Pray 2 Thess. 3:1–4

The Thessalonian brethren faced continual persecutions from the time that the gospel was preached to them (Acts 17:1-9; 1 Thess. 1:6,7; 2:14-16; 2 Thess. 1:4-7). How could they cope with such continual troubles and prospects for only more trouble in the immediate future? As Paul began to close the second letter to them, he enjoined them to pray: 

2 Thess. 3:1-4 “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command.”

1.) Pray For Others. Paul said, “pray for us.” When facing troubles we aretempted to say, “I'm just going to pray for ME.” But people with selfish thoughts seldom pray much anyway. No, they should pray for Paul and those who helped bring them the gospel. 

2.) Pray For Spiritual Progress.  They were also to pray “that the word of the Lord may spread.” If the gospel has conquered our hearts for Jesus it can do the same for others also. Pray that it does so. 

3.) Have Confidence In The Lord.  Know that the “Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you...” He is stronger than our troubles. 

4.) Have Confidence In Your Brethren. Sometimes we are disappointed with our brethren. But Paul said, “we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command.”  Have faith in the faith of others.

A Wonderful Story Of God’s People Doing As They Should 2 Chron. 20

In the days of Jehoshaphat, Judah was throated by a great horde of three countries from the east combining to invade. Jehoshaphat was afraid. Fear in similar situations has caused many godly people to do evil.  His father Asa turned to a foreign alliance when he faced less of a threat that this. (2 Chron. 16)  But Jehoshaphat sought the Lord. (16 times “seek, seeking or sought the LORD (Jehovah)” appears in 1 & 2 Chron.) He called the people of Judah to fast as they sought the Lord. They assembled in the Temple courtyard and the king led in prayer.

Jehoshaphat’s prayer acknowledged the sovereignty of God, His help in making them a nation, and that trouble should not come upon God’s people so long as they humbled themselves before God. So in faith, they asked for God’s help. A prophet stood up and said that God would fight their enemies for them. They were to go out as to battle on a mountain overlooking a plain and wait there to see the victory of the Lord. The people bowed in worship and loudly praised God.  

Led the priests and singers, they went out where God had told them. They watched as the combined armies broke into its separate parts and fought one another to the point of total annihilation.  

The victory for God’s people was so complete that all they had to do was go down and take the spoils of war.  It took three days to carry all of it off.  On the fourth day, they had a great service of thanks to God. Faith and trust worked a greater victory than the army of Judah could have,

Psalm 5 Refuge Found In Worship And Prayer

In the fifth Psalm we find David again beset by many enemies. We often have the false notion that if we strive to be good and do what is right that most people will like us, or that at a minimum we will mostly be left alone.  But David’s experience does not bear this out. Certainly he was opposed because he was the king and all who have power will have opposition. But his troubles were more than simply political opposition. 

As the “anointed of God,” (2 Sam. 23:1) he was a constant public example and the living embodiment of service to God.  He was fiercely opposed for being a light in a dark world. Many have lost their faith because of this type of continual antagonism. Others have fallen into the temptation to sink to the ungodly tactics of their opponents once hostilities have begun.  But David shows the true way - reliance on God through prayer. 

David knew that these blessings were not for him alone. All who have the same faith can take refuge, be glad, sing for joy, find shelter and exalt in the Lord. Where did David find Him? In prayer and in worship. Love and fidelity to the great Creator are the right response when we consider His love toward us. But we are influenced daily by the evil world that surrounds us so that we don’t realize that the Invisible God is also present. The difference between David and his enemies – between the faithful and the unfaithful – came down to one walking by faith and the other walking by sight according the course of this world.  

How do you walk? Or maybe we should rather ask, how do you worship?And how do you pray?

Psalm 3 I Cried, He Answered

Christian have the monumental admonition to “pray without ceasing.”  Over a thousand years before this, under the lesser light of revelation of the Old Testament, there was a man who lived the same teaching, King David.

3:1    O LORD, how my adversaries have increased! 

    Many are rising up against me.

2     Many are saying of my soul, 

    "There is no deliverance for him in God." Selah.

3     But Thou, O LORD, art a shield about me, 

    My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

4    I was crying to the LORD with my voice, 

    And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.

David was surrounded by an ever increasing number of enemies. They mock, they ridicule, and the specifically attack him for his faith in God. God is still the shield, glory, and power of David. These attacks did not drive David from God, but closer to Him.

David was not disappointed in his hope in God, but He was answered and could go in peace because of it. Selah — stop and think about God answering prayer. 

God is approachable in prayer. He answers prayer, He delivers the oppressed. Thus, as Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”  (Jn. 14:27)

Imprecatory Prayer

“Imprecation” means “invoking of evil, a curse.”  In descriptions of psalms or prayers, it means asking God to rightly punish those who are deserving of it.  Use of this type of prayer may not be a pleasant thought, but the grave sins of evil men make many things as we wish they were not. Imprecatory prayer is one of the helps God extends to us in times of such need.

When?  The situation in which to offer a righteous imprecatory prayer is 1) when it is a cause that God will support, 2) you are suffering a terrible harm and 3) other means of relief are not available.  These are not simply prayers of vengeance, but prayers of dependence on God as the only hope of help.

Who? All who would plead for God to relieve them from the evil of his enemies must truly make sure that their enemy cannot rightly ask for the same relief because of the pleader’s action. The righteous imprecatory prayer is a tool for the innocent only.

We read two psalms that were imprecatory prayers in our Bible reading this week (Ps. 35 & 52). There are nine others as well. (Ps. 12, 31, 55, 59, 64, 79, 83, 94, 140).

We hope that we never need to pray for the Lord to punish evildoers who are harming us, but sometimes that is the only way to find relief.  Righteous imprecatory prayer is the last hope of the patient, innocent, faithful saint.

Weeping With Those Who Weep

Weeping With Those Who Weep

Last week a young homosexual Muslim man pledged his alliance to the Islamic state and begin to murder as many people as he could in a gay night club that he frequented. In the hours before the police stopped him (one officer taking a bullet to to the front of his kevlar helmet), he callously killed 49 people, and wounded more than 50, 

The Christian response should be obvious: sorrow over the loss of life and compassion for the loved ones of the victim. As Paul clearly instructed, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” (Rom. 12:15).

Yet some believers are hindered from doing this because the sins of the victims are clearly known. Are we hindered from grief because alcohol, drugs or some other wrong preceded an untimely death? But what did God say? “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord GOD. “Therefore, repent and live.”” (Ezek. 18:12, also Ezek. 18:23; 33:11) God is not pleased with their deaths, nor the death of any sinner. Would He have been pleased with our death before the time of our repentance? The average age of those who died was 29, the youngest just 18. How many who are saints today were fully ready for judgment at those young ages? 

Others are hindered in sharing their grief by charges of hypocrisy leveled by those using this tragedy and the sympathy rightly flowing from it for political gain. Christians cannot and do not celebrate the lifestyle of those who were terribly murdered. We do not take pride it in or anything associated with it (Eph. 5:11). But not celebrating and encouraging a sinful life is not a hinderance mourning a tragic passing, or in this cases, scores of them. Our understanding of the spiritual component of this should make the tragedy sting all the more, not be a reason for caring less. 

Whenever there is a tragic lose of life we are reminded of Jesus’ reaction to multi-death tragedies and atrocities in His day:

“Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?  “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

When tragedies cause souls to perish, Jesus warned that considering how the victims might or might not morally compare to others is pointless. What mattered was each person realizing their own sin and the need of humility and repentance before God.

It is also a reminder to us of the need to pray.

“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:1-4)

We need to pray those around the world withfor quiet and tranquil lives. We could all use more quietness and tranquility as we, like God, desire the salvation of all..