Praying For You

Reading: 1 Kings 2; 1 Chronicles 29; Psalm 95; 2 Thessalonians 1 11 So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. 12 Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 NLT) Paul worked hard at telling the Good News of the Kingdom of God. He challenged the Christ-followers to learn and grow and sacrifice and serve. He taught truths and established principles and practices that would keep the young churches vibrant and true. He constantly emphasized the absolute necessity of keeping interpersonal relationships clean and right. But Paul never imagined that any of this would be accomplished through his determined effort or through the believers’ own willpower and effort and goodness. Paul prayed for the Christ-followers and the churches they formed that God would enable them to live the life and fulfill the call. He prayed that God would give them the power to live out the life of faith and to see the results achieved. Paul said that successful Christian lives and healthy, growing churches are only possible through the grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ! So, dear friends, may we always determine to live the life, to love the Lord and each other, and to respond to God’s Spirit with acts of service, sacrifice, and obedience. But we know we’ll never accomplish that by our own determination and in our own strength! So, like Paul and his team, let’s keep on praying for each other and for ourselves that God will enable us to live a life worthy of his call. Prayer: Father, I pray Paul’s prayer for each person who reads these words, for each member of my family, for each of my friends and fellow-followers: Please enable us to live a life worthy of your call. Please give us the power to accomplish all the good things our faith prompts us to do. May the name of our Lord Jesus be honored because of the way we live. For your Kingdom’s sake, Amen!