In this episode of Living the Selah Life, host Kim explores the transformative nature of prayer through Paul’s words in Philippians 1:9–11. Paul’s prayer goes beyond asking God to change circumstances. He prays for believers to grow in love, knowledge, and discernment so they can recognize what is excellent and live in a way that honors God.

Kim encourages listeners to consider how prayer shapes the heart, influences our choices, and strengthens our ability to discern God’s will. As we cultivate an awareness of His presence, we allow Him to develop our character and produce a life that reflects His righteousness and brings Him glory.

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The views expressed are those of the host, Kimberly Lockanor, and our based on personal experience and biblical insight, not clinical or professional training welcome back to Living the Selah Life, a podcast that invites you to slow down, to breathe and to reconnect with the presence of God.

I am your host, Kim, and this space is for anyone longing to become more familiar with his presence.

Whether you're just discovering what it means to pause with God or you've been walking this path for a while, I'm so glad you're here.

Each episode is an intentional pause, a moment to reflect, realign and remember that God meets us when we create space for Him.

So take a breath.

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Let's live the Selah life together.

Hello my friends.

Today we are in Part four of our series on the prayers of the Apostle Paul.

So far we have looked at prayer as a lifeline.

We have prayed for spiritual vision, and we asked God for inner strength and fullness.

Today we are turning to Paul's letter to the Philippians.

In Philippians chapter 1, verses 9 11, Paul prays a prayer that challenges the way many of us approach God.

Most of our prayers can sometimes be focused on comfort.

We ask God to make our lives easier or to remove obstacles and to smooth out our paths.

I know I do.

But Paul does not pray for comfort.

He prays for character.

He prays for clarity.

He prays that believers will cultivate an awareness of his presence so deeply that it changes the way they love and the way that they live.

If you want to know how to pray for what truly matters, not just for what feels urgent right now, but for what will last, this episode is for you.

Let's look at the prayer for love, discernment and fruitfulness.

Love that abounds in knowledge.

Paul begins his prayer in Philippians 1:9 by saying, and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.

Again, and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.

Notice that Paul does not just pray for them to have more love.

He prays for a specific kind of love, a love that grows in knowledge and discernment.

We live in a culture that defines love as a feeling or a blind acceptance of everything and everyone without question or boundary.

But biblical love is not blind.

It sees clearly because it is rooted in the truth of who God is and what he says.

When you cultivate an awareness of his presence, your love for others stops being driven by your fluctuating emotions and starts being guided by wisdom.

Think about the difference between a love that is purely emotional and a love that is grounded in knowledge.

Emotional love says, I will love you as long as you make me feel good.

But love that abounds in knowledge says, I will love you with wisdom, with truth, and with grace, because I understand what love truly looks like in the eyes of God.

It is a love that can say the hard thing when the hard thing needs to be said.

It is a love that can hold firm when holding firm is the most loving thing to do.

It is also a love that is not moved by popularity because it is firmly planted in something far deeper than feelings.

Paul understood this because he had experienced the love of God firsthand.

The God who loved Paul enough to confront him on the road to Damascus, who also loved him enough to allow him to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, who also loved him enough to use his imprisonment to write letters that would change the entire world, who also loved him enough that his love was not soft or sentimental.

It was purposeful, strategic and wise.

And Paul wanted the Philippians to love each other with the same quality of love.

Why does Paul want their love to abound in discernment?

He tells us in the next verse that you may approve the things that are excellent.

The word translated approve here is the Greek word dokimazo.

Dokimazo.

That's D O K I M A Z O, which means to test, to examine, to put something through a process of evaluation in order to determine its true value.

It is the word used for testing precious metals to determine whether they are genuine or not.

Every day we are faced with choices.

Not just choices between good and evil, but choices between good and excellent, between what is acceptable and what is God's best.

The enemy does not always come at us with obvious sin.

Often he comes with distractions, good things that crowd out the best things.

Or he will come with busyness that keeps us from prayer or entertainment, that keeps us from the word, relationships that keep us from community.

He comes with comfortable, comfortable things, making life comfortable.

That keeps us from our calling.

When we pray for discernment, we are asking God to help us see the difference between what is merely good and what is truly excellent.

We are asking him to Give us the spiritual sensitivity to recognize when something is pulling us away from his best, even when it does not look obviously wrong.

And this requires cultivating an awareness of his presence consistently enough that we can sense when something is off or when a path that looks appealing is not the path he has for us.

Paul continues by praying that they may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.

Paul is praying that our lives will be genuine when held up to the light of God's presence.

He is not asking for perfection.

He is asking for authenticity.

He is praying that we would not be people who cover our cracks with spiritual wax or who look good on the outside but are broken on the inside.

He is praying that we would be people who bring our brokenness to God, allow His grace to heal us, and live with an integrity that can withstand the scrutiny of his presence.

When you cultivate an awareness of his presence, you stop trying to hide your cracks.

You are able to bring your real self to God, the struggling, the doubting, imperfect, sometimes confused self, and you allow him to work in you.

That kind of authenticity is the foundation of genuine spiritual growth without offense means, without causing others to stumble.

When we are planted in love, guided by discernment and living with sincerity, our lives become a clear path rather than an obstacle for those around us.

Our integrity creates an atmosphere where others can see God more clearly.

Finally, Paul prays that they would be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

True prayer always leads to fruitfulness.

But notice where the fruit comes from.

It is not produced by our own effort, and it is not the result of trying harder, doing more, or doing better.

It is produced by Jesus Christ.

We are not responsible for producing the fruit.

We are responsible for staying connected to the one who produces it in us.

Though Jesus said himself In John chapter 15, verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.

When we abide in him, when we stay connected to him in prayer, when we cultivate a constant awareness of his presence, the fruit of righteousness grows naturally in our lives.

And the ultimate goal of that fruit is not to make us look good or feel accomplished.

It is to bring glory and praise to God.

Although you do look good and feel accomplished in the process.

To point the world back to the goodness of the Father, we will move on to this week's pause prompts.

And remember, pause prompts are just a chance for us to take inventory of where we are so that we will know where we are going.

So let's go.

When you pray for yourself or others, do you tend to pray more for comfort or for character?

And how might your prayers change if you focus on what truly matters love, discernment and fruitfulness?

Are you currently facing a choice between what is good and what is excellent?

And how can you cultivate an awareness of his presence to help you discern the right path?

If your life were held up to the sunlight of God's presence today, what would be revealed?

Where in your life are you working hard to produce fruit through your own effort?

And what would it look like to simply abide in him and trust him to produce the fruit through you?

So in our main teaching today, we have been sitting with Paul's prayer in Philippians chapter 1, verses 9 through 11, where he asked that our love would abound in knowledge and discernment, that we would approve the things that are excellent, and that we would be sincere and without offense, and that we would would be filled with the fruits of righteousness to the glory and praise of God for our scripture.

Spotlight I want to take us to the passage that speaks directly to the same heart.

This is In Romans chapter 12, verses 2 in the New King James Version.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Paul wrote both Philippians and Romans, and in both letters he comes back to the same conviction that transformation is an inside out work and that a renewed mind is what makes discernment possible.

In Philippians chapter one, he prays that love would abound in knowledge and discernment so that we can approve the things that are excellent.

Here In Romans chapter 12, he tells us the mechanism that makes that approval possible.

A mind that has been transformed by God.

Not conformed to the patterns of the world.

Do not be conformed to this world.

The word conformed here carries the idea of being pressed into a mold.

The world is constantly pressing through culture, comparison, the opinions of others trying to shape the way that we think, the way that we value things, the way that we make our decisions.

Paul's instruction is clear.

Do not let the world set the standard for what is good, what is excellent, and what is worth your time and energy, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The word transformed here here's our Greek again, is the Greek word metamorphu.

Metamorphu, the same root as metamorphosis A word we're all familiar with.

It is a complete change from the inside out and it happens through the renewing of your mind.

And this is not a one time event.

It is an ongoing process that happens every day and it is an ongoing process that happens every day that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

This is the direct connection to Philippians Chapter one.

The word prove here is the same Greek word dokimazo dokimazo that Paul used In Philippians chapter 1, verses 10 when he says approve the things that are excellent.

A transformed mind is a discerning mind.

When your mind has been renewed by the presence of God and the truth of His Word, you gain the ability to test what is in front of you and recognize what is truly from Him.

You stop settling for good when he has something excellent and you stop accepting the world's version of what matters when you have been given access to his version.

Let's move on to our Selah moment and prayer.

This is our opportunity to pray for the character and clarity that Paul desired for the Philippians.

You can begin by sitting comfortably and taking several deep breaths.

With each exhale, release the desire for mere comfort and ease.

And with each inhale, let's try to cultivate an awareness of his presence.

Invite him to examine your heart.

Tell him you want what he wants for you, not just what feels comfortable.

Think about the decisions and relationships in your life right now and ask the Holy Spirit to give you the discernment to see clearly, to love wisely, and to choose the what is excellent.

Ask him to show you where you have been settling if you have for good.

When he has something better for you, picture yourself standing in the warm, revealing sunlight of God's presence.

Do not try to hide your flaws or cover your cracks.

Let his his light shine on you, bringing healing, authenticity and sincerity to your soul.

Receive his grace for the places where you have fallen short.

Ask God to help you abide in him more deeply.

This week, simply say, lord, I want to stay connected to you.

Produce in me whatever fruit you desire.

Let us pray.

Father, we thank you for the truth and the wisdom in Paul's prayers.

We confess that we often pray for our circumstances to be easy rather than praying for our character to be strong.

We ask for comfort when you are offering us something far greater, the transformation of our inner lives.

Today we ask you to shift our focus to what truly matters.

Holy Spirit, cause our love to abound more and more, but let it be a love grounded in knowledge and discernment.

Help us to cultivate a constant awareness of your presence so that we can clearly see the difference between what is merely good and what is truly excellent.

Lord, we want to be sincere.

We want our lives to be genuine.

When held up to your life, heal the places we have have tried to cover up and fill us with the fruits of righteousness not through our own effort, but through abiding in Christ.

Let our lives be a reflection of his character, producing fruit that brings glory and praise to your name.

It is in Jesus name that we pray, and it is so let's lean into our Selah moment.

This week I want to challenge you to evaluate your choices through the lens of excellence.

When faced with a decision, pause and ask yourself, is this just acceptable or is this excellent?

Is this God's good or is this God's best?

Use that moment to cultivate an awareness of his presence and ask for his discernment.

Well my friends, thank you for listening to Living the Selah Life.

If this moment stirred something in your spirit, please share it with someone who needs to be reminded to pause.

You can connect with me on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram at Living the Selah Life or email me your story to Living the Selah Life at Proton Me.

May you go from this place rested not just in body but in spirit, carrying the awareness that his presence is always near.

May you be rooted not in the shifting voices of this world, but in the unshakable word of God, the Logos that ground you and the rhema that guides you.

For man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

And may you keep rising into the life he designed for you, into purpose, into peace, into the fullness of his calling.

May your life become a living Selah, an intentional pause that reveals his presence.

It is in Jesus name and it is so Selah.