Philippians 4 - Praying God's Word

Please read Philippians 4.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/phl/4/1/s_1107001

Meditate on verse 8.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true,

whatever is honorable,

whatever is right,

whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely,

whatever is of good repute,

 if there is any excellence

 and if anything worthy of praise,

dwell on these things.

God wants this letter to change your attitude and make you mature in Christ. The LORD’s goal for you is to stand firm in Him (Philippians 4:1). In order to stand firm, you need to think like Christ. God does not leave you guessing how He thinks. He gives you the mind of Christ in a list and commands you to dwell there.

The word “dwell” has the connotation of not just something you think about doing, but something you are actually living.

Do you live in truth, honor, righteousness, purity, loveliness, a good reputation, excellence, and things worthy of praise? Do those eight characteristics describe your attitudes and actions? Do they describe your life?

Pray Philippians 4:8 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 “LORD, let ________ and me dwell on and in

whatever is
true, honorable, right,

pure, lovely, of good reputation,

excellent, and worthy of praise.

 For the sake of Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Philippians 3 - Praying God's Word

Please read Philippians 3.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/phl/3/1/s_1106001

Meditate on verse 14.

I press on toward the goal for the prize

of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul’s addressed the attitude of the Philippians in this letter. He exhorted them to have the attitude of Christ Jesus and regard others as more important than themselves (Philippians 2:3-5). Paul challenged the mature believers to press on in the call of God in Christ Jesus for their lives. God would reveal their wrong attitudes (Philippians 3:14-15).

It is time to check your attitude. Your attitude is the foundation for your behavior. God knows your attitude; you cannot hide it from Him. Pride, rebellion, and dishonesty are a few of the attitudes God hates (Proverbs 6:16-18). You do not want an attitude that God opposes (James 4:6). Ask God to reveal attitudes within you that are not pleasing to Him. Then pray Philippians 3:12-15 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 “LORD, reveal to _______ and me attitudes that are different from Yours.

Make us mature with the attitude of Christ.

Jesus, You have laid hold of us;


for that reason, help us to press on.


Let us forget what lies behind
and reach forward to what lies ahead.

Help us press on toward the goal
for the prize of Your upward call, God.

In Christ Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Philippians 2 - Praying God's Word

Please read Philippians 2.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/phl/2/1/s_1105001

Meditate on verse 3.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind

 regard one another as more important than yourselves.

Paul lived in a world ruled by Rome. The Roman empire was characterized by wealth, luxury, and lack of virtue and decency. Paul described the generation he lived in as “crooked and perverse” (Philippians 2:15).

You live in a world that could be described the same way: crooked, perverse, lacking virtue and decency, a world where attaining luxury and wealth is the goal of many. Paul’s exhortation to the Christians at Philippi is God’s exhortation to you: “Hold fast the Word of Life” (Philippians 2:16).

Hold fast to God’s Word. Filter everything you read and hear through the Truth, the Bible. Even seemingly good ideas are not necessarily God’s ideas. For example, for decades people have been concerned about their self-esteem. Everyone should have a good self-esteem, right?

Interestingly, there is only one place in the Bible where self and esteem are used in the same verse, Philippians 2:3. The King James translation says it this way, “Let each esteem others better than themselves.” Immediately following that command, Jesus Christ is given as the example of how He esteemed you better than Himself and died for you.

Do you esteem yourself or do you esteem others? Caring about the needs of others will fix “self-esteem” issues you may have.

Know God’s Word and do not be taken captive by the wisdom of the world.

Pray Philippians 2:13-16 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“God, You are at work in ___________ and me,


both to will and to work for Your good pleasure.


Help us to do all things without grumbling and disputing,


so we will prove ourselves to be blameless and innocent.


May we be Your children who are above reproach


in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.


Let us appear as lights in the world, holding fast the Word of Life,

 so that in Your day, Christ, we will have reason to glory

 because we did not run or toil in vain.


For the sake of Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Philippians 1 Part 2 —Praying God's Word

Please read Philippians 1.


www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/phl/1/1/s_1104001

Meditate on this phrase from verse 19.

Prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ

I have been praying Philippians 1:3-6 and 9-11 over my family for more than twenty-five years. They were the verses you prayed yesterday. Today, you have read Philippians 1 again because there are more treasures to pray.

“The provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” is a captivating phrase in verse 19. Keeping the phrase in context, you read that Paul knew he would be delivered, and deliverance would come through the prayers of the believers at Philippi and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Paul was imprisoned in Rome when he wrote this letter, and he needed help. He never mentioned hiring the best lawyer in Italy to come to his defense. He knew God would defend and provide for him. Paul knew that the prayers of the faithful were key to unlocking that provision of the Spirit.

DO NOT be lazy in your prayer life! Like Paul, your loved ones need help, and they need a faithful, prayerful watchman, someone who will remind the LORD day and night of their needs. Take no rest for yourself and give Him no rest until He establishes those you love (Isaiah 62:6-7).

Pray Philippians 1:19, 22, and 27 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, please give _________ and me

the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

 so we will be involved in fruitful labor.

Christ, help us conduct ourselves

in a manner worthy of Your Gospel.

In Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Philippians 1 - Praying God's Word

Please read Philippians 1.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/phl/1/1/s_1104001

Meditate on verse 9.

And this I pray that your love

may abound still more and more

 in real knowledge and all discernment.

This is one of the verses the LORD will bring to my remembrance when a husband and wife or other family relationship needs prayer for love to abound. This is also a great verse to pray when someone needs to know God’s will for their life.

It is God’s will for your family to abound in love for each other. It is God’s will for you to have His knowledge and discernment, so you can distinguish between things that are excellent and things that are not. It is God’s will for you to be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ.

Pray Philippians 1:3-6 and 9-11 over those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, thank You for ________.


I offer prayer for them with joy

as I see their participation in Your Gospel

 from the first day until now.


I am confident of this very thing,


that You who began a good work in them


will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.


Let their love abound still more and more


in real knowledge and all discernment,


so that they may approve the things that are excellent,

in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.

 Fill them with the fruit of righteousness


which comes through You, Jesus Christ,


to the glory and praise of You, God.

In Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Ephesians 6 - Praying God's Word

Please read Ephesians 6.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/eph/6/1/s_1103001

Meditate on verse 10.

Finally be strong in the LORD

and in the strength of His might.

Paul wrote this letter to believers who had re-engaged in sinful behaviors from their lives before Christ. Paul commanded them to grow up in Jesus, walk in a manner worthy of their calling in Christ Jesus, and be strong in the LORD and the strength of His might (Ephesians 4:1, 15; 6:10). The Christians at Ephesus could overcome sin in the strength of the LORD. Without Christ, it was a losing battle. “Put on the full armor of God, so you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

By putting on truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and praying at all times in the Spirit, you will not be participating in the unfruitful deeds of darkness (Ephesians 5:11). As you put on this armor, be aware you are actually putting on what God wears (Isaiah 59:17).

 Pray Ephesians 6:10-18 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, make _______ and me strong in You and in the strength of Your might.


Let us put on Your full armor,
so we will be able to stand firm


against the schemes of the devil,


for our struggle is not against flesh and blood,


but against the rulers, powers, world forces of darkness,

and the spiritual forces of wickedness.

Therefore, let us take up Your full armor, God,

so we will be able to resist in the evil day


and having done everything, to stand firm.


May we stand firm having girded our loins with truth,

 and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

 and having shod our feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace;


in addition let us take up the shield of
faith

 with which we will be able
to extinguish

 all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Let us take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit,

which is the Word of God.

With all prayer and petition,
help us pray at all times in the Spirit.

Let us be on the alert
with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

 Because of Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Ephesians 5 - Praying God's Word

Please read Ephesians 5.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/eph/5/1/s_1102001

Meditate on verse 10.

Learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

Paul wrote this letter to people who claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ yet walked just as the Gentiles, nonbelievers (Ephesians 4:17). Paul exhorted them to stop partaking with the sons of disobedience and walk as children of Light (Ephesians 5:6-8). After all, God’s wrath comes upon the sons of disobedience; why would a Christian participate in their immorality, impurity, and greed?

Hear the truth from God’s Word to you, today. Before you gave your life to Christ, you were called a son of disobedience. In Christ, you are Light in the LORD (Ephesians 5:6, 8). Learn what is pleasing to the LORD and walk in those things.

Pray Ephesians 5:15-17 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, help and me be careful how we walk,

not as unwise men but as wise.


Let us make the most of our time

because the days are evil.

May we not be foolish


but let us understand what Your will is, LORD.


In Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Ephesians 4 - Praying God's Word

Please read Ephesians 4.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/eph/4/1/s_1101001

Meditate on verse 5.

But speaking the truth in love,

we are to grow up in all aspects into Him

who is the head, even Christ.

Paul wanted the Christians at Ephesus to grow up. He lived in Ephesus for two years sharing the Gospel of Christ and teaching and training the new believers (Acts 19). Eight to ten years passed; these followers of Jesus should have been more mature in Christ. Why hadn’t they matured? They walked just as the non-Christians walked in the futility of their mind. They were excluded from the life God purposed for them because of the hardness of their hearts. They were callous because they gave themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness (Ephesians 4:17-19).

You can hear Paul’s next words scream off the page.

“You did not learn Christ in this way!”

Is God saying the same thing to you? “Grow up! The way you are living is not how you learned Jesus.”

Ask God to help you live for Christ today.

Pray Ephesians 4:22-24 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, in reference to __________ and my former manner of life,

 help us lay aside the old self,


which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

and let us be renewed in the spirit of our mind.

 Help us put on the new self, which in the likeness of You,

has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

 In Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Ephesians 3 - Praying God's Word

Please read Ephesians 3.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/eph/3/1/s_1100001

Meditate on verses 20-21.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly

beyond all that we ask or think,

according to the power that works within us,

 to Him be the glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Do you love a good mystery? Do you like to know how a mystery ends?

God gave Paul insight into the mystery of Christ. Since the beginning of time, God gave the promise of Messiah. There were mysteries surrounding Messiah. Who was He? When would He come? Would He be a Messiah only for Israel or the whole world? Generations had waited in anticipation of the mystery being revealed.

Paul revealed the mystery in Ephesians 3:6. To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.

Not only was the mystery revealed to Paul, he was made a minister to bring the mystery to light and to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:7-9).

Paul knew the mystery, and He knew he had confident access to God through Jesus Christ. For that reason he prayed a bold prayer on behalf of the Christians at Ephesus.

Pray Paul’s prayer (Ephesians 3:14-21) over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 “For this reason I bow my knees before You, Father,


from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

 that You would grant ______ and me,
according to the riches of Your glory,


to be strengthened with power through
Your Spirit in our inner man,


so that You, Christ, will dwell in our hearts through faith.

Let us be rooted and grounded in love and
be able to comprehend with all the saints


what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know Your love, Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of You.

Now to You, Father, who is able to do far more abundantly

beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,


to You be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations

 for ever and ever. Amen.”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Ephesians 2 - Praying God's Word

Please read Ephesians 2.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/eph/2/1/s_1099001

Meditate on verses 4-5.

But God, being rich in mercy,

because of His great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in our transgressions,

made us alive together with Christ. 

By grace you have been saved.

If you are a Christian, your life’s story is recorded in Ephesians 2.

Before believing in Jesus, you were dead in your sins. You walked a worldly course in accordance with Satan’s purposes. You lived in the lust of your flesh, indulging the desires of your flesh and mind. You were by nature a child of wrath.

But God ... because of His great mercy and love for you, when you were dead in your transgressions, made you alive together with Christ, raised you up with Christ, and seated you with Christ in the heavenly places.

Now you are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand for you to walk in. “Prepared beforehand” has the same connotation as “before the foundation of the world” in Ephesians 1:4. Before God said, “Let there be light,” He planned your purpose here on earth. He prepared the good works He desires you to walk in today before He started creating the universe. Ask God to reveal the good things He pre-planned for you to do.

Pray Ephesians 2:10 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“Christ Jesus, You created _________ and me in You as Your workmanship.

Help us to walk in the good works which You

prepared beforehand for us to walk in.

For the sake of Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Ephesians 1 -Praying God's Word

Please read Ephesians 1.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/eph/1/1/s_1098001

Meditate on verses 4-5.

Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,

 that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

 In love He predestined us to adoption as sons

 through Jesus Christ to Himself,

according to the kind intention of His will.

God chose you before He said, “Let there be light.” He set you apart to be faultless and blameless in Christ. He did it because He loves you, and it is what He wanted to do. In Christ, you are a chosen, holy, unblemished, loved child of God. Walk confidently in Christ as you meditate on those truths.

Paul wanted the believers in Ephesus to know those truths as well. He had heard about their faith in the LORD and their love for all the saints. Paul could not cease giving thanks for them and praying for them (Ephesians 1:15-16).

Ephesians 1:17-21 is the prayer he prayed. Pray that prayer over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“God of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,


give _______ and me
a spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of You.


Let the eyes of our heart be enlightened,


so that we will know what is the hope of Your calling,

what are the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints,

and what is the surpassing greatness of Your power toward us who believe.


Your power toward us is in accordance
with the working of the strength of Your might which You brought about in Christ when You raised Him from the dead


and seated Him at Your right hand in the heavenly places,

 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,

and every name that is named,


not only in this age but also in the one to come.

 In that name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Galatians 6 - Praying God's Word

Please read Galatians 6.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gal/6/1/s_1097001

Meditate on verse 3.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing,

 he deceives himself.

Some people in the Galatian churches were proud when they compelled Gentile believers to be circumcised or keep other parts of the Law. They desired to be influential even if it meant influencing others into the slavery that was life apart from Christ.

What do you take pride in, and do you use your influence to feed your pride? Do you influence people to even join you in sin to justify your behavior?

Paul was proud of the cross of Christ. All that mattered was being a new creation as a result of what Christ did on that cross (Galatians 6:14-15). Paul used his influence to establish others in that truth.

Pray Galatians 6:14 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“Jesus Christ, through Your cross,


let ________ and me be crucified to the world and the world to us.


May we boast only in You and Your cross.

For the sake of Your name, LORD Jesus Christ~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell