Our Father who loves us and want us to grow in wisdom

Philippians 1:9-11 (NLT)
9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. 10 For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. 11 May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

In these verses the apostle speaks of his prayers for the Philippians. He prays their love for others will grow. He prays their knowledge and understanding of Christ will grow. He prays their lives will be lived out in purity and be found blameless. He prays that the Holy Spirit will be at work in their lives developing their character which give God the glory.

In his book, Connecting (Word, 1997), Larry Crabb writes: A friend of mine was raised in an angry family. Mealtimes were either silent or sarcastically noisy. Down the street was an old-fashioned house with a big porch where a happy family lived. My friend told me that when he was about ten, he began excusing himself from his dinner table as soon as he could without being yelled at, and walking to the old-fashioned house down the street. If he arrived during dinnertime, he would crawl under the porch and just sit there, listening to the sounds of laughter. When he told me this story, I asked him to imagine what it would have been like if the father in the house somehow knew he was huddled beneath the porch and sent his son to invite him in. I asked him to envision what it would have meant to him to accept the invitation, to sit at the table, to accidentally spill his glass of water, and hear the father roar with delight, "Get him more water! And a dry shirt! I want him to enjoy the meal!"

God our Father wants the same for us. He wants us to grown in our understanding of Him and to know we are loved. He wants us to become more like his Son and live a good a pleasing life. Pray God will continue to give you wisdom and bring you closer to Him knowing that one day you will be dining and fellowshipping in His presence.