Let’s continue our reflection on Paul’s prayer in Phlm. 1:4-7: “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 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. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”
Read MoreLast Friday, we started meditating on Paul’s prayer in Phlm. 1:4-7: “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 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. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” We talked about the blessing of having someone to be grateful for. Today, let’s think about that some more.
Read MoreToday, we move on to another prayer of Paul’s: “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 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. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you” (Phlm. 1:4-7).
Read MorePaul’s short prayer in 2 Tim. 4:22, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you,” is divided into two benedictions. We dealt with the first one the last two days. We will deal with the second one—“Grace be with you”—today. We have to say that the first and the second benedictions are essentially the same: for Christ to be with us is for God’s grace to be with us since Christ is the full expression of God’s grace. And if grace is God’s demerited favor—a favor that is extended to hell-deserving sinners because of Christ’s redeeming work—what more do we need? Here is a beautiful expression of God’s grace:
Read MoreYesterday, we started meditating on Paul’s prayer in 2 Tim. 4:22: “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (2 Tim. 4:22). This prayer reminded us how wonderful it is to have Christ to be with us. But you must have noticed how Paul says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” Why does Paul limit the presence of Christ to Timothy’s spirit? If he is going to bless him, why not pray for Christ’s presence to be with Timothy’s whole person—both his body and spirit? This doesn’t mean that Paul didn’t have any concern for Timothy’s whole being, which includes his body. He follows this prayer with another short petition—“Grace be with you.” In this second petition, he prays for Timothy’s whole person (“you”), not just for his spirit. There may be two reasons for this.
Read MoreToday, we have a short prayer to meditate on: “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (2 Tim. 4:22). 2 Timothy is known as Paul’s last letter, chronologically speaking. And these are the last words in his last letter, which is a short benediction. We don’t know whether Paul knew that this would be his last letter (at least, the last letter of his to be included in the Bible) and these would be his last words. But keeping that fact in mind makes this short prayer even more poignant. If you knew your time has come and you had one breath left to pray, what would be your last prayer on this earth?
Read MoreBefore the break last week, we were reflecting on Paul’s prayer in 2 Tim. 1:16-18: “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.” Before we move on to another prayer, let’s meditate on it one more day.
Read MoreWe start our reflection on another prayer of Paul’s in 2 Tim.: “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus” (1:16-18).
Read MoreThe prayer we are reflecting on is, “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well” (2 Tim. 1:3-5). In this thanksgiving prayer, Paul gives thanks for Timothy on two counts: Timothy’s faith, which he inherited from his mother and grandmother, and Timothy’s love for Paul. We talked about Timothy’s sincere faith already. So, today, we want to consider Timothy’s love for Paul.
Read MoreThe prayer we are reflecting on is, “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well” (2 Tim. 1:3-5). In v. 3, Paul mentions how he serves God with “a clear conscience.” He speaks of conscience more than any other New Testament writer: of the 30 times conscience is mentioned in the New Testament, 20 of them are by Paul.
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