A Prayer for the Hard Times

1 Thessalonians 3:11–13

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Counted among the members worshipping in a former pastorate was a Dutch family who had endured the long night of Nazi occupation of Holland from 1939 to 1945. On occasion Gerrit and Trudy would take me into their confidence, speaking of painful memories from those trying days. One memory related was of especial interest to me because it spoke of the churches and the response of the people to the agonising occupation. Prior to the invasion the churches were empty and religion was at best tolerated. Immediately after freedoms were lost to an occupying army the churches were filled as the people gathered to pray. What had been neglected during times of peace and plenty became precious in time of deprivation.

Most of us would agree that prayer is a vital component of a healthy Christian life. Most of us would also agree that the discipline of prayer is difficult to master. What we have not perhaps considered is that the difficulty experienced in praying is related to the situation in which we find ourselves. What I mean is this. When we enjoy good times, when we have no serious challenges to our health, to our financial stability, to our family, we find it easy to forego prayer. We feel no need and thus we neglect prayer. But when hard times come, as they surely must, we find it easy to pray.

I would not have any of us waste the opportunity for productive prayer when the hard times come. I do not say that we ought not to pray for relief from whatever pressure defines our particular hard time; we would be foolish to refuse to face the particular trial. I do say that while God has our attention in this present hour we are well advised to seek to stretch our heart while it is tender to embrace those whom God esteems – our fellow Christians. One poignant example of such stretching is provided us in the prayer Paul offered when separated from the Thessalonians and in deep concern for their welfare.

In the tenth verse which precedes the text Paul states that the missionaries prayed night and day … most earnestly for the Thessalonians. In our text he actually includes a prayer … perhaps the very prayer which the missionaries offered up for the Thessalonians. There are many prayers included in the Bible which could serve as models for our own prayer life, and this brief prayer is likewise a gem if employed to instruct us in our own prayer life. Let's learn together a prayer for the hard times.

A Prayer For The Opportunity To Serve [verse 11] — I find it interesting to note that Paul's prayer, though it has at its heart the welfare of the Thessalonians, nevertheless focuses first on the missionaries. In short, seeking benefit for these beleaguered saints in Thessalonica he first prays for the missionaries that they might have opportunity to serve. Why, if he meant to strengthen and encourage these pressured saints, would he first pray for the missionaries? In this prayer is found wisdom frequently neglected by those of us who profess Christ.

Review the work of church ministry. The labour of service is misunderstood often and perhaps more often still it is gravely distorted in our minds. The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ was never intended to be a one-man show. It is less that we go to church than that we are the church. When we meet together on a Sunday morning, although the pastor speaks and although the choir sings the purpose of their service has nothing to do with our entertainment. The service of worship which is offered up each week is the culmination of the prayers representing the hopes and aspirations of the Body offering up during the week past. The church, if it is to truly be the Body of Christ, must realise that each member has a role. Providing instruction for the badly fractured Corinthian Church, Paul stated the timeless principle applicable to all churches for all time: Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good [1 Corinthians 12:7].

Only infrequently have I heard a Christian confess that he or she was weaker in the Faith than a fellow believer or perhaps less capable than another in the arena of spiritual conflict. Most of us tend to view ourselves somewhat more highly in the realm of spiritual conflict than is wise. We tend to be imbued with great confidence in our spiritual abilities and moral attributes, through such attributes and abilities are but occasionally tested. We tend to esteem ourselves more highly than our abilities warrant. Whether this is because we have yet to confront the grave challenge of spiritual conflict or whether this is simply a perverse failure to see our weakness as God sees it, I cannot tell. What is germane to this message is the knowledge that our need for one another is greater than we might be willing to concede. Therefore, to strengthen ourselves during the hard times we should first seek to extend ourselves to another. In order to pray powerfully we must learn first to pray that we may have opportunity to serve, even if such service should be unrecognised by the greater body of members.

You may recall that Jesus said the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve [Matthew 20:28]. Each of us would acknowledge that Jesus in the days of His flesh revealed a servant's heart. Since the Master came with a servant's heart, it follows that those who would follow Him must likewise manifest a servant's heart. The servant heart Jesus revealed is consistent with teaching provided long years prior to His coming. Solomon, in Proverbs 11:24-26 has written:

One man gives freely, yet gains even more;

another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

A generous man will prosper;

he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

People curse the man who hoards grain,

but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.

There are two seas prominently mentioned in the pages of the Bible. The Dead Sea is spoken of often as is the Sea of Galilee. Either sea is fed by the Jordan River. The Sea of Galilee receives the inflow of the river and spills over at the other end to enrich the land. The Dead Sea receives the outflow of the Sea of Galilee, although there is no egress for the water from that salty water. In the heat of the desert the water evaporates to insure ever-greater salinity for the waters of that sterile sea.

The one sea receives and spills over, giving back again what it has received. That sea teems with life and the water is a sweet blessing to the people living in that arid land. The other sea receives, keeping all that pours into it, never giving again what it has received. That sea is dead, sterile, a curse to life. Consider the two waters: the one sweet and teeming with life, the other sterile and barren of life.

The picture of these two bodies of water is a parable of Christian life and service. We may receive blessings and in turn be a blessing to others as we bless them, spilling over the joy and hope we have experienced. Or we may receive blessings and attempt to keep them, growing ever more bitter and barren in our life and in our service to the Lord. In either instance the blessings showered on us are from God who gives generously to all alike; He will not be stinting in blessing us. But the impact of those blessings on others depends on us.

Serve one another in love, is the apostolic injunction in Galatians 5:13. It is but the natural application of the freedom we discover in Christ. Again we hear the apostolic command: Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others [1 Peter 4:10]. Whatever we receive is for the benefit of others. I say that failure to bless others through giving of ourselves is prostitution of our spiritual gifts. Reflect on this thought: What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? [1 Corinthians 4:7]. The gifts you have received are for the benefit of the whole Body of Christ and you are responsible to bless others.

In a West Texas protracted meeting the opportunity to speak a good word for Jesus was given during a time of testimony. An old rancher, seizing opportunity to speak a good word for Jesus, stood to exclaim, "Hallelujah! My cup is running over!" Sitting nearby was a sour-faced deacon, who dourly responded, "I don't believe in these protracted meetings. My cup never runs dry so it never needs to run over."

"Huh," replied the first man, " and I'll bet your cup is full of wiggle tails."

The cup that receives and never spills over is a cup which is soon growing all sorts of strange and unappealing life forms. I would rather find it necessary to replenish my joy from time-to-time than to find that nothing ever changed in my life and that I had grown stagnant. The sure way to avoid such a stagnant life is to seek to bless another through the blessings you yourself have received. Pray first that you may bless others.

A Prayer That We May Fulfil The Law Of Love In Daily Life [verse 12] — Having prayed that the missionaries might be an answer to the need of other saints, Paul prayed for the Thessalonians themselves, asking that they might be a blessing to one another. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else. Christian love anticipates growth … it cannot be static. Either we are growing in love or we are declining in love. Either our capacity to love is constantly expanding or we are becoming less and less capable of loving. There is no possibility of holding the line on love.

Vibrant churches are those in which the members are growing in love for one another. Dying churches are those in which the members have ceased growing in love. At the beginning of his letter to the Philippians, Paul included a prayer for them. Listen to that prayer. "[T]his is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God [Philippians 1:9-11].

I cannot help but be struck by the knowledge that Christian Love is not an emotion; love is revealed as integral to the whole of Christian experience. Not surprisingly, love is intimately tied to knowledge and insight, especially knowledge of what is best and insight into what pleases Christ. Love appears foundational to discernment. Love also is mandatory for righteousness. God is love [1 John 4:16] and just so we who are born into the Family of God may be rightfully expected to bear the image which reveals the love of God. Just as we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ [2 Peter 3:18] so we are to grow in love. That is why our love is capable of growing to the benefit of others. Love is a choice.

Likewise, Christian love finds its source in God. Some may question the need to restate the issue. However, among us are some who are young in the Faith and who thus require instruction. Again, at any given time some of us are under great pressure to give in to our anger, or there will be some who in their pain lash out forgetting our parentage. At any time, we who are Christians rejoice at the reminder that whatever we may do in terms of blessing others is the result of God's rich, inexhaustible provision. Therefore we find the reminder of the source of our being a great comfort and encouragement.

Hear again John's rich words of encouragement. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved god, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us [1 John 4:7-12]

Because love finds its source in God, it should come as no great surprise to discover that it is the Lord [who will] make your love increase and overflow for each other. There is a curious observation which, if you have listened carefully, is evident at this point. The more we surrender to love, choosing to love one another, the greater our knowledge of God and His will. The greater our knowledge of God and of His will, the greater our capacity to love. It is impossible to imagine that we can seek God and seek His heart and not be changed dramatically into His image. The tragedy is that some, desperately desiring to be lovers of the good are so focused on the transient emotion that they fail to see the transcendent life. So, engaging in the occasional act of charity they feel good for a moment but never discover fulfilment. I urge you to live a life of love, choosing to love one another, choosing to pursue hard after God, choosing to be diligent in living righteously, so that love may be the characterisation of your life.

I make another observation from Paul’s prayer – Christian love is progressive. Paul prayed that the Thessalonians might first reveal love for one another, and only then might their love spill over to everyone else. The tendency in this day is to first love those in the world and then to love the Church. However, I contend that it is impossible to love world dwellers until we love the Church. Until we know how to love one another deeply from the heart, we can never hope to love those of a world which is alien to us. The issue, however, is not one of either/or; it is instead a matter of both/and. We are not to love either the church or the world; we are to love both the church and the world. Nevertheless, our first responsibility is to love the brotherhood of believers. Then we will discover the capacity to love those in the world without being turned aside to love the world.

A Prayer for Strength and Preservation [verse 13] — This is Paul's final request. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones. It is a plea which both seeks the benefit of others and which has a stated purpose behind the request. Paul seeks stability for the Thessalonians; he prays that they may be granted strength to continue standing firm in the midst of the maelstrom arising from the persecution they were even then enduring.

May He strengthen your hearts… I find the plea arresting, and the more so in light of my own expanding and acknowledged weaknesses. Physically, I realise that I am growing weaker day-by-day … and so are you. It may appear for a brief moment that we are able to defy the laws governing this fallen world. Perhaps muscle mass does increase through vigorous exercise and careful diet, and perhaps stamina does grow greater through constant care. I stride up the side of the mountain without panting at the end of the walk or I lift great weights without excessive strain or effort. But any change is fleeting, transient, and at the last I grow weaker. Physical exercise has limited value, as even Scripture recognises. [P]hysical training is of some value [1 Timothy 4:8]. But in the text of the missionary’s prayer it is strength which is identified as leading to confident resistance of evil, and it is strength which has eternal consequence of inestimable value which is in view.

The word which is translated strengthen in the text is a rich word. The concept conveyed in that word strengthen may not fully reveal the scope of the Apostle's thought. In Romans 16:25 we see the word translated by our English word establish. In James 5:8, the same verb is translated by the English phrase stand firm. In 2 Peter 1:12, we find the word translated by the English phrase firmly established. The thought conveyed by the word is that of unyielding firmness in the face of assault. It is the thought of an impregnable position before which an enemy cannot advance. So the word suggests much more than mere strength – it suggests resistance and dependability.

Why should we pray to be firm and to be established in the face of rampant wickedness? Why should the idea of refusal to yield to sin be so important to the development of our Christian life? The importance lies within the prayer offered by the Apostle, that those for whom he prayed might be found blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes. Among the saints of this day, I fear that many will be ashamed at the coming of the Lord Jesus. Sadly, their lives are virtually indistinguishable from the world about them.

For a brief moment probe your life with this searching question: In what way do I differ from those living about me? Challenge yourself. Be demanding of yourself. In what way do I differ from my co-workers? From my neighbours? From friends in the world? When you answer the question I trust that you will see that there is a difference. The believer who actually dares take the message of Christ seriously is often accused of thinking that he or she is better than others.

We are conditioned by social dynamics and by an ingrained desire for acceptance to avoid giving offence and we are trained to consider everyone as equal. Therefore the charge of being different stings, having a disproportionate impact in our life. So we cease trying to be different, we cease emphasising distinctions, and almost unconsciously, imperceptibly, we begin to emulate the actions and adopt the attitudes of the world about us. After all, there is less conflict when life is reduced to a dismal, dreary sameness.

Yet as Christians we are ever aware that Christ has promised to return, and we are confident and assured that His promise is true. Knowing that we must provide answer before Him we long to be blameless and holy at His coming. It is one thing to know that we stand uncondemned and without guilt before the Living God at this present time, it is another matter all together to consider that we must face God to render an account of our life. Paul, speaking of this very event, wrote to the Christians at Corinth: [W]e make it our goal to please [the Lord], whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad [2 Corinthians 5:9,10].

How shall we stand before the Lord of all mankind at that time? How shall we answer Him in that Day? If no man can stand in His presence, if even the earth and the heavens flee at His coming, how will you and I, mere mortals, stand before Him. There is no hope, no possibility that we can stand in His presence except that He Himself should lend us strength, establishing us and causing us to stand firm. John fell when He saw the Risen Christ and was utterly immobile until Jesus placed His right hand on the awe-struck apostle's shoulder. That is what we need … His strengthening hand.

I am not righteous; I cannot claim any righteousness of my own. To my sorrow I am compelled to confess that [a]ll [my] righteous acts are like filthy rags [Isaiah 64:6]. I am not blameless. With Peter I would be forced to cry out in Christ's presence, Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man [Luke 5:8]! I am not holy. I even shrink from accepting the title Reverend. In my frustration I also cry out, I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin … What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death [Romans 7:14,24]?

Yet I do claim a righteousness, and I do claim a perfection, and I do claim a holiness – but these arise not from within myself. The only righteousness I dare claim is that which is found in Christ. The only perfection I can attain is that given by Christ. The only holiness I possess is that proceeding from Christ

One day, you and I who are believers shall be presented before the watching, wondering eyes of the holy angels. They have longed to look into the issues surrounding redemption of fallen man. At that time before the throne of the Living God, they shall marvel at His grace revealed in us. Angels know that you and I are powerless before the onslaught of sin. Angels know that you and I are incapable of pleasing God in our own strength. Angels know that the Son of God gave Himself as a sacrifice for man. Angels know these things and marvel that man does not seize the life offered in Christ the Lord. Then, with unveiled glory you and I shall stand complete in Christ. Blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father we shall reveal the grace of God. No wonder we rejoice at the thought of His coming! Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

I make a glorious announcement to all listening this day. What you and I can never hope to be – blameless and holy – we may become … in Christ. More than that, even now in this present world we may so live that we can be confident – not with a false confidence focused on our own puerile and pitiful abilities, but with confidence which will be proved true and which is centred on His grace. God has provided righteousness and holiness for us, sufficient for all who are willing to receive it. Life, not mere length of days but a new quality of life, is offered now. Nor is this a speculative venture; this salvation is a "know-so" condition. In Christ is found forgiveness of sin making the possessor blameless. In Christ is discovered perfection so that the possessor is declared holy. In Christ is found life everlasting.

Listen to these solemn words. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved… It is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast [Ephesians 2:1-5,8,9]. In Christ is the life I announce, the forgiveness of sin and the perfecting grace which makes us presentable before God. Believe Him today. Amen.