Don’t Rush Past Thanksgiving
As hard as it is to believe, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I won’t offer any recipes for green bean casserole or sweet potato casserole, but I do have some advice I heart just yesterday: “Make sure you don’t rush through Thanksgiving to get to Christmas." That sounds like good advice. The apostle Paul modeled that thought as he wrote his letters to the Thessalonians. In his letters time and time again, he pauses to give thanks. And not one time did he give thanks for stuff. He doesn't mention any houses, boats, or cars. He fails to mention any vacations, investments, pets, or even family. But his heart is filled with thankfulness.
Paul was thankful for people who had received the good news of Jesus and who were daily living faithfully for God. He was thankful for every person who not only came to faith in Jesus but who also lived their lives in such a way that others saw their faith and also chose to follow Jesus. Paul was thankful that when a person faithfully follows Jesus, others notice their transformation of no longer loving stuff but instead loving people.
And when Paul prays for these saints that love Jesus, his heart is not only filled with gratitude, it is also filled with love, genuine love, for those who partner with him in advancing the good news about Jesus.
What happens when a person becomes filled with gratitude for those who come to faith in Jesus? What happens when our prayers shift to praying for the students and the people in our community who have come to faith through our example and faithfulness? The church grows and God's Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.
Paul's thankfulness and determination to pray for the saints worked so well that eventually you and I came to know Jesus. It was the persistent faithful prayers of thousands through the centuries that ultimately brought us to faith. And it will be our gratitude and our prayers that can and will change the world if we get our focus right.
So today let me borrow a few prayers from Paul;
1)“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 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.”
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 ESV
2)“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 ESV
3)“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5,
Let's see what happens when we pray the prayers that Paul prayed!
Your Time with God’s Word
1 Thessalonians 1:2-10, 2:2, 8, 13, 19-20, 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10 ESV
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