Prayer's of Paul reading plan day 9.

       As a church family at Bethel Baptist church in Brookings, SD we are spending the next two weeks reading through most of the prayers of Paul.  Each day I will share my thoughts and reflections on here the day after the reading.  The encouragement was that we would read the assigned passages, write down some observations about what we read, and use those prayers to help us in our prayers that day.  Tuesday's readings were 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, 2 Thessalonians 3:16.  

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort our hearts and establish them in every good work and word."  

       One of the common items that Paul prays for others is for comfort.  Here we see Paul praying that.  Notice the emphasis Paul puts on who is the one that is doing the comforting.  The one doing the comforting is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father.  How encouraging is that.  The one that Paul is praying would provide comfort is Jesus Christ and God our Father.  There is no greater person to receive comfort from.  Than Paul, before he actually prays for comfort, reminds us who this God is... The God who has loved us and already has given us an eternal comfort.  In Christ we already have a comfort that is secure for all eternity and can never be taken away from us.  That truth should be a source of comfort.  After this Paul gets to praying for comfort and he prays that God would comfort our hearts and establish our hearts.  When the Bible speaks of the "heart" it is typically referring to the center or core of a person's desires, will, motivation, and emotions.  So it makes sense that Paul is praying for comfort for our hearts- for our emotions, our desires, our will.  But Paul doesn't just want us to receive comfort he also wants our hearts to be established in every good work and word.  Comfort is not just for the sake of feeling comforted.  We are comforted so that we can continue to live out the life that Christ has called us to live and comfort others as God has comforted us.  Who in your life needs prayers of comfort?  Use this prayer to pray for them today. 
 

2 Thessalonians 3:16

"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way.  The Lord be with you all."  

       Peace is the absence of conflict and turmoil.  To get a picture of peace think of a large body of water on a windy day-  that is the opposite of peace.  Next think of a large body of water on a perfectly calm summer evening- that is peace.  Paul here prays to the God of peace to give peace at all time and in every way.  This is an all-inclusive prayer that Paul is praying.  He wants the believers to experience peace in all situations and in every conceivable way one can experience and feel that peace.  What a great prayer!  Notice how Paul ends the prayer as it gives us an indication of how we can experience peace at all times and in every way.  He prays asking that the Lord be with you all.  It is God being with us by which we can experience peace.  The glorious truth that God is with us at all times means that peace is available to us at all times because He who is with us is the God of peace!  Who in your life is going through times of frustration and difficulty?  Who in your life is going through a season of turmoil?  Pray to the God of peace to give them peace at all times and in every way as the God of peace promises to be with them.  

What are you learning as we continue going through the prayers of Paul together?