BY: Pastor Bob Miller
CHAPTER READ: 2 Thessalonians 1
SCRIPTURE SELECTED: 2 Thessalonians 1: 3, 11-12
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing….11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
OBSERVATION:
Paul begins the chapter saying “We ought always to thank God for you…” and then ends the chapter by saying: “We constantly pray for you”. He moves beyond what “ought” to be done to actually praying. I love that he prays that God will make us worthy of His calling and by HIS power He may bring about our every desire for goodness and every deed prompted by faith.” This is so that our lives will bring glory to God and Jesus our Lord!
APPLICATION:
I know what I “ought” to do…and that is to always pray with thanksgiving for those around me. What I need to do is follow through on what I know I ought to do! And my prayer for others needs to go deeper than praying for their health or for their comfort. It needs to be a prayer that I know God wants to answer on their behalf…which is to make us worthy of His calling.
PRAYER:
Lord, I lift to you those in our church family with thanksgiving for I see in them your power and love at work. I pray that You will fulfill Your call upon their lives and that You will enable them to carry out every desire that You have put into their hearts to do good. Take their faith and give it “feet”! Be a blessing through them to our world. Amen.