Phillipians 1: Praying with Thanksgiving and Joy

Phil 1:3 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

A. Thanksgiving.
Paul’s response of thanksgiving and joy is remarkable because of the horrific circumstances that he was presently in. One would be wise to remember that Paul was chained in a dungeon when he wrote this. In spite of this, he writes with great thanksgiving and prayer.

Paul said that he thanked God every time he remembered them. Boy, that’s a nice way to be remembered. Again, Paul’s thankfulness is something that we need to practice. Too often we forget to give thanks for all the blessings in our lives. We need to be a thankful people. If Paul could be thanking God while chained in a jail cell, should we not give thanks?

Every time we pray, notice how much time is given to intercession and how much time is given to thanksgiving. Did you ever notice that it is easier for us to dive in with our petitions than to just thank him? Sometimes we just need to force ourselves to meditate on all the blessings that we have received.

Someone has said that thanklessness is the root of all sin.
We aren’t made happy by what we have but by what we are thankful for.

B. Joy
Then we see this characteristic of joy. Can you see the connection? Joy is a fruit of thanksgiving. As we are giving thanks, we are meditating on good things. Like Julie Andrews says. I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so sad.

The joy spoken of in scripture is not a superficial one.

From what source have I been pursuing joy?Have we been joyful because of circumstances or because of some new possession? Or because of what people think of you?

If our joy never runs deeper than our day to day circumstances then we are doomed to being emotional yo yo’s .

Are you consistently giving thanks for the good things in your life are are you bitter and grumbling? Does your joy come from your immediate circumstances or is your joy found in belonging to Christ.