Scripture:  Phillipians 1: 9-11  9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Observation:  As I read the Apostle Paul's words of wisdom in the 4 chapters of Phillipians it makes one feel like they were right there with him in thoughts and feelings.  You can tell Paul has a lot of compassion and care for the church in Phillipi.  His words exude the love of Jesus Christ for them and the people around him.  His encouragement to them in today's scripture is that their "love may abound more".  In other words keep increasing, being intentional about it, being put at the forefront of their lives besides other things all "to the glory and praise of God" (this is the main reason).

Application:  Oh boy, in this topsy-turvy world we live in where so much evil, negativity, selfish and hateful things are being wielded around it is sure difficult sometimes to have your "love abound more".  But the key in the scripture is to keep focused on God through Jesus Christ and remember that our lives are temporary here on earth and our citizen is really in Heaven.  We draw strength from Christ as the following verse states: (13) 13" I can do all this through him who gives me strength".  Less focus on us and more focus on the Lord.  Paul starts verse 9 with "And this is my prayer"...and I believe in times of challenges and difficulty this is exactly where we need to go to, "PRAYER".  It doesn't take an eloquent prayer for God to understand or hear us...because he really looks at your heart and the spirit of your prayer. I thank God he knows everything about me and still loves me as Abba Father!  Praise God!

Prayer:  Lord I simply pray that by Your Holy Spirit you will keep me focused and aligned to your will for my life.  Help me to remove the distractions that hinder or pull me away from You.  Keep me ever abounding in more love for You and others. Guard my heart and provide the protection that I need to war and tread through this sometimes mucky-muck world we live in.  Thank you Lord for giving me another day of life...breathing...alive....and ready.  In Jesus Name...Amen.