Tag: thanking God

Standing Firm in the Lord

1 Thessalonians 3

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

When reading this chapter, the joy Paul had stood out to me.  Paul faced challenge after challenge, obstacle after obstacle as he worked to spread the gospel, yet he is still full of joy.


Paul starts the chapter by talking about how he feared that the Thessalonians would be led astray by the temptations and afflictions they would face.  He says that for this reason, he asked someone to report on their faith, hoping that all his work there wouldn’t have been in vain.  But when Timothy returned with a report about the Thessalonians, it became clear that they had stood firm in their faith through all the persecution they faced.


In verse 7, Paul writes that he and his companions were comforted by the news that Timothy brought.  The good news about the Thessalonians was so great that it provided comfort in the midst of affliction!  Paul states that they now really live if the Thessalonians stand firm in their faith.  The Thessalonians provided so much joy to the lives of Paul and his companions that it feels like they just started to really live!  In verse 9, Paul asks what thanks they can give to God for all the joy he has about the Thessalonians.  There is so much joy that he doesn’t even know how to put it into words to thank God.  This joy is so overwhelming that he can’t even start to understand how much thanks he needs to give God.


Are you filling others with as much joy as Paul is full of from the Thessalonians?  Are those who taught you the Bible filled with joy from the way it has changed your life?  Paul’s joy came from seeing that he was able to make this impact on the Thessalonians and that they were able to continue standing firm.  We each need to be like the Thessalonians, providing joy to our teachers and others as we continue to walk in the way of the Lord.


Are you filled with joy like Paul?  God has provided each of us with much more than we ever deserved.  None of us deserve salvation, but God offered it to each one of us.  Our lives should be full of joy because of this great gift.  I can’t even begin to thank God enough for everything that He has given me!


Paul’s response to this joy is shown in verse 10.  He says that he and his companions are earnestly praying that they may see the Thessalonians again and continue to strengthen their faith.  He doesn’t claim that his job is now done, as the Thessalonians were able to stand up to opposition.  Instead, he says that he wants to visit to teach them even more, to make them even stronger, lacking nothing in their faith.


What is your response to being filled with joy?  We need to be constantly giving thanks for all that we have been given, night and day praising God.  Are you asking God that you can continue to do the work which He has prepared for you or are you saying that your job is done?  This joy should cause you to want to do even more, spreading the good news to all those around you so that they too might experience this joy.

-Kaitlyn Hamilton

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. What is the biggest challenge you face in standing firm in the Lord? How can you ask for help from your brothers and sisters in Christ? (If you don’t have a church family yet – make it your first priority to find one!)
  2. Are there brothers and sisters or children in the faith that give you great joy when you see how they are standing firm in the faith even in the midst of trials? Let them know.
  3. Spend an extra ten minutes in prayer today thanking God.
2022 SeekGrowLove Bible Reading PlanDownload

In Need of a Shepherd

John 9:1 – 10:21

Imagery of sheep and shepherd are found all throughout the Bible, in both the old and the new testaments. Because of this, I think we sometimes forget some of the metaphorical imagery that comes with the sheep and shepherd dynamic. Sheep are not an intelligent animal in any sense of the word. They often wander off and get themselves in trouble. When threatened by predators, sheep will often clump themselves together in such a tight pack, that sheep in the center will often suffocate. All in all, sheep are fully reliant on their shepherd for protection, food water, and for their own survival.

Here in John 10, when Jesus is speaking about sheep, and he being the good shepherd, the people probably would have seen it as insulting when he compared them to sheep. But the point that Jesus is trying to make, is that like sheep we could not depend on ourselves for salvation from the consequences of our bad choices. God had to send us a shepherd who would “lay down his life for his sheep”. So he sent us His son Jesus. And as Jesus said, no one took his life from him, but he laid it down of his own accord. I don’t think we could have asked God to send us a better shepherd than who He sent us, His one and only son, Jesus. In just over a week, the Thanksgiving season will begin, and I think that this year we need to spend time thanking God, for the gift of the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life willingly, for us his sheep.

Jonny Smith

Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – John 9:1 – 10:21

Tomorrow’s passages will be the rest of John 10 and Luke 10.

2020 Chronological Bible Reading PlanDownload

The Power of Prayer

A reminder to trust in and rely upon our communication line with God 

Psalm 26, 40, 59, 61-62, 64

Psalm 62_8 NIV sgl (1)

How many times have you faced a situation in your life that caused trouble, evoked anger, or instilled fear? All of us have had these moments, sometimes more days than others, but These Psalms show us that prayer is the most powerful tool that we have as followers of Christ in all sorts of situations and for all purposes.  The things that we are looking for in times of trouble are all things that God can give us if we choose to come before him. In Psalm 26, 40, 59, 60-62, 64, David is a perfect example of how we should be praying to our father persistently, fervently, and earnestly.  David prays for protection, deliverance, justice, and simple intervention in his life, but he also prays to praise his Father and pledge his dedication to him.  Prayer is not just a last-ditch effort for us when things get rough.  Rather, we should model our prayer lives after the example set by this great person of faith who has gone before us.  

Prayer is an open line of communication with God, which allows us to have a beautiful relationship with our father, who is always there to listen to us and hear what we have to tell him. Sometimes, the best time to come to our father in prayer is when we don’t feel like we have a specific reason to pray.  We don’t have to save our prayers for supplication in a time of need.  Prayer can be a wonderful, calming, and empowering thing when it doesn’t come from a place of necessity.  Even when we think we have everything under control, we still need God to intervene in our lives, and even when we are at our lowest point, we still have countless reasons to praise God.  If you feel like you don’t have as strong of a connection with God as you wish you would have, use what you know from the man who God led to conquer a giant.  He is always there for you.  In your prosperity and your weeping, he is always on the other side of the line.  Praise him in the good and in the bad.  Ask for his help in the good and in the bad.  There will always be a reason for both of those things.

I am looking forward to continuing to dive into the Word with you all this week. Consider this an introduction to the remaining devotions we will be walking through together. I leave you with this call to action: 

I wash my hands in innocence,

    and go around your altar, O Lord,

singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,

    and telling all your wondrous deeds.

                               Psalm 26:6-7 NRSV

Let’s strive to have an insatiable faith for God like David. Let us learn to depend upon him, trust in him, and sit at his feet in prayer. And, when he does intercede for you, praise his name. For he is worthy of our thanksgiving. 

-Leslie Jones

 

Today’s Bible reading can be read or listened to at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+26%2C+40%2C+59%2C+61-62%2C+64&version=NIV

Tomorrow’s reading will be 2 Samuel 19-21 as we continue on our 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

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