TOPIC:‌"Prayer and the Christian's Tranquility"

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌II Thessalonians 3:1-16

 

"And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ" (II Thessalonians 3:5).

 

"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all" (II Thessalonians 3:16).

 

‌As with all of Paul's letters, he incorporates personal prayers in his correspondence to the churches. In this his second letter to the Thessalonian Christians there are four prayers offered by Paul for them. We shall be examining the last two of the four as found in chapter 3 verses 5 and 16.

 

‌Though these two prayers are separated by nearly a dozen verses, they are closely related to each other. The Christians at Thessalonica were living during a time of great anxiety and fretfulness. They were under attack and being persecuted for their faith in Christ. And so there comes from Paul a word of strong encouragement as he offers these two prayers on their behalf. Let us now direct our attention to these two prayers for them.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, to begin with, what I am going to call the DIRECTION involved in Paul's prayer. We read these words in verse 5: "And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." Phillips in his rendering has it "guide you into."

 

‌Here in words so beautiful and priceless that these Christians could understand, Paul prays these words for them: "And the Lord direct your hearts." In a day of such undirectedness, when so many people are drifting without any strong convictions and yielding to the pressures of those around them, we Christians of the twenty-first century must claim these words of Paul for ourselves.

 

‌Think for a moment of the SUPREME PERSON in this prayer of Paul - "The Lord direct." This is where the lives of many people go off the tracks. They don't want to stay within the course of Holy Scripture. They desire to live their own lives. Do as they please. But such a self-directed life will lead eventually to a self-destructive life. Just as you can't run your automobile on kerosene without wrecking the engine, so you can't run your life without eventually paying a high price. If self-will reigns instead of God's will, your life will be frustrated, meaningless, without divine significance, and you will end up a slave to some sin. If on the other hand God is guiding your life, He will give it meaning, direction and fulfillment.

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