Love Tells The Truth

In this episode, we explore Paul’s powerful prayer in Philippians 1—a prayer that goes deeper than surface-level faith. Paul doesn’t just pray for love. He prays that love would abound with knowledge and judgment.

Why? Because love alone, without truth and discernment, can lead us in the wrong direction.

True, biblical love is not passive—it is intentional, informed, and aligned with God’s will. It requires understanding who God is and the ability to discern what pleases Him. This kind of love challenges us to grow, to correct, and sometimes to confront—not out of emotion, but out of truth.

Even more powerful is the context: Paul writes this while in chains. Bound physically, yet still praying for others to grow spiritually. That’s real love.

This episode also highlights what it means to live countercultural—especially in environments that don’t reflect God. Real love doesn’t stay silent. It speaks truth. It stands firm. It reflects Christ.

🔥 Love is more than a feeling
 🔥 Love requires truth and discernment
 🔥 Love pushes you to speak, not stay silent

 #PressToPray #Philippians1 #BiblicalLove #FaithInAction #ChristianGrowth #Discernment #SpiritualMaturity #TruthInLove #KingdomLiving #PrayerWorks

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Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Welcome everybody to the Press Movement Podcast. We are in the studio slash office today, and I have a special guest here, Kavante.

Hello, hello. Hello. He is not new to the press in any way, shape or form, but new to the podcast.

You know, I don't have a favorites list of young people, but if I did, this young man has no idea how much I talk about him behind his back in a great way. This is a standup guy, and I'm just so excited, one, to have you here. Thank you for having me.

And then two, to hear what the Lord gave you. So today we're going to dive into the book of Philippians. Take it from there, Tay.

Alrighty, so I'm excited about this, but in the first chapter of Philippians, Paul addresses the letter to all the saints who are in Philippi. And what's interesting is last year in November, we were able to visit Philippi, and it was fascinating to study what Paul had did within the city, establishing the foundation of Christ and sharing the gospel there amongst the people living within the city, alongside Timothy, who he mentions in the beginning of this letter. And as you read the letter Paul wrote for the church of Philippi and study the book of Acts, you begin to see that just a special bond that Paul had for the city and its people, and a love that he had for the saints of Philippi.

And love is important because that's what we're speaking about today. Also, it's important to note that this was the same city where Paul was imprisoned. However, God, in response to Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to him, there was a massive earthquake which freed them.

We see the sincere prayer here and trusting God has the potential to free you from the literal or figurative, sometimes for us, prison or bonds that we stay trapped in. And God responded to prayer that aligns with his will and his word. We see that so clearly here.

So as we dive into this prayer that was said by Paul in chapter 1 of Philippians from verse 9 to 11, we'll understand more about this. So verse 9, it says, And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more, and more knowledge, and in all judgment. So for me, what really stood out here is abound yet more, specifically pertaining to love, and then love, more knowledge, and in all judgment.

So for me, sometimes I have to just break things down. So the strongs here, Strongs G25, when it's speaking about love, which is also translated agape, but in the KJV, the translation, you also see the word being used as in charity, charitable, and things of that nature. So here, it starts to allow us to understand and define what love is so we can understand and why Paul was mentioning this being something that for the church of Philippi that he wanted love to abound more, and more knowledge, and judgment, which we'll get to in a second.

But the cool thing is, is when you use the Strongs, you can see where it's used throughout the Bible. So the first thing that I considered and what came to mind was 1 Corinthians 13 and 2, where it says, And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. So the word charity here is also Strongs G26, which is the same as the word love when we looked at the Strongs number for that, and they can be used interchangeably.

So here to help us understand the importance of love, we see how though we may be right in other areas, if we lack love, we're missing a critical piece, and I'll walk with God. And then to kind of bring this home as far as defining love, also consider John 13, verses 34 to 35, when Jesus is speaking to disciples. So first in verse 34, He says, So Jesus in this moment, He told the disciples, people will know you're a disciple of mine.

And that word disciple is just basically defined as a learner or pupil. But all men will know you as a person who is learning and or a disciple of me. If you have love for one another, therefore we understand love is critical, not only as learners, but also pupils of Christ and His disciples.

So for me, when I was looking at this, I'm like, okay, sometimes as a student, when I'm being taught something, I know in class, it was like, am I going to need this later on down the line? Like, is this going to resurface in anything that I do just as I go forward in life? And I think about when Jesus is teaching and letting the disciples know the importance of love, I'm like, 100% love is something that we're going to need. And love is something that we should always abound more in as we go throughout our walk with God, because it's something that is critical. We see here in the verses that we kind of use to help identify how important it is.

So the second point I kind of thought about with this specific verse is why Paul mentioned knowledge and judgment. So I think first, it's important to highlight Paul's reasoning for his specific mention for these two and love abounding more within them. First, again, we have to understand and know what both words entail.

So knowledge here speaks of recognition, knowing or having an understanding of the things of God, and just love abounding more and knowledge in this sense. Basically, our recognition of Jesus and what we know of Him and His Word, His instructions, His commandments as well. So that love may abound more in this specifically.

To better understand this, I use Strong's again to look at other areas in the Bible where the word knowledge is used, which brought me to 2 Peter 1 and 2. And this says, Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. And then verse 3 follows as well by saying, According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. So I use these specific verses because I remember Sister Letitia Campbell, she explained and she spoke about how our peace can be multiplied through the knowledge of God.

And it really helped me understand what that word knowledge means when we look at it in the Bible specifically. And knowledge really just goes back to how much you know of God, kind of seeing that word know within the Word. So now that we kind of have an understanding of knowledge, let's jump over to judgment.

Judgment speaks of perception and discernment. So the Webster Dictionary actually defines judgment as the act or process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing. So opinion or a decision that is based on very careful thought.

If we love without knowledge and understanding of who God is and without judgment and the ability to discern based on God's Word, our love without these specific areas in mind, it could do more harm in our relationship with Jesus than good. And it could do more harm in a way that we love others sometimes, especially if we're loving others, but it's not within God's will. So having love that includes knowledge and discernment will help, I believe, the Church of the Philippi and the Saints, the Philippians in the relationship and walk with God.

If we had a little bit more time to really break down, I would go to Revelations 2 to briefly elaborate on how this ties into our prayer specifically. And in verse 9, which we're still on, speaking about how love may abound yet more in knowledge and our judgment, I will go to Revelations 2 because I will look at the Church of Thyatira and the Church of Ephesus. They would be really good examples to look at.

The first church I will kind of go into is the Church of Thyatira. The message from the Lord in verse 19 in Revelations 2 has stated they had charity. However, in verse 20, what the Lord identified as an error within this church is that they were, they suffer as Jezebel, which means they permitted the actions that she did.

And with the Church of Ephesus, they were on point. However, in verse 4 within Revelations 2, their message stated, Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou has left a first love. So the Church of Ephesus had somewhat of knowledge and judgment, but they lacked the key ingredient, which is love.

The Church of Thyatira, they had charity, which Ephesus lacked, but they suffer as Jezebel, which means clearly they lack knowledge and they lack judgment. So for this verse, kind of like my final thought, I would say is it kind of helps put into perspective love in a sense of, you can be specific. So not just loving and getting out of control.

Because I think sometimes, especially with like maybe family, friends, close ones, you want to love them. But the way that you love and the actions that you take, if it doesn't align with God's will, then that love, it's not a correct love. It's not a love that is going to be good for that person or whoever it is that you're encountering and interacting with.

And then, so verse 10, and I'll break, because I didn't know if you had any thoughts kind of around that. I was just listening to the concept of love and looking at the chapter, and it just hit me how much love makes you okay with sacrifice. Because my take on Philippians in Macedonia really goes around the sacrifice that was given there on behalf of Paul.

I mean, he talks about it. In 2 Corinthians 7 and 5, he says, For when we come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side, without where fightings were then were fears. He talks about the state of the place and yet to tell them to love, as you were talking, it hit me that love can make you survive any sacrifice.

And it just does, whether you're talking about a spouse, whether you're talking about a parent to a child, love makes you go that extra mile even when you're giving up yourself. And so I think you're doing a beautiful job just displaying how big love is to this prayer right here. So you can keep going into verse 10, but those are my thoughts.

And when you said that, another instance that came to my mind. So I know there was a moment where Paul had grew frustrated with the Corinthians in the Church of Corinth. And there was a moment where there was a letter that he had sent.

And I know in this letter, there was a point where he said, he was basically saying like he felt bad for sending it, but he didn't feel bad because they needed that rebuke. So in 2 Corinthians 7 and 8, when we're talking about love and it being within knowledge and within judgment, I think a lot of times too, when you had mentioned that we see love. Of course, we think of love as sacrificial because when we think of the greatest example of love is what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross.

And what I also seen here, what I took note of specifically, it talks about this in 2 Corinthians 7, 8. Paul is speaking about a letter that he had sent to the Church of Corinth. In verse 8, it says, For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. Though I did repent, for I perceived that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

It goes into talking about godly sorrow, working repentance and salvation and not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. And from my understanding here, when he had sent this letter, it was because the Church of Corinth was off. He sent it to ensure that they would have repentance, the state of them feeling sorry when they received it.

It wasn't something that's like, oh, okay, I'm sorry. And then they kind of just move on from it. Their repentance was the outcome of this.

But it talks about how even this, when Paul had sent that letter, it was love, though it was a little rough. And when he said, I do not repent, though I did repent, he's basically saying like it was hard, but it wasn't too hard and I loved you enough to ensure that you were right. That even though I loved you and even though I care for you, I didn't let you just continue to do your own thing, wander off and kind of veer off.

And I think that's important to consider when we think about love too, is I know specifically there's ways that we are called to do it within the Bible when it comes to a rebuke or anything along those lines, but understanding that a lot of times it's how to love as well. Yeah, it's that knowledge and in all judgment, they go together, love, knowledge, judgment, because to accurately judge God's people, you need to love them. You can't just go off of what you think or feel.

You need that knowledge. You need that foundation. And so I can see Paul's prayer here in Philippians 1 and 9. Yeah, and I think it all carries over, even into verse 10, where Paul says, and he's praying that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.

I think in that first part, when it talks about approving things that are excellent, to approve things that are excellent, you have to have knowledge and judgment. Because like you said, like in order to judge, you know, the people that you love. And so in this verse, we see approve things that are excellent.

You have to know what that is biblically and how God did it. So I think here that we may, that ye may approve things that are excellent. And then that second piece where it says that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, it continues to build on what he said in verse 9 to ensure that the Philippians are able to continue to walk and go throughout their walk with God in a strong manner.

And really we see in verse 11 what this strong manner is. And that's verse 11. It says being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.

We understand we cannot bear fruit if we are not doing the things that God instructs us to and God calls us to. When it goes back to just knowledge and judgment, if we're missing any one of those, if especially if we're missing love, but if in our love, we don't have knowledge and we don't have judgment, we won't have the fruits of righteousness that is speaking about here, which it says, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. So I think throughout these three verses, especially starting in that first verse in verse 9, when Paul is praying this, it's really that again, I think I appreciate the fact that he example love in a way that he prayed for them.

He was also able to example that because I know when he wrote this letter to them, he was actually in a sense under house arrest and he was bound at that time. So to still be able to write something and to be praying for someone in the midst of being bound, it gives a good example of love. So he's practicing essentially what he's preaching here.

And I think the fact that he's praying for that specifically for the church just at Philippi is extremely important. And it's something that he cared a lot about, which is why he didn't just say that you are bound more in love. He included knowledge and judgment specifically.

So like you said, seeing how all three of these are intentional in a way that they're put together, I appreciate it. Yeah, not even just the intentionality of the words. You pointed out the timing for Paul that he is in bonds.

This man is locked up. And if you look at verse 12, he just says, but I would, you should understand brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. In other words, they count.

That is a powerful stance to take when you're writing to them from prison and telling them to be countercultural. I mean, go against the nature what's surrounding you and abound in love, abound in knowledge, abound in judgment. As we near the conclusion of this prayer, how do you find the strength to be countercultural? And I'm going to preface this for the audience because he doesn't know what I'm going to say.

But one of the greatest testimonies I heard of you was when we had a young man come in football team. They call him Unc over here. Tay is young, but he's just, he's Unc.

You know, that's what they say. But anyway, it's a respect thing. And the young man came in to be baptized and you had witnessed to him.

And he told me, he said, I just want to be at least half the man he is. In that, I was like, wow, that is a testimony because they see you around campus. They've seen you in the locker room.

That tells me a lot about character. So I'm asking you, how do you find the strength? Because I mentioned the locker room. He was a football player before he graduated.

That environment cannot possibly be the easiest place to be in college at that. How do you find the strength to be countercultural? Like he's encouraging them to be. I immediately, when we started talking about that, I thought of a night at press.

It was on a UND's campus, but we were all in a circle and it was post-press. It was after we had already went through the work and we were sitting around. And a lot of guys, there were guys that I played football with.

And I remember telling them, it's hard, or I would say it's almost impossible for me to say, I love you. A lot of times before we, when we greet each other and then when we leave, we always say, love, we always say, I love you in some sort of way. And I told them, it's like, I cannot say this confidently to you if I did not share with you who Jesus Christ has been in my life.

I cannot confidently say that I love you or say love when I'm departing from you if I did not share with you the gospel. And I did not share with you what God requires from us in order to be saved flat out. And I remember that moment so vividly because in that locker room, in that culture within sports, for me being saved, because the interesting thing was, I came into college playing football before I was saved.

And then I was saved. And I was still within the locker room because I had about a year and a half left. We were just playing.

And the big difference in between both of those seasons, if you will, is how much I love God, first and foremost, but how much I love sharing who God was, who God has been for me with those who I love, I said in a natural. And like you said, to be countercultural in a sense of, you know, because I said this and because I knew and had a relationship with Jesus, now the way that I go about interactions with these guys, the way that I go about my life and the way that I go about decisions and interactions, I have to do so knowing that if I'm saying that I love you, I have to also share this with you. And I have to also be an example of this.

And I'm not just doing it to check off a box. I'm doing it because first and foremost, I want to make it happen. I know what is being required of me.

Again, when we talk about knowledge, I know the things of God now. I'm starting to know and learn more about His Word. And in knowing that, I know what the expectations and the standards are.

So for me, the biggest thing was if I'm saying that I love you, I have to—and I think of Matthew 5 immediately when I'm speaking about this. I'm going to pull it up just so I can reference the correct way. Immediately, I think about in Matthew 5 when it says in verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

What I love about the fact that I was still within that culture, even after being saved, was the fact that they seen me before and after. And even more so, what that really means in my testimony is they seen the work that God did within me. None of what people are seeing and when I'm saying what God did in my life, it was about what I did.

All I simply did was allow and trust in God and submit it. And what I'm tying this back to is that love abounded more. Because even just in a natural sense, it's like I love them.

I said I love them. And again, I told you like when we departed from each other and we were saying goodbye, we said love. And you know, you may think, okay, I treat someone how I want to be treated.

And you know, I treat them fairly and I do all these things. You know, that's love. But I see here when Paul is saying that love should abound more.

To me, now it goes to the next level, especially within knowledge and judgment. It goes to that next level of, okay, if I really say that I love you, you should know the reason why I love you in this way. You should know the God that I serve that loved me so much to do the things that He's done in my life.

So you now know that this is what you need. It's not optional. So I think for me, that was the first example that kind of came to mind.

It was the first moment that came to mind. And I think that's what's given me strength is God. And the fact that I've seen what He's done in my life for me, and I've seen how much He has done and how much He has not only done for me, but in my obedience, He's done for those around me, specifically talking about family.

It's like you had mentioned earlier when we were talking about love and it being sacrificial and how love truly looks. Sometimes it was having those uncomfortable conversations. It was sometimes having moments where it's like, okay, if I'm saying I love you, maybe I don't agree with this thing that you're doing.

And I know that that may build some sort of tension. But again, how an example I mentioned with Paul, when he sent the letter to the Church of Corinth, if I say that I love you, I'm not going to continue to let you be in a place or in a mindset or doing things that I know doesn't please God, to be in sin. So I think for me, that is really brought this specific prayer home.

And then again, what gave me the strength throughout that season in my life as an athlete. Yeah, because love will make you push back and stand up because you want them to have what you have. And I believe that's what Paul was praying for them for, and praying from a place, literally a place in jail and bonds, where he knew God could still keep you and use you.

And that if you'll walk with Him, if you'll love Him, if you'll let love be shed abroad in your hearts, then God will do incredible things. And we know when we pray, prayer reaches every single situation. Be blessed, y'all.

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