hotcoffee
New Member
2 Thessalonians 3:3 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
There are evil people in this world. You know that and I know that. It's on the news every single day. There were evil people in the world when the church at Thessalonica was new. Paul, Silas, and Timothy had witnessed first hand how horrible the Christians were treated for their faith. Paul, himself, had even murdered people for being Christians.
Misery loves company. I believe that. Even the Jews who believed in God in that time were happy to see the Christians suffer. They really believed that the Christians had gone astray. The Jews thought the Christians were dangerous. The Jews thought that God would be angry with them if they followed the teachings of the Jews.
People were lining up against the Christians.
Prayer is the key here. Paul, Silas and Timothy knew that talking to God was the best way to handle the troubles of life. Jesus had knocked Paul down and talked to him personally. Paul knew the power of talking with God.
So the idea Paul, Silas, and Timothy were presenting here was simple. They said pray that the Gospel spreads. That way there would be less evil. They said pray that God will protect you from evil. Having God the Father on our side is the best defense. And finally they say pray that God will direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. After all if our hearts of full of God's Love and we have the perseverance of Christ we'll stand fast.
