Spirit, while still being cautious and asking God to only give me these if they are by His will. The thing I keep forgetting though, is that my testimony includes a story of healing from God. I believe that I had clinical depression when God brought me to Him and then I was healed afterward. Now, I don't know if I had it for sure, so I've been hesitant to base my belief modern day miracles on that. However, I think God has brought me to this town to see my family to show me that they exist.
Twice now, as this happened the last time I was here and I just forgot about it, I've heard my grandmother calling out in her sleep, pleading. I was, at first, freaked out. Then I prayed. I prayed that whatever was ailing my grandmother would pass from her. This time I prayed that it would pass from her, pass from this house, this family, and never come back. Right after I pray those words in my head, my grandmother stops crying out. I continue to pray and praise God for He is worthy of all praise!
However, God has a plan for us all. Each time He's sent me up here, I've been bitter. Every time my father asked me if I was free to go to see my grandmother, I was hesitant. This was only because I was unaware of the glory of God and His willingness to use me. A lot of us, I think, have been a little cautious when we hear things about praying and then witnessing instant healing or just modern day miracles from God in general. What we would call the "Charismatic" view turns a lot of Christians off because they feel that things like tongues just freak them out.
I'm still a little hesitant but I have prayed for gifts of the Spirit, while still being cautious and asking God to only give me these if they are by His will. The thing I keep forgetting though, is that my testimony includes a story of healing from God. I believe that I had clinical depression when God brought me to Him and then I was healed afterward. Now, I don't know if I had it for sure, so I've been hesitant to base my belief modern day miracles on that. However, I think God has brought me to this town to see my family to show me that they exist.
Twice now, as this happened the last time I was here and I just forgot about it, I've heard my grandmother calling out in her sleep, pleading. I was, at first, freaked out. Then I prayed. I prayed that whatever was ailing my grandmother would pass from her. This time I prayed that it would pass from her, pass from this house, this family, and never come back. Right after I pray those words in my head, my grandmother stops crying out. I continue to pray and praise God for He is worthy of all praise!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Mortification of Sin
Sin is powerful. I can't imagine anyone denying this fact. It's a force so strong that it envelopes the entire planet. This world dwells in sin. Its ruler is practically the author of it. It's strategies are very sly. It often begins with the opportunity for greater happiness. Because our hearts are evil to the core, our own self-pleasure and indulgence are enough to gain our approval. I want to be happy but at what cost? My soul? What is a soul, anyways?
*I am truly grateful that my God is a God that does not care about what I think will make me happy. Thank God that He will impose His will on me. I pray the day never comes when He gives me all that I desire that does not focus on His Son and Himself and the Holy Spirit.*
Sin is like a shape shifter. It takes many forms, some implicitly innocent and some explicitly atrocious. It embeds itself into our daily actions so seamlessly that we don't even notice it's there. I pray the day never comes when I become so self-absorbed in my sins that I do not realized I am committing treason and blasphemy against God.
It is not only amorphous as to the shape it comes in but it can mold itself to each of us, individually. It's truly a formidable opponent. When one is a fledgling in the faith, sin works by giving the person nonchalance, the idea that this particular sin isn't that big of a deal. One often believes that God will punish those who are truly sinful, the murderers, adulterers. Yet Jesus says that if you have ever been angered against your brother, you have murdered him in your heart. Yet Jesus says that if you have ever looked on another with sexual desire, you have committed adultery in your heart. The world tells us that these thoughts are normal, that it's only natural to think this way because we're human.
Truly, we are humans worthy of eternal condemnation. This thought may dawn on us many years later when we consider ourselves soldiers for the faith. Yet sin can bring us down with other methods. Instead of under emphasizing itself, it will hyperbolicly over emphasize itself to the point where we are consumed with guilt. Are Savior died for my sins, yet I have crucified Him again and again. How unworthy I am to be chosen among the elect.
I pray that we would not fall into despair and that we would remember that Jesus, the Son of God, did not come into the world for the righteous and faithful, yet came for sinners like ourselves. For the murderers, thieves, adulterers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and every other wayward soul that does not deserve redemption. Yet through the ever enduring love of God, Jesus died on the cross, taking the punishment of our sins onto Himself. And then was resurrected so that all who believe in Him may have salvation and eternal life in the glory of God, the Almighty.
*I am truly grateful that my God is a God that does not care about what I think will make me happy. Thank God that He will impose His will on me. I pray the day never comes when He gives me all that I desire that does not focus on His Son and Himself and the Holy Spirit.*
Sin is like a shape shifter. It takes many forms, some implicitly innocent and some explicitly atrocious. It embeds itself into our daily actions so seamlessly that we don't even notice it's there. I pray the day never comes when I become so self-absorbed in my sins that I do not realized I am committing treason and blasphemy against God.
It is not only amorphous as to the shape it comes in but it can mold itself to each of us, individually. It's truly a formidable opponent. When one is a fledgling in the faith, sin works by giving the person nonchalance, the idea that this particular sin isn't that big of a deal. One often believes that God will punish those who are truly sinful, the murderers, adulterers. Yet Jesus says that if you have ever been angered against your brother, you have murdered him in your heart. Yet Jesus says that if you have ever looked on another with sexual desire, you have committed adultery in your heart. The world tells us that these thoughts are normal, that it's only natural to think this way because we're human.
Truly, we are humans worthy of eternal condemnation. This thought may dawn on us many years later when we consider ourselves soldiers for the faith. Yet sin can bring us down with other methods. Instead of under emphasizing itself, it will hyperbolicly over emphasize itself to the point where we are consumed with guilt. Are Savior died for my sins, yet I have crucified Him again and again. How unworthy I am to be chosen among the elect.
I pray that we would not fall into despair and that we would remember that Jesus, the Son of God, did not come into the world for the righteous and faithful, yet came for sinners like ourselves. For the murderers, thieves, adulterers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and every other wayward soul that does not deserve redemption. Yet through the ever enduring love of God, Jesus died on the cross, taking the punishment of our sins onto Himself. And then was resurrected so that all who believe in Him may have salvation and eternal life in the glory of God, the Almighty.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Evangelism 1.0
I am the worst sinner I know, yet God continues to use me fruitfully for His purpose. For that, I am ever in awe and grateful for His mercy that continually rains down upon us. Today, I went to do some cold turkey evangelizing in Stamp Student Union of UMCP. It was my first experience with this type of evangelizing as I really preferred to talk to people I know. I was pretty concerned with potential confrontations I could get into with people and I didn't want it to end up as merely an argument. Thus, I decided to try to make a sneakier way to try and spark the conversation. I wanted to make it a survey/interview style of introduction and while I was in this idea, I figured that I might as well turn it into a real survey/interview and collect some data on the people I talked to! I ended up printing out 10 copies of my survey but only had time to go through 5 of them during my time at Stamp, which was around 2 hours.
If anyone's interested, in the actual break down, I met 4 Christians (1 who was Catholic) and 1 person who practiced Sikhism. Sadly, the Catholic guy was the one who couldn't tell me what the Gospel was. That was disheartening to see my stereotypes reinforced. I'm actually really concerned for my Catholic brothers and sisters in this day and age. I hope that the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches can open up dialogue again. The Sikhism guy was actually really open to what I had to say. Later, I talked to Moses about it and he said that many Indians who practice faiths (that includes Islam) are usually like that and are really tolerant of other religions. This is kind of frustrating as they'll agree to what we agree on, yet never try to see to confirm which side has more truth. This is my first instance of where I see post-modernism's dangers.
Another interesting point I saw that 4/5 of the people were connected to their faith through their parents (being born into the faith) and 3/5 connected their faith throug intellectual curiosity in the search for the truth. It really shows that while we hear a lot about how kids being brought up in the church turns them off to Christianity, rearing children through faith seems to bear fruit. Yet another interesting point is that while all Christians I interviewed said that the Bible was 100% true, half of them told me that the commandments Jesus' gave us regarding to how we should live our life were more like guidelines and suggestions than actual law we needed to practice. Interestingly enough as well, both of them go to The Gathering.
Out of the 3 Christians who were able to share the Gospel with me, Jesus' death on the cross was mentioned 3/3. However, salvation through faith alone was only mentioned once, original sin was mentioned twice, and His resurrection was only mentioned once as well. Despite arguments that might suggest that their unpreparedness for my questions led them to stumble in their incomplete Gospel message to me, I find that main idea of Christianity is pretty important to know at all times if you count yourself as a Christian. One thing I did not expect was that these Christians I interviewed told me that they were not only knowledgeable in Christianity as a faith, but every single one of them told me that they were knowledgeable about other religions as well.
So far, I've seen no correlation between someone's major or someone's race or someone's sex or someone's year in college and their views in faith. Granted, all these evaluations are made on a small sample size and are hardly statistically significant. I wasn't trying to put down any organizations or people in this blog, but I just wanted to share my findings. Generalizations shouldn't be made from the data I've collected so far but I intend to keep this up at least until the end of the semester and see what the data yields in a larger comprehensive study. In case you're wondering, Vincent, I didn't include your interview in the sample because it would've skewed the data.
If anyone's interested, in the actual break down, I met 4 Christians (1 who was Catholic) and 1 person who practiced Sikhism. Sadly, the Catholic guy was the one who couldn't tell me what the Gospel was. That was disheartening to see my stereotypes reinforced. I'm actually really concerned for my Catholic brothers and sisters in this day and age. I hope that the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches can open up dialogue again. The Sikhism guy was actually really open to what I had to say. Later, I talked to Moses about it and he said that many Indians who practice faiths (that includes Islam) are usually like that and are really tolerant of other religions. This is kind of frustrating as they'll agree to what we agree on, yet never try to see to confirm which side has more truth. This is my first instance of where I see post-modernism's dangers.
Another interesting point I saw that 4/5 of the people were connected to their faith through their parents (being born into the faith) and 3/5 connected their faith throug intellectual curiosity in the search for the truth. It really shows that while we hear a lot about how kids being brought up in the church turns them off to Christianity, rearing children through faith seems to bear fruit. Yet another interesting point is that while all Christians I interviewed said that the Bible was 100% true, half of them told me that the commandments Jesus' gave us regarding to how we should live our life were more like guidelines and suggestions than actual law we needed to practice. Interestingly enough as well, both of them go to The Gathering.
Out of the 3 Christians who were able to share the Gospel with me, Jesus' death on the cross was mentioned 3/3. However, salvation through faith alone was only mentioned once, original sin was mentioned twice, and His resurrection was only mentioned once as well. Despite arguments that might suggest that their unpreparedness for my questions led them to stumble in their incomplete Gospel message to me, I find that main idea of Christianity is pretty important to know at all times if you count yourself as a Christian. One thing I did not expect was that these Christians I interviewed told me that they were not only knowledgeable in Christianity as a faith, but every single one of them told me that they were knowledgeable about other religions as well.
So far, I've seen no correlation between someone's major or someone's race or someone's sex or someone's year in college and their views in faith. Granted, all these evaluations are made on a small sample size and are hardly statistically significant. I wasn't trying to put down any organizations or people in this blog, but I just wanted to share my findings. Generalizations shouldn't be made from the data I've collected so far but I intend to keep this up at least until the end of the semester and see what the data yields in a larger comprehensive study. In case you're wondering, Vincent, I didn't include your interview in the sample because it would've skewed the data.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Praying Like Paul
First off, have to say that the KCM CP chapter retreat was awesome. I definitely invite all who did not attend this year to attend next year's. I really was thinking of inviting Sam Ock but thought his presence might've been a slight distraction. Perhaps I did not give enough credit to the rest of KCM and I know Sam would have enjoyed it. In any case, one of the biggest thing we took away from the retreat was to pray like Paul did. Why don't we feel like our prayers are getting answered? Well God tends to glorify Himself in everything so praying for things that won't glorify Him may not work out so well. Paul was someone who prayed regarding God's glory; however, and so Pastor Robert was expounding on how praying like Paul started answering his own prayers much more as well.
Philippians 1:9-11
"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."
This is obviously a more God-glorifying prayer than "Please let me do well on my test tomorrow."
However, we see that there are other times where Paul offers his prayers to other groups. In Ephesians 1:17-19 it says (I'm including "I pray" in here because it's in my NIV but the website I'm getting bible verses from has omitted it and it's just easier to understand that way):
"(I pray) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might"
It's easy to see a correlation between this prayer in Ephesians and the one in Philippians. A "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him", etc and a "love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment" are pretty similar in the ideas of themselves. However, Paul uses them to a different degree. The one from Philippians is so that we may "approve what is excellent". The one in Ephesians is so that we may "that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you". Slight differences but worth noting.
Just to expound upon it more, the Philippians prayer seems to focus more on discernment, meaning being able to judge well and tell what is right from wrong. The Ephesians prayer, while also having to do with knowledge, is more fundamental and basically wishes for your knowledge of how great God is and His great glory.
Moving right along...there's yet another one of Paul's prayers in Colossians 1:9-12
"And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."
Yet again, we see a prayer of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. And yet again, the application is different, taking a route similar to Ephesians 4:1 and Philippians 1:27, calling them "to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord". This has more to deal with bearing good fruit. Paul later says to have endurance and patience, along with joy.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
"To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
There's no mention of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in this prayer. The main prayer was a what I thought was a bi-product of that wisdom which was being "worthy of his calling". This prayer is similar to the one in Thessalonians, yet applies more directly to God's glory instead of what being worthy applies to us for (which was the previous prayer in Colossians).
Finally, we have the last of Pauls' prayers explicitly in the Bible in Philemon 6:
"and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ."
I think Paul is praying that Philemon's evangelism may be good, conveying the whole gospel (full knowledge).
I hope this run-through wasn't too tedious but it was something I wanted to share and do for myself, so here's the summary:
Paul's cited prayers:
1. that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent
2. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you
3. that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
4. that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you
5. that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
Conclusions to take away from this compilation is that praying for knowledge, discernment, understanding, and wisdom will allow you to know God better and thus allow you know what is good in the sight of God. Another one is to be worthy of God's calling, bearing good fruit and also glorifying God. And the last is that we may share our knowledge well, telling of the gospel in its entirety. You may recognize that these ideas kind of lead to one another; that knowledge and discernment will lead to being able to be worthy of God, and being worthy of God means you are sharing the gospel, etc. in an endless cycle. But it's probably better to pray for all of them!
Philippians 1:9-11
"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."
This is obviously a more God-glorifying prayer than "Please let me do well on my test tomorrow."
However, we see that there are other times where Paul offers his prayers to other groups. In Ephesians 1:17-19 it says (I'm including "I pray" in here because it's in my NIV but the website I'm getting bible verses from has omitted it and it's just easier to understand that way):
"(I pray) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might"
It's easy to see a correlation between this prayer in Ephesians and the one in Philippians. A "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him", etc and a "love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment" are pretty similar in the ideas of themselves. However, Paul uses them to a different degree. The one from Philippians is so that we may "approve what is excellent". The one in Ephesians is so that we may "that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you". Slight differences but worth noting.
Just to expound upon it more, the Philippians prayer seems to focus more on discernment, meaning being able to judge well and tell what is right from wrong. The Ephesians prayer, while also having to do with knowledge, is more fundamental and basically wishes for your knowledge of how great God is and His great glory.
Moving right along...there's yet another one of Paul's prayers in Colossians 1:9-12
"And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."
Yet again, we see a prayer of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. And yet again, the application is different, taking a route similar to Ephesians 4:1 and Philippians 1:27, calling them "to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord". This has more to deal with bearing good fruit. Paul later says to have endurance and patience, along with joy.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
"To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
There's no mention of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in this prayer. The main prayer was a what I thought was a bi-product of that wisdom which was being "worthy of his calling". This prayer is similar to the one in Thessalonians, yet applies more directly to God's glory instead of what being worthy applies to us for (which was the previous prayer in Colossians).
Finally, we have the last of Pauls' prayers explicitly in the Bible in Philemon 6:
"and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ."
I think Paul is praying that Philemon's evangelism may be good, conveying the whole gospel (full knowledge).
I hope this run-through wasn't too tedious but it was something I wanted to share and do for myself, so here's the summary:
Paul's cited prayers:
1. that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent
2. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you
3. that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
4. that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you
5. that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
Conclusions to take away from this compilation is that praying for knowledge, discernment, understanding, and wisdom will allow you to know God better and thus allow you know what is good in the sight of God. Another one is to be worthy of God's calling, bearing good fruit and also glorifying God. And the last is that we may share our knowledge well, telling of the gospel in its entirety. You may recognize that these ideas kind of lead to one another; that knowledge and discernment will lead to being able to be worthy of God, and being worthy of God means you are sharing the gospel, etc. in an endless cycle. But it's probably better to pray for all of them!
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