May the mumbling commence!
We can use Paul’s example to teach us how to pray in trying times. Read from Second Thessalonians chapter one.
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Verses 3-12)
Trouble and woe come from those who do not know God and refuse to obey the gospel message of Jesus. These people do not only bring trouble and woe upon themselves but they also bring trouble and woe on the people around them. Just as blessing will come to others through the obedience of God’s people, so trouble and woe comes through those who reject the truth.
And God will not stand idly by forever. There will be judgment and punishment.
So, how do we pray in the midst of trouble and strife? Thank God for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Look for ways to grow your faith in the midst of trouble. It is in times of trouble that we learn much about ourselves and our living God.
Trouble and strife can cause division. So pray that even as your faith grows in leaps and bounds so too will your love grow for one another. Love has the power to unite us in any circumstance. May we be united in our trouble.
This unity takes constant prayer – always and constantly. And together, we will be counted worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus. Together, we will be empowered through Christ’s Holy Spirit for all good purposes.
And, what is the best purpose of them all? To glorify our Lord Jesus to the fullness of the grace that God has given us.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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