<p>1:9- see on 2 Cor. 12:15.</p><p><i>And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment</i>- As noted on :8, the connection or love between Paul and the Phillipians was a result of the indwelling of the Spirit; yet we have to &quot;put on&quot; the spleen or inner feelings (&quot;tender mercies&quot;) of the Spirit (Col. 3:12) and our love likewise grows in that the work of the Spirit is ongoing and must be allowed by us. For God will not force us against our will. Our love abounds more and more through &ldquo;discernment, so that ye may prove the things that differ&rdquo; (RVmg.). We grow by being given different situations to respond to, in order to develop our judgment- what Eph. 5:10 calls &ldquo;proving what is acceptable unto the Lord&rdquo;. By reason of use our spiritual senses are exercised to discern good and evil (Heb. 5:14). This is why, be it in church or family or deeply personal life, our consciences are constantly being probed and exercised by the situations which Providence leads us into. And thus we grow in sensing more keenly right and wrong, more victoriously overcoming all the temptations whose strength lies in the fact that in the heat of the moment we waver as to what is right and wrong&hellip; and the end result of this increased and heightened discernment, Paul says, is a love which abounds &ldquo;yet more and more&rdquo; (Phil. 1:9). &nbsp;</p>