The Priority & Passion of Prayer | 2 Thessalonians
Introduction:
ESV James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Do we believe that?
Do we believe that there is such a thing as effective prayer?
Do we believe that prayer can be powerful in its working?
THE KIND OF PRAYER THAT JAMES DESCRIBES IS EXPLAINED BY GOD.
“Has great power in its working”
That power is explained by the God who enlivens and uses it.
Be we struggle to know that kind of praying.
This is the desire that exists in the heart of every redeemed person. “Lord teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1)
Charles Spurgeon had a lot to say about prayer. Here are just a few of his statements.
“My own soul’s conviction is that prayer is the grandest power in the entire universe, that it has a more omnipotent force than electricity, attraction, gravitation, or any other of those other secret forces which men have called by name, but which they do not understand.”
“Oh, without prayer what are the church’s agencies, but the stretching out of a dead man’s arm, or the lifting up of the lid of a blind man’s eye? Only when the Holy Spirit comes is there any life and force and power”
“My heart has no deeper conviction than this, that prayer is the most efficient spiritual agency in the universe, next to the Holy Spirit.”
“Only that prayer which comes from our heart can get to God’s heart.”
And then, a statement that encourages us.
“I usually feel more dissatisfied with my prayers than with anything else I do.”
How are we to pray? What does effective prayer that accomplishes much consist of?
We learn something about what prayer is meant to be as we come to the end of this first chapter. Paul ends his exhortations for this suffering church by letting them know of his prayers for them. What do we see?
I. PRAYER THAT LOOKS TO THE END (VS.11)
He says, “to this end we always pray for you.”
Let me share a few observations from this report.
A. ESCHATOLOGY IMPARTS RESPONSIBILITY
Paul’s statement makes clear that there should be a response NOW (in the present) in view of what we know our future to be.
The beginning of verse 11 looks back to the entirety of what Paul has just discussed, including the persecution of these people and their perseverance, and the future assurances that have been presented to the people of God.
Taking all of that into account Paul has been at work on their behalf in the matter of prayer. He hasn’t just begun when writing this letter, this is something he has been engaged in.
WE HAVE NOT REALLY UNDERSTOOD OUR FUTURE IF IT ISN’T CHANGING OUR PRESENT.
We aren’t really listening to God about the future if we don’t listen to Him and live in light of what He tells us right now.
THERE IS OFTEN A SAD AN AMAZING GAP BETWEEN WHAT WE SAY WE BELIEVE AND THEN WHAT WE PRACTICE.
WE SAY WE BELIEVE GOD ABOUT THE FUTURE, BUT DO WE BELIEVE HIM ABOUT TODAY?
Paul’s activity in prayer was in response to what God has revealed about His future for this people.
B. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR HIS PEOPLE INVITES PRAYER AND INVOLVES PRAYER
PAUL’S PRAYERS CONCERNED SOMETHING HE HAS TOLD THEM THAT GOD HAS ALREADY DETERMINED TO DO. When he describes the future, he is describing what is sovereignly ordained, and what will reveal God’s sovereign saving purposes.
Paul did not say, in view of what God has ordained we do nothing!
No, in view of what God has ordained WE PRAY!
