Paul has shown us so far that two of the bedrocks of Christian friendship are thanksgiving and prayer. It is difficult if not impossible to have “fellowship” with someone that we are not thankful for. Fellowship is far more than agreement, unity or even friendship. Fellowship, as it is defined in Scripture is partnership, it is equality in how we see each other because of the equality of God’s love for each one of us. Fellowship is social and spiritual intimacy created not for our pleasure but for Jesus’ glory and the spread of the gospel. Christian friendships are not only based on the gospel they are for the furtherance of the gospel; they are not about being fed they are for the purpose of feeding others. Paul told the Philippians “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you”. In other words, when the Philippians came to Paul’s mind he chose thanksgiving. Gratitude is a choice, it is a decision, it is often the application of grace and the extension of mercy. We will see later in the letter that the Philippians had issues like we all do, part of Paul’s reason for writing was to urge them to deal with some divisions and jealousies that had risen among them. What Paul shows us in the beginning is that even when there are issues in our relationships, even when there are struggles and trials, thanksgiving is a choice that can be made. If we are only thankful when our thoughts of others are happy then we will not ever be free to walk in fellowship and in Christian friendship. Tonight we move from Paul’s thankfulness for the Philippians to his prayers for them but what I hope we will see is that the prayers Paul offers on their behalf are directly linked to his thankfulness for them. Paul wrote “always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy”. His prayers were not travails; they were not about their issues with each other or his issues with them. Paul was very careful not to let his personality, his opinions or his current condition enter into his intercession, he chose thanksgiving and then he prayed from that position. I believe there is a great lesson here, our prayers flow from our heart position, meaning, whether we like to admit it or not, our prayer flow from how we have chosen to view a person, a place or a circumstance. Paul chose thanksgiving and so he prayed “always . . . with joy”. We are all called to pray for each other but how do we do it, when should we do it and what should we be praying? I’m not sure that we will have direct answers to those questions tonight, but Paul had a way of getting directly to the issues and matters of the heart when he prayed and so we will consider Paul’s first prayer in the book of Philippians and see if we can learn not how to pray better but how to pray in way in which we can dig deeper into friendship and fellowship.