Introduction to 2 Thessalonians Chapter Three

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/5/2014 7:51 AM

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  Introduction to 2 Thessalonians chapter Three

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

            Message of the verses:  “1 Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; 2  and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”

            It seems the more that I study the letters that Paul wrote that are included in the Word of God the more I see some similarities in them.  For instance many of his letters he begins with prayer for the saints that he is writing to and also in the beginning of his letters he teaches doctorial truths, and then near the end of his letters he asks the saints to pray for him and then gives the practical application to the doctorial truths that he has taught in the first part of the letter.  Many times we see the word “finally” in his letters towards the end of his letter and we have to understand that this word can have and does have several meanings in the Greek.  John MacArthur writes “Finally (loipos) can have the sense of finality, but it literally means ‘for the rest,’ or ‘besides that’ (e. g., 1 Cor. 1:16).  Paul used the same term in Philippians 3:1 and 1 Thessalonians 4:1, and in neither instances was he ready to conclude his epistle; he was simply making a transition (‘beside that…this’).  In several uses of the word, it marks the transition from the letter’s doctrinal content to its practical content, as it does here.  By it Paul marked his subject change from eschatology to matters of practical sanctification.”  So with this in mind we understand that there was a change in direction in this letter.

            We are again talking about prayer as we did in the first letter that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.  Now it is good for us to remember that the church at Thessalonica was a very young church in the Lord, and that Paul and his co-workers in the Lord were only there for a very short while before they were run out of town due to persecution.  Paul wrote the first letter shortly after he left Thessalonica to find out how this new church was doing, and found out that they were doing well despite being under persecution.  Between the two letters the church was under great persecution and a false teacher through a letter that was supposed to have been sent from Paul told them that they were in the Day of the Lord.  Paul refuted this in telling them that they could not be in the Day of the Lord because the antichrist was not on the scene, and then writes in the second chapter much about this man of sin which is eschatological teaching.  He is now beginning his practical teaching in this last chapter of 2 Thessalonians and is repeating some of the things about prayer that are found in the first letter.  Paul desires for the Thessalonian believers to pray for him, and he wants them to do this even though they are very young in the Lord.  I have heard men teach that when a person is a young believer and begins their prayer life that many times the Lord will answer their prayers in order to give them confidence to continue to pray.  I suppose that when a person has been a believer that there are times when their prayer life is up and down, and I can speak from experience about this as I am having a difficult time in my prayer life at this time.

            As I look at the introductory material from John MacArthur’s commentary on this chapter of 2 Thessalonians he writes that in these first five verses what we will be looking at.  “This text provides additional insight, directly from Paul’s heart regarding what any dedicated, devoted pastor desires from his people.  The apostle set forth four fundamental and obvious desires he had of the Thessalonians:  that they would pray for him, that they would trust the Lord, that they would obey his divinely revealed teaching, and that they would grow spiritually.”  These are wonderful prayer requests that Paul has laid out and we will begin looking at the first one “Pastors Desire Their People’s Prayers” in our next SD (Lord willing).

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Prayer is one of the most important things that I, as a believer can do.  Prayer is a privilege in that God has allowed me to participate in the things that He is doing on earth.  I surely need to have a better prayer life, to desire to have a better prayer life and then have one so that I can be doing more work for the Lord.  As I grow in the Lord and continue to study from His Word I can understand more about what I am to pray about, that is to align God’s will with mine and then pray about it.  One of the things that is helpful in my prayer life is seeing the things that Paul has written about in the letters of his that I have been studying.  Another things is by reading books that teach about the attributes of the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Have a better prayer life.

Memory verses for the week:  Colossians 3:10-11.

10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian and Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Four.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Why did Abraham purchase the cave of Machpelah?”

Answer in our next SD.

11/5/2014 8:26 AM