Is My Prayer Pouring Out Blessing for Others?

always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy

Philippians 1:4

Paul, being in prison there wasn't a single positive circumstance that he could be happy about. Physically he was in a bad state and at the same time even in terms of his ministry things were not so good. We will be dealing with it later in the chapter where we see that people were really criticizing him without mercy and without kindness. Paul shouldn't have received these but he had to. So, he was undergoing all of this bitterness from rival preachers and people who had animosity toward him.

Paul is not only thankful for the Philippians when he prays for them, but he is filled with joy. And notice that it's not in just some of his prayers. It's in all of his prayers. And it's not in just all of his prayers for some of them. It's in all of his prayers for all of them. And he doesn't just do this sometimes. In all this prayers for all of them, he always prays with joy.

One thing which is commendable and desirable from all of us is that his circumstance did not affect his joy. It was a Spirit produced joy. The reason I say so is, because even when he was all wrapped up in bitterness and pain and had needs far greater than the Philippians in most ways, Paul delighted in praying for other people's needs.

For those who have experienced the power of intercession know that making requests to God for others is an element of joy. When we examine Paul's delight of praying for others we see that it is tied to his recollection. It is tied to the joy of his memories.

Paul here is experiencing the joy of having the privilege to petition. The word here for prayer has to do with petition - desis (Greek). This word is used two times in the verse and conveys the idea of asking God for something for someone else.

Paul teaches us that joy tends not to be bound up with what we have, but in the privilege of praying that God would pour out His blessing on others. True joy is expressed in the fact that we can see God at work in someone else's life, much more preoccupied with them that with us.

Most of the times we are not happy even after putting our needs before the Lord. Paul teaches and gives us a new pattern for prayer. This joy can be found only in that love being fulfilled in seeing that others are having their needs met. It doesn't concern itself with itself; even in the midst of pain, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. It only joyfully asks for others to be blessed.

No Common Task is a beautiful book written by George Raindrop. The author narrates an incident about a nurse and how this nurse taught a man to pray and literally changed the man's entire life. The story says he was a dull, disgruntled, dispirited man who became a man of joy. The nurse used each of her fingers to remember who to pray for.
Her thumb was nearest to her, and it reminded her to pray for those who were nearest, and closest, and dearest to her.
The second finger was used for pointing - it reminded those who teach us and point to us with it when they would ask us a question. Therefor her second finger stood for all her teachers; she prayed for them.
The third finger is the tallest, and it stood for the VIPs, the leaders in every sphere of life.
The fourth finger is the weakest, as every pianist knows, and it stood for those who were weak, and in trouble, and in pain.
And the little finger is the smallest, and the most unimportant, and to the nurse, it stood for herself.

Isn't that a lovely scheme of prayer? I am sure that there will always be a deep sense of joy in the heart of one who learns to pray by that little scheme, starting with others and ending up with the most insignificant of all, we ourselves.

The apostle Paul was a praying believer, and a praying minister: notwithstanding all his gifts, and graces, and high attainments, he was not above the work and duty of prayer. The same is desirable from us too.

Can we too like Paul experience the joy of interceding for others. Let us try to remember everyone we have met (both the good and the bad ones, both the ones who helped us and those who criticized us) and intercede for them.