<p>1:21 <i>I write to you having confidence in your obedience- </i>Paul believed his prayers would be answered and wrote, felt and acted accordingly. He goes straight on to ask for a room to be prepared for him on his release from prison (:22), so confident was he that the prayers for his release would be answered.</p><p><i>Knowing you will do what I ask</i>- Gk. '<i>more than</i> I ask'. In the same way as God had done for us exceeding abundantly <i>above </i>&nbsp; all we could ask or think (Eph. 3:20), so Philemon was to do <i>more </i>s.w. than the grace that Paul was suggesting (Philemon 21, 16 s.w.). It&rsquo;s not just a case of forgiving each other because we were forgiven; it&rsquo;s a question of lavishing the grace upon each other which the Lord has upon us. And notice the context of all this. Paul says that as Philemon&rsquo;s elder, he could just &ldquo;enjoin&rdquo; him to do that which was required of those in Christ. But he prefers not to work through a command from an elder, demanding obedience. Instead, he appeals to Philemon&rsquo;s own experience of personal grace, and sees in <i>that</i> an imperative, a command to be &lsquo;obeyed&rsquo; (Philemon 8,21). God&rsquo;s generosity to us in answering us &ldquo;above all we ask of think&rdquo; should be reflected in our doing things for others over and above what they have requested.</p>