Read with Me
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (HCSB)
And in view of this, we always pray for you that our God will consider you worthy of His calling, and will, by His power, fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you, and you by Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Listen with Me
The future that Paul knows is coming, the ultimate arrival of Jesus and the vindication of the righteous along with the castigation and ultimate condemnation of all those who have persecuted the people of God’s kingdom, informs and motivates his present actions.
A key thing that Paul can and does do, though separated from the Thessalonians by miles, is to pray powerful prayers for them. Paul knows that his prayers can deliver the strength and power that those still-new believers need.
Paul prays that the Thessalonians will be counted worthy of the calling they received when they first believed. By this he meant that they would stand firm in the face of the persecutions they were facing, and that they would not turn back to the false and inadequate beliefs they had held before turning to Jesus for salvation and transformation.
Paul also prayed that God would provide all the power needed for them not only to stand firm in the face of opposition, but also to move briskly forward into the calling to continue to grow God’s kingdom by bringing in more and more people. Paul knew two things that lay behind this request. First is that human power and will is of only minor consequence in doing the work of God’s kingdom. The second is that God is able, even anxious, to provide His divine power to complete His work when it is requested in faith.
Paul’s final point in this first section of his letter is that Jesus is glorified when His people do His work in His power. Cut glass saints who merely looked pretty are of no use in bringing Him glory, because they do nothing to spread His message of redemption. It is those followers who carry the light of the gospel into the dark places of the world and who by God’s great power lead captives out into freedom that clearly demonstrate who Jesus is and what He has done.
And it is through glorifying Jesus that His followers are glorified in Him, showing themselves to truly be His people, and assuring their hearts of their own salvation. And when push comes to shove, that assurance in the hearts of God’s people is invaluable, and will help them to not only stand firm, but also to keep moving forward.
Pray with Me
Father, there are so many good things for us today in these two verses. We need to not only be built up by prayer as we move Your agenda forward. We also need to hold up our coworkers in the harvest fields of the kingdom through prayer as they work alongside us. With Paul, it was never either/or. He prayed for those he had led to the Lord, and he asked for their prayers as well. He both prayed for others and worked himself. Help me, Lord, to be faithful in prayer, as well as being faithful in doing the work You have called me to each day. Amen.