Life Changing Prayer

Introduction

Maybe it was when you sat in a fairly dark house waiting for your teenager to get home. Maybe it was when you sat in a hospital room waiting for a doctor to come by and give you the news that you had been waiting for—you are going to be fine. Maybe it was after taking a test and you waited for the results and felt the relief of getting a good grade. Maybe it was sitting in the darkness when the electricity finally came back on.

There are times that we have to wait for the good news. There are times when we have the full sense of dread and concern and then comes the relief when the good news comes. How do you describe the sense of relief that comes when you get the good news? Relaxed. Free from stress. Assurance. It is a welcome feeling after all the drama of waiting. But once the relief comes there is also a feeling of giddiness. I have seen laughter and tears at the same time. Tears of joy they are called and the laughter that recognizes that things are better than you thought they might be. We then celebrate. We celebration with a night of rest. We celebrate with a special meal. We celebrate with a promise to do something that is reserved for special occasions. As Christians we praise God. We thank him. We want to celebrate with him too.

This is Paul’s situation. He has sent Timothy to Thessalonica to see how these new believers were doing. Paul has been waiting for Timothy’s return. There is stress. There is concern. There is uncertainty. And with each passing day, these feelings are heightened as he waits. But finally Timothy arrives in Corinth. It has been quite a while since this process began. Paul left Thessalonica. After a short time in Berea and a few weeks in Athens, he sends Timothy back to Thessalonica. Paul leaves Athens and travels to Corinth and he is in that city for about 18 months. All of this traveling has taken several weeks if not months. He has been waiting for some time to find out about the believers in Thessalonica and Timothy has just arrived with good news. The believers are faithful. There are some things that they need help with but overall they have not turned from Jesus. With persecution their faith grows.

Paul is ecstatic. His desire to return to Thessalonica increases. Paul writes this letter in response to the information that Timothy brings. The first three chapters have been personal. Paul answers questions about his loyalty to these believers and reminds them of how dedicated he was to them while there. The last two chapters are going to deal with some of the issues that Timothy has reported on. But in between defending his motives and dealing with a couple of issues that need further teaching, Paul writes a prayer in 3:11-13. This is where we will concentrate our study today.

Powerful Prayer

Paul is a powerful wordsmith. In this short prayer, Paul introduces the subjects that he is going to discuss later in the letter—love, holiness and Jesus’ return. But let’s notice the elements that lead up to the final part of the prayer. First, Paul prays that God will now make it possible for him to return to Thessalonica. Remember back in 2:18 that Paul had written that Satan blocked their way. He used a military term to describe how one army slows down another army by destroying the road. Satan was destroying the road for Paul. Not literally but figuratively. Satan was at work keeping Paul from returning. But with this news, Paul prays that God will lead or direct his path. But the prayer isn’t a wish. It is a prayer of expectation. In other words, Paul is not praying “may it be” but “let it be.” Paul fully expects that God will make it possible for him to return to these believers. While it was some time later, Paul indeed returned to this city—not once but twice.

Second, he prays that love will increase among these believers. He prays that their love will increase for each other and for everyone else. Again, Paul is praying with expectation. He fully expects that their love will deepen for each other and for others. He will give specifics about this love later in the letter. Learning to love each other can be difficult. But what is most impressive about this expectant prayer is that the believers will grow in their love for those who are not believers. And to make the point come alive, Paul prays that this love will mimic his own love for them.

Third, Paul prays that their hearts or resolve will be strengthened in the face of persecution. This idea is found in the word “blameless.” Paul is praying, again with expectation, that they will live lives that reflect purity. He prays that they will live in such a way that no one outside the community can speak against them and to live in such a way that God will acknowledge their purity when Jesus returns. Again, Paul will deal with holiness and Jesus’ return in the next part of the letter.

So What?

First, we pray with expectation. There is much uncertainty in life. Prayer can be the means by which we affirm our faith. We pray with certainty and expectation. Paul prayed expecting to return to Thessalonica and he did. Paul prayed that their love would grow and we find later that it did. In Acts 20, there are two men from Thessalonica who accompany Paul with funds for the poor in Jerusalem. In other words, their love grew more and more so that they helped unknown believers in Jerusalem. In 2 Corinthians 8, the churches of Macedonia, which includes Thessalonica, pleaded for the privilege of sharing in the giving to the poor even though they were poor themselves.

Pray with expectation not with timidity. God is powerful to answer a prayer that is spoken with faith and expectation. But I want you to notice that Paul’s prayers were not for perfection or for ease.

ii. He prayed to return and he did but he didn’t stay long on either of the other occasions. But he returned. He prayed for love to grow and it did. But notice he didn’t pray for others to leave them alone. The persecution continued and Paul prayed that they would grow in love for their persecutors. This is the challenging part of the prayer.

iii. We think God has failed us if things don’t turn out the way we think they ought to turn out. Instead of praying for love to grow, we pray for God to make things better so that we can love more. Foolish. Pray with the expectation that your life be more fully aligned with the will of God and see what happens. But don’t pray that unless you are willing to be challenged. The expectation of prayer includes trusting that God will carry out his will through you.

Second, pray that your life will be blameless. Living for God means that our lives reveal purity. Peter in 1 Peter says to live a life so that any accusation made against you will seem slanderous. But neither Paul nor Peter say that living this blameless life will result in being left alone. Your walk with God is not protection against anything bad, it is protection against having to see things from this world’s perspective. Live a life of purity not so that people will leave you alone but so that your Father is praised. Live a life of purity so that when others slander you there is at least some shame for the accusation. Like the trial of Jesus, those who lied against him looked foolish although it resulted in a cross. As Jesus said in John 17, glorify me so that I can glorify you. This is our prayer. We live blameless lives so that we can hold up God. This is the prayer of faith. We pray that we want God seen through us.

J.S. Bach said, “All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul’s refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hub-bub.” He ended them “S.D.G.” “Soli Dei gratia” which means “To God alone the praise.” Bach believed that all work, religious or not, was to be done to the glory of God.

ii. Our lives are for God’s glory—from caring for your children or digging a ditch or working in an office. Every facet of your life is for God’s glory. Live a life reflecting Him.

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