Prayer for Abounding Love

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 NIV)

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians has always fascinated me. He paints a beautiful, evocative picture of life with one another in Christ. His prayer for abounding love resonates with my heart. It stirs a desire in me for a life overflowing with love that flowers into fruits of righteousness. And it grounds me in the deep soil of God’s transforming work.

I’ve been drawn to this prayer for a long time, but recently, God has brought it back to me in a new way.

In spiritual direction with leaders who are weary and worn out, I found myself wondering how to pray for them and their communities. One pastor lamented how the polarization that is so prevalent in public life is threatening to undo the unity in his congregation. “I don’t know how to be their pastor anymore,” he sighed. How do I pray for pastors who are discouraged and overwhelmed? What will keep our hearts from being weighed down by the concerns, fears, and injustices with which we are confronted these days? What will keep us from being shaped by the thought and behavior patterns of the secular culture in which we live? What will help us to navigate these troubling times in such a way that our souls will be strengthened and that we may be a transforming influence in the lives of others? What will enable us to discern well so that we are not merely reactive in our response to the world?

Then I heard Paul’s words again: I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best …

With Paul, I am convinced that love is our highest calling. Christian life is not just what we do for God; it is who we are in relation to God and others. It is about love in which we live from our true selves in Christ. David Benner writes, “Because God is love, and because human beings are made in God’s image, love is who we are.”1 Just stay with this thought for a moment — love is who we are in Christ.

It is love that tunes our hearts to God’s heart. It is love that turns our hearts to others. It is love that opens us up to the work of the Spirit. In love we are most like Christ. And in love we are most fully ourselves.

Paul writes eloquently and passionately about love. But what I notice most these days is that he also intentionally prays for the love of his people.

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all God’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge …” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

“(I pray) that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)

What strikes me in his prayer for the Philippians is how Paul connects love with discernment and how all of this is for the sake of our ongoing formation in Christ.

David Benner writes, “Learning to discern God’s way to ours and discovering our identity and fulfillment in God’s kingdom way demands that we know Love deeply and personally.”2

Christian discernment is not just an intellectual exercise. Discernment comes from that place where we are most deeply attuned to the heart of God and the movement of the Spirit. We learn to discern God’s will, writes Benner, “when we live so close to God’s heart that the rhythm of our own heartbeat comes to reflect the divine pulse.”3

This is true whether we are talking about discerning the big questions of life or the countless smaller choices we make in our daily lives. When we are rooted in love, we are able to discern what is best.

Ruth takes it a step further in Sacred Rhythms. “We may think our decisions are about the details of where we live, who we marry, what job we take, but for the Christian person, the choices we make are always about love and which choice enables us to keep following God into love. There may be other factors to consider, but the deepest question for us as Christian people is, what does love call for in this situation? What would love do? 4

I am intrigued by the phrase “keep following God into love.” How life-giving could it be for us as leaders if we were to hold that question in front of us?

Asking the love-question is always very specific. Each time we ask again, what does it look like for me to “follow God into love” in this situation, this place, this relationship, this community, at this moment in time?

I am learning from Paul to pray for the love of the leaders with whom I am journeying.

Paul’s prayer has become less of a text to study and ponder and more of the prayer that it was meant to be in the first place. It is no longer just Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, but it has become my prayer for my community, for myself, and for the leaders with whom I am journeying in spiritual direction as we continue to follow God into love.

Perhaps you would like to pause for a moment and think about a situation in your life where you are invited to discern what is best … What does love call for in your situation? What might it look like for you to follow God into love right here, right now?

4

Ruth Haley Barton. Sacred Rhythms: Arranging our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. (Intervarsity Press, 2006, p.117-118) Emphasis is mine.

Gerard Booy is a spiritual director, a supervisor for spiritual directors, and a retired Presbyterian pastor. After more than thirty years as a lead pastor, he felt called to devote more of his time to companioning others in their spiritual journeys. He received his spiritual director training through Center Quest School of Spiritual Direction in 2019 and has been offering spiritual direction ever since. He continues to be involved with CenterQuest as a mentor for students. And he co-facilitates courses in contemplative listening, group spiritual direction, and theological reflection. He recently completed his supervisor’s training through Together in the Mystery. Gerard is an alum of TC 10 and TC 13 and has been on the ministry team for TC 17. Originally from South Africa, the Booy family moved to Canada in 2000. Gerard lives in the greater Vancouver area. He enjoys time with his two grandchildren, learning sign-language, going for long nature walks, reading poetry and books on spirituality, going to the symphony, and building things whenever he gets a chance.