I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

--Parallel verses:
‭‭Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭36‬-‭37‬
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

I love the term partnership in this context. It is a warm term. We, as followers of Jesus, have the same mission and calling, so being in partnership makes sense. And we have something even stronger than that — the same Holy Spirit in our hearts! He binds us together in love.

Paul is wanting Philemon to continue to mature and expand the depth of his understanding of the amazing and actively transforming gifts of Jesus. These spiritual gifts lighten up the world and its dark places, and act as a beacon of goodness and hope for the lost.

Paul calls out Philemon as a “refresher of the saints”. This is another way to say an encourager or enabler and restorer. He loves people well and they rebuild their joy and peace in life around him. He reminds me of Barnabus, who sold his property to provide for the church. What an encouragement that was, and he was known as an encourager.

Paul is so proud of Philemon and talks about how he fills him with joy and happiness.These were challenging times in the church, filled with many hardships and much persecution. And yet we see Philemon stand out as a leader, by how he lived.

Lord, thank you for Philemon and his model of how to take care of people and refresh their spirits! He was a blessing to you and so many. Help me to learn from him to be an encourager, and uplift people as I walk with them, in more and better ways.