To Encourage You

1 Thessalonians 3:10 “. . . we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith”

Each and every one of us who has been a Christian for any length of time has other Christians around us that are newer in the faith than we are.  Such was the case for the Apostle Paul, especially in the case of the Thessalonian church, for he had been the one who had first shared the gospel with them.  So, what was Paul’s attitude toward them, and how did he pray for them?  In the verse above we see him praying for the opportunity to help them grow deeper in their walk with Christ.  And how much did he want this?  Obviously very much, for he tells them that it is something he has been praying for earnestly night and day . 

With these words, the Holy Spirit, through Paul, would have us to know that believers are to be constantly involved in prayer.  We are to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), pray about everything (Philippians 4:6), and pray for one another, i.e., for other believers day in and day out (James 5:16).  And in our praying, we are to pray as if it matters, because it does, for God has promised us that “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). I like the King James language for this verse better, which says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” 

But then we are to pray in the right way.  Our prayers are not to be self-serving. We are warned that “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:2-3). 

So, what should we be praying for?  Well, to guide us, we should ask what the writers of the Bible, like Paul, prayed for, for it is in those prayers that we find a model for our own. And what was he praying for regarding the Thessalonians? Again, it was for an opportunity to help them grow in the Lord. 

So, is that how you and I pray?  Is that what we care about?  Do we long to see people grow in the Lord, and do we long to have some small part in it, if God should open the door?  Well, if we do want this, we will be desiring to grow in the Lord ourselves, for we certainly can’t share what we don’t possess.  But as the Lord teaches us, as He blesses us, as He works in our lives, we should be looking for opportunities to share those things and thereby to be a vessel through which the Lord can bless others.  It’s like Paul told the Corinthian church: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”(2 Corinthians 1:3-4). 

Opportunities to bless, opportunities to give, opportunities to help others in their walk with the very kinds of help that we may have received from others: those are the kinds of things Paul prayed for, and with those prayers, what a wonderful example he has laid down for us all.