Thanks, Joy and Overflowing Love

PART 2 PRAYERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
PRAYERS OF PAUL
THANKS, JOY AND OVERFLOWING LOVE
Philippians 1: 1-11

Philippi, in northern Greece, was the first place in Europe that heard the news that there was a new king, namely the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth. You can read the story of Paul’s first visit there in Acts 16. Paul’s letter to the Philippians makes it clear that as he looked at all the churches he had founded, the people of Philippi were the ones who gave him most joy. To be sure, he loved them all; but this letter breathes a confident trust and enjoyment which we don’t always find elsewhere. Now, in prison – almost certainly in Ephesus, since he speaks of coming to see them again (1.26), and in his other imprisonments he had no intention of returning to Greece – the Philippian church have sent him a gift of money. One of the reasons he’s writing is to say a heartfelt ‘Thank you’...