As Christians, we teach and preach God’s faithfulness. We amen God’s faithfulness. We sing about God’s faithfulness and we decorate our homes with phrases such as “God is faithful”. While all of these actions are good, faith, in real life, is like a rubber band; it contracts when life is easier and expands to the point of being unbearable as life becomes more complex and difficult. Furthermore, there are life-altering events (e.g. marital betrayal, chronic health issues, job loss, unexpected death, etc.) that stretch one’s faith to a breaking point. These life-altering events become spiritual earthquakes that reveal fault lines of doubt. So, what do we do during these times? A careful study of 2 Thessalonians provides the answer. By studying 2 Thessalonians 2, we learn that, though fearful (of the end times), we must always be faithful (2 Thessalonians 2.15). In 2 Thessalonians 3, Paul encourages the Thessalonians, and us today, to trust our reliable God who is faithful to His Word and to His people even during intense faith-stretching persecution and faith-canceling life experiences. Today’s passage, from 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5, shows three ways that God demonstrates faithfulness. The first demonstration of God’s faithfulness is….
Our faithful God answers His children’s prayers
Brothers and sisters, we must understand that these are not prayers to win the lottery or to get an “A” on an exam that we did not prepare for. Rather, our prayers must be in keeping with God’s will (1 John 5:14). In this passage, Paul asks the Thessalonians to pray for two requests: 1) that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored and 2) that believers would receive deliverance from wicked and evil men. In short, Paul asks them to pray so that what God did in their lives and in Thessalonica would be done throughout the Roman Empire. The result is that God answered their prayer that God’s Word would run and be glorified (Acts 17:10-12; 17:16, 30, 32-34; 18:7-8). God’s Word did speed ahead in these cities and God’s Word was honored as new converts found God’s Word worthy to obey and to follow.
So, for us today, what would a God-centered, God-honoring prayer look like in our private prayers or public prayers at Grace Life? It would be something similar to the following: “O God, in my life, my family, our church would you allow us to grow in our honoring of the Word?! O God, it is our desire to see a new church established in Cypress or Northwest Houston. When that time comes, would you allow the word of the Lord to speed ahead and be honored? Also, Father, there are so many Unreached People Groups in our world who do not know you nor honor your Word. O Lord, raise up Christians from Grace Life to go and may the Word speed ahead and be honored as it was in Thessalonica.”
Now, for the second request of asking God to deliver us from wicked and evil men (2 Thessalonians 3:2). In this verse, we see that both Paul and the Thessalonians experienced extreme persecution and hostility because of their commitment to the gospel. Likewise, we too, will face persecution and hostility when we arrange and align our lives and families to honor the Word. Specifically, the more we seek to advance the gospel through relationships, the more we will experience wicked and evil opposition. So, how do we combat this? We must pray for one another and our gospel partners for God to spare us from wicked and evil people who suppress the gospel. These are prayers that our faithful God answers!
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