I recently published an article urging Christians to pray with an open Bible, “employing the Spirit-inspired words of God’s people and theology to breathe new life into our praises, petitions, confession of sin, and thanksgiving.” With the help of D. A. Carson’s remarkable book, A Call to Spiritual Reformation,also Praying With Paul, I outlined two ways an open Bible enriches our prayers: with vocabulary and theology, form and truth.

For example, on more occasions than I can remember, I’ve used Philippians 1:9-11to illustrate how to infuse our prayers with scripture—how to pray with an open Bible, so to speak. Like so many other prayers in the Bible, Paul’s provides both the language and theology behind it; his petitions are concerned with the Philippians love, discernment, holiness and righteousness, “to the glory and praise of God” (1:11). Passages like this one can and should enrich our prayer lives. But below I want to consider something oft overlooked in the verses prior that can also be a boon to praying: Paul’s confidence.

“He Who Began a Good Work”

You wouldn’t be wrong—and chances are it’s a verse you’ve memorised—to identity the source of Paul’s confidence as God. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Commenting on that verse many years ago I wrote, “God’s grip has not loosened. His power has not waned. His goodness and grace is unending. He will bring his work to completion. Therefore with wholehearted dependance on him, we can carry on—confidently.” And God’s people said, ‘amen.’

However, a closer reading of the passage reveals another reason for Paul’s confidence.

“I Have You in My Heart”

Just look at the next verse, “It is right for me to feel this way about all of you” (Philippians 1:7). What feeling is Paul referring to here? His confidence (so Philippians 1:6). Obviously this is tied back to God bringing the work he’s started to completion, only Paul goes on. “It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart.” The construction (δια το εχειν με) translated “since” (NIV) is more clearly rendered “because” (ESV), denoting cause. Technicalities aside, in addition to Paul’s confidence stemming from God’s work he further grounds his confidence in his own prayers.

It’s worth pausing here, because we tend to carelessly rattle off platitudinal versions of 1:7. You’re on my mind. Thinking about you. Sending love. “I have you in my heart.” Only all of these iterations can, and so often do, amount to little more than Nietzsche’s empty pity, impotent empathy. As Peter O’Brien comments on this verse, the image of the heart “employed in its customary OT sense of the whole person to describe the seat of the physical, spiritual, and mental life,” denoting “the whole inner life with its thinking, feelings or emotions, and volition, all of which undoubtedly entail his prayers.

This is supported by the following verse. Paul goes on, “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:8). It’s such a staggering and bold pronouncement we usually skip right past. Because Paul now speaks of his confidence not only on behalf of the Philippians, but before God too. “God can testify.” To what? How he longs for them with Christ’s affection. What does that look like? Holding them in his heart (1:7), prayer (1:6).

“God Can Testify”

When I taught this passage last year I suggested two reasons for us having porous discipline around prayer. The first is that we don’t share Paul’s confidence in it, possibly because we don’t know his confidence in God. Uncomfortably, those go together. Secondly, our categories for affection or empathy, even love, don’t include prayer. Yet Paul identifies prayer as one of the clearest expressions of his concern for them. As I wrote on Philippians 1:7-8, “Paul’s love for others is apparent in his prayers for them.”

All of this begs some hard questions. Do I pray with confidence, convinced of God’s power and his promises? Put another way, if I believe that God is powerful why don’t I pray more? Then, could earnest I say what Paul does holding others in my heart, if that entails keeping them in my prayers? Chances are, your answer to that question touches on another. Do I regularly pray for others, or are my prayers narrowly self-focused? Finally, Jesus issued stern warnings against praying impressively before others; Philippians 1:8 is a challenging reminder that God is the witness to what’s going on in our hearts, not to mention our prayers.