“May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.” 1 Thessalonians 3:13 NIV
You know how sometimes you come into a conversation at the wrong time? You hear the last thing someone says and it’s either surprisingly offensive or unexpectedly passionate? Right, so that’s sort of the case with the text for today’s devotion. We won’t really understand the weight, the gravity, of Paul’s words unless we start back at the beginning of his letter. So, go ahead and read that now…seriously…I’ll wait…Ok, now that you’ve read, starting from chapter one, you see that there is some intense stuff going on. The Thessalonian Christians are experiencing persecution at the same time Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy have been “torn away” from them. In response, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are desperately trying to get back to them, but they’re repeatedly held back by Satan. Finally, they send Timothy on ahead and he gets some good news. Timothy is able to reach the Thessalonians and report back that, in the face of persecution, their “faith and love” has been sustained. Paul is rejoicing that these Christians have not fallen away, despite the hardships they’re facing. So often encouragement comes after failure, but here Paul is encouraging them amid great success. Today we don’t all face the kind of persecution Paul’s first hearers did, but there are all sorts of reasons to grow weak in “faith and love”. Let’s not wait until the weakness becomes despair or crippling doubt. Let’s rejoice for each other, with each other, in times of strong faith and selfless love.
PRAYER THOUGHT
Heavenly Father, help us to encourage each other till Christ returns.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Heavenly Father, help us to encourage each other and ask Your blessing upon one another with confidence in Your name, to sustain us till the end, till the day when Christ returns. AMEN
INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)
Isaiah 9:2-5
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