In Philippians, Paul makes mention of praying for the Church at Philippi, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you" (Phil. 1:3).

This is quite a statement, isn't it?

Do you remember what happened at Philippi? Do you remember when Paul first went down there? In a night vision, a man stood up and said, "…Come over into Macedonia, and help us" (Acts 16:9). Paul had decided to go into Asia Minor, but said he was forbidden to go by the Spirit. So Paul and Silas went over into Macedonia, and thus the first time the Gospel was preached on the European continent was in Philippi. This is what happened:
And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
(Acts 16:13-14)
Lydia was converted to Christianity and invited Paul and Silas to stay in her home. While in that city, Paul would often go into the synagogue and discuss the Scriptures.

On the street of Philippi, a little maiden with a spirit of divination, or fortune-telling, would follow along behind Paul and Silas and say, "…These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation" (Acts 16:17). She knew who they were because the evil spirit in her knew. (But who wants the devil testifying for him?)

Finally, one day Paul turned around on the street and cast the devil out of her—making it impossible for her to tell fortunes anymore. Her masters became angry and had Paul and Silas arrested. They were stripped, beaten, and thrown in jail. At midnight they prayed and sang praises to God, as we studied earlier.

This Church at Philippi was born in persecution, yet Paul says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you" (Phil. 1:3). When you have the right perspective, you can thank God for every test. I always thank God for them. I thank God when I am in the midst of them, and I thank God when they're over; not because they are over, but because I had the privilege of proving Him faithful.

Believers should be full of joy and love, like a sponge is full of water. Then when the devil puts pressure on you, all that oozes out is joy and love instead of griping and complaining!

"…Making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now" (Phil. 1:4-5). When Paul and Silas were in jail in Philippi, they prayed and sang praises to God. Anyone can sing praises to God after he has been delivered; it doesn't take faith to do that. But Paul and Silas sang praises to God at midnight while they were in the midst of trouble. That's the way it should be!

Paul says several things that give us a clue about how to pray for others and about our attitude in prayer. This is what he wrote to the Romans:
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
(Rom. 1:9-12)
From verse 9 we see that Paul never forgot to pray for the Romans. (It is easy to forget this type of praying, isn't it?) When Paul prayed for them, he mentioned one of his requests was that "…I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you." He wanted to be a blessing to them; he wanted to impart spiritual things to them.

Then again, we have Paul's prayers in Ephesians. These are the longest prayers Paul prayed; they are more detailed than the prayers in his other letters.
[I] Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
(Eph. 1:16-23)
Paul prayed that the Ephesians might receive a revelation of the knowledge of God in their hearts; in other words, that the inner man might be enlightened.

One translation says, "The eyes of your heart, or your spirit...." (Eph. 1:18). Paul didn't pray for their mental understanding, because we know it's beyond human (mental) comprehension to grasp the meaning of what Paul said here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We know the Word means what it says, but we need to get revelation of it in our hearts.

I made giant strides in my spiritual life when I began to pray this Ephesian prayer for myself. At my last pastorate in Texas, I shut myself up in my church during the winter of 1947-48 for hours and even days, never coming out.

I left my Bible open to this chapter on the altar, and nearly every time I went in, I got on my knees and prayed this prayer for myself.

I would say, "Now, Lord, Paul was inspired by the Spirit of God to pray this prayer, and he was inspired by the Spirit of God to write it. I am praying it for myself." Every place Paul said your, I would insert I. Where he said, "I pray that the eyes of your understanding… I would say, "I pray that the eyes of my understanding…."

Then I would turn to the next prayer, in Ephesians 3:14-21, and I would pray for myself again. Since I would be there for hours at a time, I would pray those prayers every two or three hours—perhaps half a dozen times a day.

The Lord spoke to me one day while I was at the altar praying. He said, "I am going to take you on to revelations and visions." Immediately after that, revelations in line with the Word began to come. In fact, they came so fast I said to my wife, "What in the world have I been preaching the last fifteen years?" I learned so much and got so much new knowledge from the Bible, praying these prayers on my knees before God, it seemed as if I didn't know anything before.

When the eyes of your understanding—your spirit—are enlightened, you can make more spiritual progress in a few days or weeks than you can in fifteen years of studying the Bible and preaching. That doesn't mean we shouldn't study; I still study! But I'm saying these are good prayers to pray for yourself.

Source: Praying To Get Results by Kenneth E. Hagin.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications